Pete Rose Says Cheaters Should Admit What They’ve Done

As baseball suspends fourteen players, including Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez, the urging of players to stand up and admit their wrongdoing is coming from a surprising source.

Pete Rose.

Baseball's all time hits leader says players should learn from the mistakes he made in handling his situation, where he denied wrongdoing during an investigation, agreed to a permanent ban from baseball and continued to deny for 15 years.  Rose finally admitted to betting on baseball, including games he was managing, in a book written in 2004.

Rose cited players like Andy Pettitte and Jason Giambi, who admitted they took steroids.  Rose said the public forgave them after they admitted and apologized for their wrongdoing.

Rose says he feels he could be a spokesman for baseball in the minor leagues, using himself as an example of how not to do things.

Rose, however, is prohibited from doing anything connected with baseball because of his lifetime ban.