Pete Rose Raises Eyebrows in Philly

Former Major Leaguer Pete Rose, 81, made a number of off-color remarks during an appearance at Citizen's Bank Park that was meant to honor the 1980 World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies. The event had been postponed two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the afternoon was dominated by the comments Rose made to reporters regarding allegations made in 2017 of statutory rape with an underage girl back in the early 1970s. Rose later appeared on the Phillies broadcast where he dropped curse words live on air.

During a media session with reporters, Rose was asked by Philadelphia Inquirer's Alex Coffey about the sexual allegations, to which Rose replied, "No, I am not here to talk about that. Sorry about that. It was 55 years ago, babe."

Rose was later asked the same question about the allegations by the Associated Press, to which he told the reporter that "you weren't born."

Finally, Rose appeared on the Phillies broadcast, and upon recalling a story he had with teammates during the 1980 season, Rose dropped the S-word live on air, and even tried to make a crude joke about John Kruck's battle with testicular cancer. There was no seven second delay. Video of the uncomfortable moments caught fire on social media.

Rose remains banned for life from Major League Baseball and its Hall of Fame. Rose who had a long playing career with the Cincinnati Reds and Phillies is baseball's all time hits leader with 4,256 career hits. However, Rose's foray into gambling led to his banishment from the game.