Pete Rose has savage reaction to Shohei Ohtani-Ippei Mizuhara saga

An emotional Cincinnati Reds hall of famer Pete Rose adjusts his cap as he takes the microphone during a pregame ceremony for the unveiling of Pete Rose’s bronze statue being installed outside the stadium before the MLB National League game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Great American Ball Park in downtown Cincinnati on Saturday, June 17, 2017.Pete Rose

Pete Rose is having some fun with Major League Baseball’s current scandal.

The retired baseball legend Rose appeared this week in a viral video posted by ex-MLB third baseman Josh Booty to Instagram. A man who identified himself as Matt Thrash filmed himself with Rose and asked Rose for his thoughts on the saga involving Shohei Ohtani and Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.

“Well back in the ’70s and ’80s, I wish I’d have had an interpreter,” said Rose. “I’d be scot-free.”

Here is the video.

Pete Rose has some thoughts on the current Ohtani situation… pic.twitter.com/vWoo9FYiJV

— Baseball Quotes (@BaseballQuotes1) March 25, 2024

Rose, a 17-time All-Star as well as MLB’s all-time hits king, is famously banned for life from baseball because of gambling. An MLB investigation in 1989 found that Rose had bet on baseball games both when he was a player and a manager for the Cincinnati Reds. As a result, Rose remains barred from the Baseball Hall of Fame (despite some very prominent backers pushing for Rose’s reinstatement in recent years).

The situation with Ohtani meanwhile is a bit different though, at least if Ohtani is to be taken at his word. At his first public press conference this week since the scandal broke, Ohtani denied ever betting on baseball and said that he was instead the victim of a massive theft by Mizuhara to fund Mizuhara’s own gambling problem. But that won’t stop the Ohtani-Rose jokes from flying, even from Rose himself.