Listening to anything Pete Rose would say should be taken with a grain of salt.
Still, he would be the one who would be able to identify with a liar. So if he thinks Alex Rodriguez should admit his mistakes, as USA Today is reporting, then Rodriguez's comment during his news conferences on Monday to let the baseball appeals process play out is moot.
Rodriguez is appealing his 211-game suspension that Major League Baseball handed him on Monday for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal, allowing him to play for the Yankees this season. Rodriguez, who was out the entire season while recovering from offseason hip surgery, returned to the Yankees on Monday night for his first game of the season.
Rose, MLB's all-time hits leader and the only living professional baseball player who is serving a lifetime suspension from the game for betting on baseball, said A-Rod should base his course of action on past case studies involving those discovered to have used performance-enhancing drugs.
"We have to get these people to understand that if you make mistakes, people will forgive you if you come forward," Rose told USA Today by phone on Tuesday. "Don't do like I did. Don't do like (Ryan) Braun did. Don't do like A-Rod did."
"I wish I had come forward a long time ago. Some guys came forward, like (Jason) Giambi, like (Andy) Pettitte. And they went on with their lives. They're playing and they're making good money, and there's no shadow upon them right now."
Rodriguez's problem is that he did come forward, in 2009, and admitted that he took PEDs from 2001-03 when he was with the Texas Rangers but was no longer using them.
According to USA Today, Rose has a relationship with Rodriguez that dates back several years when the two met in Las Vegas. Rose said he thinks Rodriguez's lawyers are controlling his message but adds that he understands why Rodriguez appealed MLB's ruling.
"It sounds to me like he thinks he got a lot more than Ryan Braun, and basically he might have done the same thing," he said. "Baseball and the players association have rules. If you stay within the rules -- which say that you can play while you're appealing -- I don't see what anyone would be in arms about."
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