Rose Denies Trying to Steal Show

Pete Rose denied trying to upstage the Hall of Fame elections of Dennis Eckersley and Paul Molitor, saying Wednesday the release of his book was scheduled months ago. Eckersley and Molitor accused Rose of hogging their spotlight Tuesday.

“I never intended to diminish the exciting news for these deserving players,” Rose said in a statement. “My publisher worked hard to contain the news of this book until after the Hall of Fame announcements, and we were both upset when a media leak on Sunday caused the news announcement on Monday.”

Rose’s publisher, Rodale Press, originally scheduled a March launch for the book but moved it to today.

Eckersley and Molitor were elected to the Hall of Fame on Tuesday, one day after Sports Illustrated put excerpts of the book on its Web site. The magazine had planned to print excerpts of the book in the issue that hit newsstands Wednesday but moved the release to Monday because news of Rose’s admission began to leak.

“Sports Illustrated and Rodale mutually agreed on Sunday to release the excerpts Monday morning,” a spokesman for the magazine told Associated Press.

In “My Prison Without Bars,” Rose admits to gambling on baseball while manager of the Cincinnati Reds in the 1980s. He was banned for life from baseball in August 1989.

Rose also offered his first public apology Wednesday, saying, “I’m sorry for my actions and for my bad judgment in ever wagering on baseball, and I deeply regret waiting so many years to come clean. I would like to apologize to the fans for abusing their trust, but I thank them all for their continuing faith in me.”

Earlier in the week, Rose showed less contrition in excerpts of his book.

“I’m sure that I’m supposed to act all sorry or sad or guilty now that I’ve accepted that I’ve done something wrong,” Rose wrote. “But you see, I’m just not built that way. So let’s leave it like this: I’m sorry it happened and I’m sorry for all the people, fans and family it hurt. Let’s move on.”