Pete Rose apologizes for 'beating my wife,' drugs and drinking remarks

Pete Rose apologized for remarks comparing MLB's PEDs suspensions with his lifetime ban. (Joey Foley/Getty Images)

Pete Rose recently made headlines Monday for his take on Major League Baseball's suspensions of players linked to performance enhancing drugs via the Biogenesis scandal. In comparing Alex Rodriguez's 211-game ban, Rose, who began serving a lifetime ban in 1989 for gambling on his team while managing the Reds, said said he "picked the wrong vice." The all-time hits leader suggested that he would have faced a lesser MLB sentence if he had abused alcohol or drugs, or beat his wife or girlfriend.

Furor over that quote caused Rose to issue an apology Tuesday.

From CBS Pittsburgh:

“If I've learned anything over the past 24 years since my banishment from baseball, it's to own up to my failures right away. I was feeling sorry for myself when I compared my vice to others, including abuse and drinking. Of course, all vices are not to be excused. I know gambling almost destroyed baseball and I have accepted the way Commissioners Giamatti, Vincent and Selig acted toward me.”

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The comments that got the all-time hits leader in hot water include:

"... And to be honest with you, I picked the wrong vice. I should have picked alcohol. I should have picked drugs or I should have picked up beating up my wife or girlfriend because if you do those three, you get a second chance. They haven't given too many gamblers a second chances in the world of baseball."