The FBI has released 130 pages of documents about Pete Rose, Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader, who was banned from the sport for decades because of betting on games.
The documents, which are heavily redacted, include allegations from the 1980s that Rose had ties to people involved in illegal gambling and drug trafficking in Ohio.
Pete Rose and bookie accused of illegal dealings
According to a July 15, 1987 teletype from the FBI’s Cincinnati field office, Franklin police officers alleged that Ronald Peters, owner of Jonathan’s Bar in Franklin, Ohio, “is a major primarily bookmaker, dealing with sport wagering, and a narcotics dealer in the Greater Cincinnati area.” The officers further reported that they had witnessed “prominent sports personalities, Pete Rose, on many occasions entering Peters’s establishment through its private entrance”.
Another source said that Rose wasn’t just a customer but at one point also a silent financial backer. A cooperating defendant told investigators that “among his customers is Cincinnati Reds baseball team manager, Pete Rose,” and that Rose at one point owed Peters “$90,000 in sports wagering losses”.
Agents recorded reports of briefcases “handcuffed to their wrists” being carried into Jonathan’s Bar, with allegations that Peters’ associates escorted “briefcases of money to and from Jonathan’s Bar”.
One FBI summary stated: “It is also alleged that Pete Rose was a silent partner in a bar that Peters operated in Cincinnati before he moved to Franklin”.
Not every source connected Rose directly to drug activity. One informant said he thought Peters was a drug dealer but added, “he is aware that Peters runs a major sports wagering operation in the Cincinnati-Franklin area” and that a business partnership involving Rose collapsed because “Rose’s gambling debts created a financial problem”.
The documents also show that law enforcement was worried local agencies didn’t want to investigate. One FBI report noted “the Franklin Police Department’s refusal to act on this information” and cited “alleged corruption in the Franklin judicial system” as a reason for federal involvement.
The files don’t go as far as proving criminal charges against Rose, who accepted a lifetime ban from Major League Baseball in 1989 for betting on games. He denied for years that he ever bet on baseball, but in 2004 he admitted he had placed wagers while managing the Cincinnati Reds.
Major League Baseball issues policy decision on permanent ineligibility status after death: https://t.co/T4EA7Qyi8e pic.twitter.com/7Byd9syrV5
— MLB (@MLB) May 13, 2025
Earlier this year, MLB ended the long-running controversy by lifting Rose’s ban from the Hall of Fame ballot.
Featured image: Cincinnati Reds / Canva
The post FBI files reveal alleged gambling and narcotics ties involving MLB’s Pete Rose appeared first on ReadWrite.
