I should preface this by saying that I didn't actually see Pete Rose on Letterman, I've only read the accounts of what happened.
That being said, it'd be really nice if Rose would stop embarassing the city of Cincinnati, which really loves him too damn much for what he's done in the past twenty years. I understand greed, and I think most people do, but I don't understand being greedy enough to do something like Pete did by signing all those baseballs saying "I'm sorry I bet on baseball". Everything he does at this point is just digging a deeper hole, and I'm not sure I've ever seen a celebrity (using that term loosely) who could more use the services of a public relations person. Here's some of what Pete talked about on Letterman:
When host David Letterman asked whether he used performance-enhancing drugs as a player, baseball's hit king said he never did, but when prodded about "greenies" - amphetamines - Rose said he used them as "diet pills."Letterman then asked whether the pills ever helped him ward off fatigue.
"No, not like steroids," Rose replied. "If I took steroids, I'd have gotten 5,000 damn hits."
Letterman asked Rose who he likes in this year's playoffs.
"You sound like you're betting on baseball," Rose said, drawing laughter and applause. [...] Rose also explained the story behind the balls he signed with the words "I'm sorry I bet on baseball" that hit the market last month.
He said he signed the balls in 2005 for a friend who planned to keep them for 10 or 15 years. But the friend passed them on to a partner, and they wound up in the hands of a collector who put them up for auction - prompting Rose to sign and market his own apology balls.
Sure Pete. Like I'm going to believe anything you say ever again. He really must be hurting for cash, because he'd be way better off just shutting up at this point.
Update: Here's a clip: