Pete Rose trolls Shohei Ohtani with autograph signing: ‘I wish I had an interpreter’

The recent betting scandal involving Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, has grabbed many of the recent headlines in the baseball world.

However, it has also brought back memories of the betting scandal that got Pete Rose banned from baseball. Rose was banned in 1989 when it was revealed he had bet on games while managing the Cincinnati Reds.

Recently, Rose was signing autographs in St. Paul, Minnesota, and he trolled Ohtani by leaving some funny messages on the baseballs he was signing.

Some of the autographed balls included messages that said, “Sorry I bet on baseball.” and “Ohtani is sorry also.” He also signed a few balls with a message that read, “I wish I had an interpreter.” This of course harkens back to when Rose said “I’d be scot-free” if he had an interpreter back in the 1980s, believing Ohtani is not innocent.

Rose still clearly believes that Ohtani is not an innocent man, despite what federal investigators are saying.

The investigation of Mizuhara is still ongoing, and it appears as though Major League Baseball will wait until his case is closed before deciding if they’ll investigate Ohtani.

The all-time hits leader has at least taken responsibility for his actions back in the 1980s and has admitted that he indeed bet on baseball. But he wasn’t about to let everybody else drag him down while giving Ohtani praise.

Whether or not Ohtani was involved in this scandal is unknown at the moment, but it’s obvious where the hit king stands on this issue, and that he believes Mizuhara is simply covering for Ohtani.

We’ll see what comes of this in the next few weeks. Rose clearly still holds true to his opinion that if he had an interpreter in the 70s and 80s, he would indeed be scot-free.