General Discussion

Rose was accused of having a relationship with a girl in Cincinnati for several years starting in 1973. The woman said her relationship with Rose started before she had turned 16, which was below the age of consent at the time in Ohio.

“Sometime after that, Pete Rose and I began meeting at a house in Cincinnati,” the woman said in a sworn statement in 2017, via the Inquirer. “It was at that house where, before my 16th birthday, Pete Rose began a sexual relationship with me. This sexual relationship lasted for several years. Pete Rose also met me in locations outside of Ohio where we had sex.”

Rose also said in court filings, per the report, that he had sex with the woman but believed that she was 16 at the time. Rose was 32 years old in 1973, and was married with two children.

Dowd, whose Dowd Report led to Rose's banishment from baseball in 1989, claimed Michael Bertolini, who booked Rose's bets and sold Rose memorabilia, told baseball investigators that year Rose had committed "statutory rape" with girls as young as 12 during spring training.

Dowd made his accusation against Rose on WCHE Radio in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2015: "Michael Bertolini told us that not only did he run bets, but he ran young girls for (Rose) down in spring training," Dowd said on WCHE. "Ages 12-14. Isn't that lovely? So that's statutory rape every time you do that."