Rose was in attendance as the team celebrated the Phillies’ 1980 World Series championship team and other former players. The incidents first came to light in 2017. A woman, who remained anonymous, said Rose, then a member of the Cincinnati Reds, began a relationship with her in 1973, when he was 14 and 15 years old. They later allegedly had sexual relations in Cincinnati that lasted several years. She also claimed that Rose met her at locations outside of Ohio for sex. At the time, Rose was in his 30s and married with two children. Rose’s lawyer had said the woman’s claims have not been verified. Rose said in 2017 that he did have a relationship with the woman, but said it started when he was 16. He also said they never had sex outside of Ohio, where the age of consent was 16. The Phillies had planned to honor Rose in 2017, but scrapped those plans when the allegations surfaced. Addressing the issue on Sunday, Rose dismissed it. “That was 55 years ago, baby,” Rose told Alex Coffey, a female baseball writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Who cares what happened 50 years ago?” Rose said. “You weren’t even born. So you shouldn’t talk about it, because you weren’t born. If you don’t know anything about it, don’t talk about it.” He later rebuffed an AP reporter with similar questions. Rose, now 81, declined to answer any further questions on board. The reporter took to Twitter later on Sunday and claimed that Rose asked her if she had offended her and offered to “sign 1,000 baseballs” for forgiveness. She claimed he said he “felt sorry” for her. Rose received a lifetime ban from Major League Baseball in August 1989 for betting on his Cincinnati Reds team when he was a player/coach. Rose received a standing ovation from Phillies fans when he walked onto the field at Citizens Bank Park on Sunday. He had 826 of his MLB record 4,256 hits during his five years with the Phillies from 1979 to 1983.
