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    • ‘I wanted to save Piet’
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    ‘I wanted to save Piet’

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    Cincinnati Reds legend Johnny Bench discussed Pete Rose’s career and legacy on “The Dan Patrick Show” on Tuesday.

    Bench, who was an integral part of Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine along with Rose, said he just missed seeing Rose this weekend. They both attended Music City’s sports collectibles and autograph show, but Bench went Saturday while Rose and other former Reds legends went Sunday.

    Rose sat in a wheelchair as he posed for a photo during the show with former teammates Dave Concepcion, George Foster, Tony Pérez and Ken Griffey Sr. After hearing that Rose appeared to be in poor health, Bench said he planned to contact his fellow Reds Hall of Famer.

    Rose, 83, was found dead Monday at his home in Clark County, Nevada, according to officials there.

    Rose, the MLB all-time leader with 4,256, was banned from baseball in 1989 for gambling while managing his hometown Reds. Bench said he and his fellow Reds teammates did everything they could to help Rose.

    “To think he’s made it to base almost 6,000 times. 6,000 times. I mean, there’s no one like him. … Damn why? Why? You stand up and wonder why all this happened,” Bench said, later adding that adrenaline likely led to Rose’s gambling problems.

    ‘Let’s be honest. We talk about alcoholism. I see kids using drugs all the time. It’s hard for them to get off,” Bench said. “Gambling is an addiction. Let’s face it. We know it is and it was for him. But he needed it. He wanted it. He wanted to compete.”

    Bench, who wore a “Pete and Johnny Show” T-shirt as he spoke with Patrick, praised Rose’s baseball career Tuesday and said he didn’t think anyone loved the sport anymore. But the Cincinnati native’s off-field issues have become a dark cloud over his legacy.

    “I’m absolutely devastated. I even cried because I didn’t want this to happen. I didn’t want this to happen to Pete,” Bench said. “I wanted to save Pete. Yes, we had our differences. We clashed over things. There wasn’t a single time we didn’t shake hands or hug each other when we saw each other. I just didn’t want to.” I didn’t want this to be a part of baseball. But more importantly, Pete gave to us all, yet this disease, this addiction was too much for him to overcome.”

    Over the years, Bench has not hesitated to criticize Rose, knowing that Rose broke one of the most important rules of baseball. Yet he still went to former MLB commissioner Bud Selig several times to support him.

    “I was buried in Cincinnati because I didn’t support Pete,” Bench said.

    “Tony Pérez to Joe Morgan, there wasn’t one of us that didn’t say to Pete, ‘Come on, let’s do this,’” Bench said. “It’s sad (we have to relive his legacy with the gambling part of it instead of) the four-two-hundred-and-a-million-hit legacy … and the desire to make everyone better. Everywhere he went, he made everyone better.”

    (This story is being updated.)

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