SACRAMENTO, Calif. (May 28, 1999) – It’s been 10 years since Pete Rose was banned from Major League Baseball, and yet that’s all anyone wants to talk about. At times, it seems that’s all the animated Pete Rose wants to talk about as well. Put a microphone near his face, simply say “hello” and he’ll argue his case with a passion. It’s a never-ending topic of discussion for all, including Rose.
On hand Friday afternoon to throw out the first pitch in the inaugural home opener for the Sacramento Steelheads, an independent Western Baseball League team that is not governed by Major League Baseball, Rose arrived at Union Stadium of Sacramento City College around 5:30. Dressed in a silk black shirt and blue jeans, he was scheduled to appear before the media two hours earlier, but refused the team’s limousine, deciding instead to choose his own form of transportation. On the way to the park, he stopped at a restaurant where he had a bite and a word with Sacramento’s District Attorney.
Rose insists that his stint as special instructor is not an effort to gain public sympathy and support to lift his ban.
“I’m here to try to get the people to come out to the ballpark and hopefully the Steelheads will put on a good show, and people will want to come back. I’m not here for myself. This is for fun.”
Rose also gave the Steelheads some good advice the first time around.
“My advice to these guys is play the game the way (they) did when (they) were eight or nine, because (they’re) having fun. And when you’re having fun, you don’t mind practicing and sacrificing.”
Inevitably, there was a buzz around Union Stadium. Everyone was excited about the opportunity to see Rose, who was also doing his bit with kids among his many duties. And of course, the main topic of conversation among many revolved around his ban from Major League Baseball and the Hall of Fame.
“Of course, I miss the game (at the major league level). But I’m still around (the game). I’ve been going to ball games periodically, and doing this kind of stuff. I’m being paid good money to be here. It’s a good payday. I’m doing well.”
Did Pete Rose bet on baseball? This feature will attempt to prove he did. Does Rose deserve to be in the Hall of Fame? This author will attempt to convince you that he is justly excluded using the established standards of Major League Baseball. Will he ever be in the Hall of Fame? Just read on.
The Pete Rose-Hall of Fame issue has become a hot topic again, as it does every time he makes a public appearance. Rose, banned from all major league related fields, dugouts and press boxes, caused a stir in the Major League baseball’s Commissioner’s Office, which admitted to launching an investigation regarding Rose’s involvement with a minor league team earlier this month.
“The last time I was here (on May 10th), I got in trouble,” Rose stated. “I just came here and (a reporter) asked, ‘why you doing this?’. And I said, ‘well, I did the same thing last week in Rockford, Illinois (home of a Cincinnati Reds farm team). I didn’t do the same thing. What I meant was that I threw the first ball out. I didn’t talk to the players that day like I did here.”
Nowadays, Rose is busy as a part-owner of two restaurants - each named Pete Rose Ballpark Cafe - located in the affluent Boca Raton area of South Florida.
Having still not heard from Commissioner Bud Selig after sending an application for reinstatement “two years ago on Halloween”, Rose is still complaining about his exclusion from the Hall of Fame.
“It’s a sad scenario in my case, but I would have been a lot better off had I been addicted to drugs as opposed to betting on football (he refuses to admit he bet on baseball). I wouldn’t be here right now. If I was manager for the Reds, they would have paid for my rehab. It’s sad to say, but that’s the truth.
“If I had my wish, I’d rather every kid did what I did instead of doing drugs like these guys, because I didn’t hurt anybody. If I bet on a football game and drive home, I’m not going to kill anybody because I didn’t see the road.”
Rose and his supporters are again unsuccessful in their attempt to separate baseball rules from those of society. Nobody is saying or writing that gambling is worse than doing drugs (they’re both vices), but baseball and the Hall of Fame basically have a joint policy regarding gambling.
Whereas other Halls of Fame judge their players only by their on-field activity (like troubled former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor, who will be enshrined this summer), the National Baseball Hall of Fame judges its players by their on-field productivity and off-field activity; so it’s not like baseball is making rules up to keep Rose out. These rules have accompanied Major League Baseball since before the 1919 Black Sox scandal. And of the 14 people permanently banned by baseball, nary has been reinstated.
The 58-year-old Rose, who received 16 more write-in votes for the Hall of Fame this past January, has been even more vocal than usual lately, even once talking about suing Major League Baseball for keeping him on the ineligibility list. This year would have been his seventh year of eligibility.
Fire away he did Friday afternoon in berating a CNN-SI reporter who asked Rose about the purity of the game.
“The purity of the game. . .,” Rose began. “By that you’re interpreting that I bet on baseball. You have to get your facts straight. All you have to do is read the agreement to understand why I was suspended. It drives me absolutely bonkers. It’s been 10 years now, and people still don’t understand. I mean, don’t start talking about suspensions and stuff like that if you don’t know why I was suspended or (about) the agreement, because I’m up to speed on all that. And I’m the wrong guy to talk to because I’ll set you straight and embarrass you in front of your peers. Get the facts straight before you start talking about the purity of the game. No one knows more about the purity of the game than Pete Rose.”
Great speech and all Pete, but every shred of evidence points to you betting on baseball.
Rose claims he's made good on his promise to clean up his act, and should be made eligible for the Hall of Fame.
"When Bart Giamatti suspended me, he told me to change my life. The exact word he used was ‘reconfigure’, Rose said. "I have to believe that reconfiguring my life meant I had to be careful with whom I hung around. I’ve done that. They haven’t done their part.
"I applied for reinstatement and Selig didn’t even reply; not even to say no. Just say no. Nothing.”
Even a decade later, it still begs the question: why would a player destined for immortality and Baseball’s Hall of Fame risk all the honor for a cheap thrill, the shoddy feeling of winning $2,000 on, say, a frivolous game between a pair of non-contending teams in an opposite league.
According to the 225-page report that John Dowd wrote, Rose couldn’t help himself. He is an addict, a compulsive gambler. Apparently, Rose still can’t help himself and is an addict of the first grade, still betting as much as $7,000 at the race track one day last year.
Though now he does not deny he has a problem, he still denies he ever bet on baseball despite the evidence, only saying he should have chosen better people to be around and that the only thing he was guilty of was betting on football.
That’s why he’ll never be in the Hall of Fame.
Upon contacting John Dowd’s law office in Washington D.C., this author asked for and received said confidential report.
It is devastating and demoralizing to any Pete Rose or baseball fan. It’s extremely difficult to imagine that a player with so much verve and love for the game would be so disrespectful of it behind closed doors. It’s as much a shame for him as it is wasted admiration for those who vicariously lived through his youthful exuberance and confidence, tireless desire to win and tremendous work ethic – an ethic that prompted the moniker "Charlie Hustle".
When he said, "I'd go through hell in a gasoline suit to keep playing baseball", everyone from the common man to the avid fan believed him and was able to relate with Pete Rose # 14.
To learn that the man known for headfirst dives and running to first base after walks was not so driven as far as the best interest of baseball was concerned is discouraging to those who finally came to grips with this. And it will also be discouraging to those still in denial who are about to find out.
The memories of the man who possessed that incomparable winning aura (he was a part of more winning games than any man in team sports history) and that pure joy for the game (like the exhilaration he showed after Game Six of the 1975 World Series when he turned to his manager Sparky Anderson and said, "Don’t worry, we’ll win tomorrow, but wasn’t that the greatest game you’ve ever been a part of?") is no longer easy to remember without coming to grips with the fact that he committed baseball’s most cardinal of sins.
It’s obvious Dowd left nothing to chance, scrutinizing everything and everyone, leaving no statement unquestioned or unproved, testing every theory, compiling evidence and confessions at a furious but careful pace and investigating an exhaustive amount of phone bills and bank transactions before finally ascertaining that Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader did bet on baseball.
Dowd, a special counsel for Commissioners Peter Ueberroth and A. Bartlett Giamatti, and his law firm were retained and empowered by the Office of the Commissioner to investigate Rose on February 23rd, 1989 after months of quiet rumors involving Rose’s association with gamblers had reached Commissioner Ueberroth.
Giamatti, the commissioner-elect until he officially began his term on April 1st, grouped Dowd and Major League Baseball’s Director of Security Kevin Hallinan, who unleashed perhaps the most comprehensive investigation in major league history.
Dowd wrote in his report, "Betting on baseball by a participant of the game is corrupt because it erodes and destroys the integrity of the game of baseball. Betting also exposes the game to the influence of forces who seek to control the game to their own ends. Betting on one’s own team gives rise to the ultimate conflict of interest in which the individual player/bettor places his personal financial interest above the interests of the team."
In Dowd’s summary, he wrote, "Pete Rose has denied under oath ever betting on Major League Baseball or associating with anyone who bet on Major League Baseball. However, the investigation has developed evidence to the contrary. The testimony and the documentary evidence gathered in the course of the investigation demonstrates that Pete Rose bet on baseball, and in particular, on games of the Cincinnati Reds Baseball Club, during the 1985, 1986 and 1987 seasons."
Evidence Rose bet on baseball appears as endless as the Ohio River that runs in front of Riverfront Stadium, Rose’s domain and secondary address.
Dowd interrogated Rose, who seemingly crumbled, resorting to lies, false statements and unsubstantiated alibis. Dowd revealed those for what they were – cover-ups.
Rose, who denied ever dealing with or associating with a bookmaker, slipped in providing this insight to Dowd.
"See what you have to realize, John (Dowd) and you probably don’t, I know you don’t. But the majority of bookmakers are crybabies. You know, they could have the biggest weekend in the world and they’re always complaining about the losses. In reality, they’ve got the world by the ass. Because no bookmakers lose."
The report connects Rose, in some fashion or another, to the following people: Tommy Gioiosa, Paul Janszen and his girlfriend Danita Marcum, Ron Peters, an unidentified New York bookmaker, "Val", Steve Chevashore, Mike Bertolini, Joseph Cambra, Jim Procter, Dave Bernstein, and Mike Fry.
Among them are bookmakers, acquaintances of bookmakers, convicted felons, cocaine and steroid dealers – a bunch that Major League Baseball is obviously embarrassed to be associated with.
Also, Dowd discovered yet two more cover-ups. When confronted with a $34,000 check he made to a known bookmaker on March 12th, 1987, Rose said it was to cover gambling losses on the 1987 Super Bowl and the 1987 NCAA basketball tournament. Aside from conflicting with previous testimony that the most he ever bet was $2,000, the NCAA basketball tournament didn’t begin until March 12th.
To what levels did Rose’s habit take him? According to Dowd’s report, Rose was so engulfed with betting that when the Riverfront Stadium out-of-town scoreboard didn’t function, he had Janszen give him "hand signals indicating how Rose stood on his bets" from his complimentary seats behind home plate. When Rose stepped out of the dugout in between innings, "Janzen indicated with his fingers and a thumbs up or down" how many games Rose was winning and losing.
Rose, of course, denied this, telling Dowd, "the scoreboard has never not worked".
A simple phone call to the stadium scoreboard operator revealed the scoreboard was indeed out of order from April-May of the 1987 season.
Dowd proves the poignant extent to which Rose took his addiction. Things were so out in the open in the Reds’ lockerroom that even Mark Stowe, the assistant clubhouse manager of the Reds, knew of Rose’s bets on Major League Baseball and his debts.
In the report, Dowd wrote, "Rose’s admission to the Reds’ assistant clubhouse manager in March 1989 that he was indeed placing bets with Janszen contradicts Rose’s repeated assertions in his deposition that he never bet with Janszen and was not aware of any betting by Janszen".
Another cover-up uncovered.
Rose also admitted to not knowing Cambra, an associate of his, was a bookmaker or that he was convicted of such until two weeks prior to his deposition on April 20th, 1989. And when asked whether Cambra was ever in the Reds’ clubhouse, Rose responded, "Well, it’s all according to what your definition of the clubhouse is". Rose admitted to allowing Cambra in his office, just not the area where the players roamed.
The documentary evidence was also compelling and weighty with repeated gambling sheets of Rose’s daily multiple bets.
Bill Holmes, a retired FBI agent with 20 years of gambling investigations and analysis of gambling records under his belt, helped Dowd in this matter.
Holmes analyzed the betting records of Rose, Janszen and Peters and verified that the betting records reflect actual Major League Baseball games played in 1987, as well as the betting line information pertaining to those games.
Also collected, reviewed and scrutinized for evidence was a swarm of phone bills (from Rose’s home and car, Janszen’s home and car, Gold’s Gym, Reds’ clubhouse, other National League clubhouses, and the hotel bills from the 1987 Reds’ road trips) and other bank records.
Also important to Dowd’s investigation were the phone calls made by Rose to the same numbers and bookies prior to a vast number of Reds games.
Janszen, who placed bets for Rose and was later convicted of dealing drugs, says that Rose at one point owed him $30,000 and refused to pay.
That was small change compared to what Rose owed bookies in New York, the home of the Major League Baseball offices and the Office of the Commissioner.
"Rose was indebted to bookmakers in New York in the sum of $500,000. The manager of a Major League Baseball team is hot commodity to such people."
Bookmakers are disregardful of the rules players have to abide by (like Rule 21 of the Player’s Handbook or the clearly visible MLB sign that greets every visitor who enters major league clubhouses) and are always looking for either information or a player who’s willing to help in other ways.
Here is what Dowd described as "The Key Evidence":
1. a three-page document in Rose’s handwriting
2. Janszen’s notebook which recorded Rose’s betting action from April 7th, 1987-May 3rd, 1987
3. the telephone traffic
4. the betting records of Peters that show baseball betting action on the Reds and other Major League Baseball games by one customer
5. the unguarded statements of Chevashore on tape that contradicted Rose’s statements that Janszen, Chevashore and Val were not involved in sports betting action on the Reds or Major League Baseball for Rose
6. a tape by Bertolini revealing serious questions about Rose’s testimony as well as the "modus operandi employed by Rose to disguise and conceal"
With those findings are also ugly and sad truths of Rose selling "priceless" memorabilia.
Dowd documented that Rose faked losing his 1975 World Series ring in order to give one to Cambra. Dowd documented Rose sold the beautiful red Corvette given to him by General Motors for surpassing Ty Cobb as the greatest hits maker in history. Dowd also documented Rose actually made transactions within the holy confines of the Reds’ clubhouse, that he promised to use the 4192 Mizuno bat that he broke Cobb’s record with to settle up a bet, then later sold said bat and the historic ball to another gambling associate. Unbelievable!
It should be made clear, however, that it was never proven that Rose ever bet against his own team. In fact, it became clear through talking with all the bookmakers that Rose never bet against his team.
Dowd’s investigation and findings were prepared into the confidential report that was sent to Giamatti on May 9th, 1989. Dowd’s report convinced Giamatti of what he already knew and feared.
Giamatti sat down with Rose, who settled for a lifetime ban, with the rights to ask for reinstatement after one year. (But the following August, Rose was beginning a five-month prison term for felony charges of twice concealing income on federal tax returns.)
On August 24th, Giamatti made it official with the chilling words that no baseball aficionado can ever forget:
"In the absence of a hearing and therefore in the absence of evidence to the contrary … I am confronted by the factual record of Mr. Dowd. On the basis of that, yes, I have concluded he bet on baseball.
"The Matter of Mr. Rose is now closed. Let no one think it did not hurt baseball. That hurt will pass, however, as the great glory of the game asserts itself and a resilient institution goes forward. Let it also be clear that no individual is superior to the game."
Sadly, the former president of Yale University who was already receiving praise for being among the strongest and best potential commissioners in baseball history, passed away eight days later of a heart attack.
Dowd said the Rose case was stressful on Giamatti, but not necessarily the cause for his heart attack.
"I don’t think so. I’m not sure; I’m no doctor. But you also have to remember Bart worked hard all the time. He was always working. He probably would have had it anyway."
Giamatti was able to complete just five months of his five-year term. Major League Baseball has missed him ever since. His right-hand man Fay Vincent took over but was forced out after just three years.
"And believe me, if I'd have known Giamatti was gonna die five days later, I'd have never signed that agreement," added Rose, whose 29-year-old son Pete Rose, Jr. played briefly for the Reds in September of 1997.
Had Rose admitted to his problem, Dowd said that Giamatti was willing to help the Reds manager and give him an out.
It was an offered “out” that baseball’s first commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis never gave Shoeless Joe Jackson, the great left fielder who was among the eight Chicago White Sox banned for life for fixing to throw the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds.
"It would have helped a great deal. All Pete had to do was come forward and admit his problem, and Bart would have suspended him (for a few years) and let him back in."
And with Rose’s lofty credentials – all-time leader in hits (4,256 hits), games played (3,562) and at-bats (14,053), total bases by a switch-hitter (5,752), and three world championships – he would have been in the Hall of Fame today.
“The three most important things to me were hits, wins and runs scored,” said Rose, who said he thought he deserved to finish higher than 25th in THE SPORTING NEWS’ TOP 100 PLAYERS OF THE CENTURY. “I finished first in hits, won more games than anybody and was second in runs. Two out of three ain’t bad.”
Giamatti even tried to get some of Pete’s teammates or friends on the field to help him or convince him to come forward. But as it turned out, no players considered Rose a friend.
"They all tried befriending him, but he, I guess, had his own friends," Dowd told this author. "As you well know, we talked to Sparky Anderson about this."
In Dowd’s report, Sparky said, "I love Pete like my son, but he didn’t love me".
But Rose denied he had a problem and also denied he ever bet on the game, making those denials without choosing to publicly defend himself.
"I will tell my side of the story in the very near future," said Rose at the historic press conference that Giamatti chose to announce the ban.
That future came in the form of a book Pete Rose: My Story. In the book written by Roger Kahn, Kahn wrote, "By the time Rose did say he never bet baseball, months of no comment had eroded his credibility. One is innocent until proven guilty, except when one declines to protest one’s innocence. Then legal concepts fade and blur and extralegal concepts materialize. ‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.’ Or, as Johnny Bench asked, ‘Why can’t he just say he hasn’t bet on baseball?’"
When asked Friday why he doesn’t just come forward and admit to the problem, Rose had a different answer: “I did. Didn’t you see me on the Donahue show?”.
However in SPORT Magazine earlier this year, Rose denied he ever had a “sickness” as he had stated on the Donahue show.
“(Saying I had a sickness on the Donahue show) was the worst thing I ever did,” Rose said. “My lawyers told me to say that because the judge in the court might be watching and he would take that into consideration."
So which is it Pete?
The book went on to tarnish the reputation of those who testified against Rose, also attacking Dowd’s statement on page 223 that stated Peters, Janszen and Fry had "engaged in the most painful act of integrity - the admission of illegal acts" and had nothing to gain.
Kahn fired back.
"Blowing smoke past Sports Illustrated and the others, Dowd says a guilty plea is ‘a painful act of integrity’. … Not when you’re plea bargaining, sir. Putting the names of Peters and Janszen in the same paragraph as the word integrity, Mr. Dowd, strikes some of us non-lawyers, who value words, as obscenity. Peters had nothing to gain? Dowd cut a deal."
But what Rose and his defendants might have a lot of trouble explaining is why Major League Baseball would do this to him.
Major League Baseball would never have banned Rose unless it was sure that he bet on baseball. What motive would Major League Baseball have in embarrassing itself like this? Banning Pete Rose, one of the game’s most beloved, imitated and followed characters, is not exactly a good public relations move.
To this day, Rose still has fans and writers who support him, perhaps not allowing the gambling issue to cloud their perception of "Charlie Hustle", the man they may have used as an inspiration in whatever field they may be in … teaching, law, medical, custodial, engineering, journalism, athletic…
Even a few writers who have the power to give Rose a Hall of Fame vote have said they would, if they could. However, for that very reason, on February 4th, 1991, a dozen Hall of Fame directors voted unanimously to permanently ban ineligible persons from the ballot until they are reinstated to baseball.
In this case against Peter Edward Rose, the only aspect Major League Baseball could be accused of is covering all its bases. And for once, number 14 didn’t.
» Mike Attiyeh is a published baseball historian whose works have appeared in such publications as Baseball Digest, Pirate Report, Birch Brook Press publications, and Muscle Magazine International. Attiyeh is best recognized nationally for breaking the story of Tony Gwynn's blood clot in September of 1997. Aside from conducting interviews and writing features, Attiyeh served as editor for ESPN SportsTicker, and as Sports News Director for SportsExtra and Today's Communications.
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Copyright © 1999 by Mike Attiyeh. Posted July 19, 2001.
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