John Dowd on Pete Rose

[C.Rector]

Here's an interesting read on the Rose mess by the man who investigated him for MLB:

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?p...9&notFound=true

 

 

The Deal Pete Rose Didn't Take

 

By John M. Dowd

Sunday, January 11, 2004; Page B03

 

Pete Rose's baseball career has Hall of Fame written all over it. He pounded out 4,256 base hits in his 24 seasons, more than any other player, and held 19 major league records when he retired. His lust for the game was equaled, perhaps, only by his passion for gambling on sports. Last week, he reversed more than 14 years of denials when he admitted in a new autobiography that he had placed bets on the team he was managing.

Click here!

 

In the book, Rose renews his criticism of both the man who banished him from baseball, then-commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti, and the investigation that Giamatti ordered. Outlook asked John M. Dowd, a former Justice Department prosecutor hired by Giamatti to conduct the investigation, for his reaction to last week's events. Dowd is a criminal defense lawyer in Washington.

 

I knew Bart Giamatti for only six months. On Feb. 23, 1989, he retained me as the special counsel to investigate Pete Rose's gambling activities. I last saw Bart on Aug. 24, 1989, the day he threw Pete Rose out of baseball forever for betting on games of the Cincinnati Reds from 1985 to 1987, when Pete was the Reds manager. I talked to Bart every day during those six months. He treated me like a son. He called me Saint John.

 

When Bart hired me, he told me there would be no secrets. He directed me to keep Rose and his lawyers apprised of the progress of my inquiry. I did. Bart told me that whatever I found, the world would see. But that would come later. First, we engaged in a very private and intense round of discussions with Pete and his advisers, much of which has never been revealed in detail.

 

After a month of investigation, I had all the evidence now memorialized in my 225-page report. The evidence was overwhelming. He had violated one of baseball's most sacred rules -- rules meant to preserve the integrity of the game, rules intended to assure its fans that the competition on the field is free of taint. I shared all the facts with Rose's lawyers. Then Bart directed me to lay out the evidence directly to Rose in a deposition. Bart wanted Pete to see and hear all of the hard evidence. Bart instructed me not to confront Pete, but simply to present the evidence and get his responses to it. Pete lied and denied. It was a hard two days for Pete Rose.

 

Following that deposition, with the facts in hand, Bart directed me to find a resolution. I spent an entire month meeting with Pete's lawyers. Bart and I agreed on the fundamental points of such a resolution: Pete would have to reconfigure his life. He would have to stop betting. He would have to make a candid response to all of the hard evidence. He would have to explain his association with all of the characters in the betting operation. He would have to submit to, and complete, a full rehabilitation. During his rehabilitation, he would be removed from the game of baseball.

 

I had been advised by federal authorities that if Rose agreed to these terms, he would not be prosecuted for tax evasion but would have to pay all taxes, interest and penalties due. Upon successful completion of his rehabilitation, he would have been readmitted to the game of baseball and could receive all honors which come with achievement and good conduct. He would have been eligible, if chosen, for admission to the Hall of Fame.

 

I worked for a month with Pete's counsel. They tried but could not get Pete to admit the truth. They asked if I would meet with him alone and talk to him. They believed I could bring him around. Bart approved and I agreed to talk to Pete. But Pete's agent vetoed the meeting.

 

We were at complete loggerheads. Pete's criminal counsel wanted the resolution we were working on but his agent would not budge. Bart, then-deputy commissioner Fay Vincent and I met with Pete's agent. He told us that Pete was a legend and would not admit to any of the allegations. It was a short meeting.

 

I then tried to find some friends of Pete's -- Reds teammates -- we could call upon to reach out and help him in his obvious time of need. I was told Pete had no friends in baseball.

 

The rest is history -- a very public history. We wrote the report. It was given to Bart and to Pete. Bart ordered Pete to come to a hearing. Bart asked me to turn over my files to Rose's lawyers and to make available all 110 witness for interview. I did. Pete and his counsel did not interview or take the testimony of any of the witnesses. Pete refused to appear for a hearing or present any evidence on his own behalf.

 

Instead, Rose sued the commissioner, in violation of his own baseball contract. He lost in the courts and agreed to be banned forever from the game of baseball. Nine days after the announcement, we lost Bart forever when he died of a heart attack at the age of 51. But we did not lose his high standards and his love of the game.

 

Pete has now admitted that he bet on games while managing the Reds. That meets one of the conditions we discussed 14 years ago. But the question that remains is: Has he reconfigured his life?

[YASNY]

It sounds like that they gave Rose every chance in the world to do the right thing, and due to the advice of his agent and his own lack of integrity, he missed the chance. He can stay in his "Prison Without Bars" as far as I'm concerned.

[C.Rector]

Here's another interesting article on the Rose mess:

 

http://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/cont...25bbinside.html

 

 

 

BASEBALL INSIDER

Phillies' exec: Rose hurt his chances

 

By Hal McCoy

Dayton Daily News

Sunday, January 25, 2004

 

Bill Giles was executive vice president of the Philadelphia Phillies when Pete Rose was a free agent before the 1979 season. Rose was making a rock star-type tour of the country, offering his services.

 

It was like The Price is Right, and Rose was up for bids. Gussie Busch offered a Budweiser beer distributorship if he signed with St. Louis. Pittsburgh's John Galbreath offered a race horse if he signed with the Pirates.

 

Giles and the Phillies didn't offer the Liberty Bell or a lifetime supply of Tastykakes, but Rose signed with Philadelphia.

 

And through 14 years of lies and deceit by Rose involving his gambling on baseball, Giles was loyal to The Hit King. But even though he is one of Rose's biggest fans, and a friend, Giles says Rose hurt himself badly with his orchestrated confession and book tour.

 

"I was pulling for Pete and agreeing with (commissioner) Bud Selig that Pete should be eligible for the Hall of Fame," said Giles, now chairman of the Phillies. "Bud was close to making him eligible right after his meeting with Pete (November 2002). Right after that, Pete got into tax trouble (in California), and that delayed the process.

 

"The last couple of weeks with the book hurt," Giles added. "I don't know where Bud is on this right now, but I'd say he's less likely than before. I thought Pete would make it to the Hall. Now I'm very doubtful he'll make it in."

 

Rose's book, one of many with his name attached over the years, brings back a memory from the 1970s when the first book with his name on it appeared. Said Rose, "I've written a book before I ever read one."

 

On that occasion, he probably wasn't lying.

 

 

 

HEY, LOOK AT ME

 

Pitcher Scott Erickson isn't on a Rose-type tour, but he did stage an audition for his services last Tuesday in Phoenix. Eleven teams were there, including the Reds and Cleveland Indians.

 

Erickson threw 50 pitches that included fastballs from 84 to 87 mph, a sharp slider at 78, a curve at 70 and a new split-finger pitch.

 

Speaking of Cleveland, the Tribe has invited 25 nonroster players to their major-league camp, including former Reds pitchers Jason Bere, Giovanni Carrara and Mark Wohlers.

 

 

 

PIECES OF SANTO

 

Despite losing both legs to diabetes, Chicago Cubs broadcaster and former third baseman Ron Santo maintains his vigor and sense of humor. The Cubs offered to limit his radio work to only home games this year, but Santo said he wants to do them all.

 

He was a huge hit at the annual Cubs Convention and said, "A friend said to me, 'Everyone wants a piece of Ron Santo.' My wife said, 'Well, there's not much left.' "

 

 

 

THE NEXT BEST

 

Royce Clayton's wife, Samantha, gave birth to the couple's first child, and genes indicate the kid could be the family's best athlete. Colorado's Clayton has played 12 years in the majors, and Samantha is an Olympic sprinter from Great Britain. She ran the 200 meters in the 2000 Games at Sydney. She'll skip this year's Olympics but hopes to return in 2008.

 

When Clayton signed with Milwaukee a year ago, GM Doug Melvin said, "I think we've signed the second-best athlete in the family."

 

Royce could be third now.

 

 

 

WHITE GOES WEST

 

Springfield's Rick White wanted badly to pitch close to home, and he contacted the Reds and Indians. Neither team bit.

 

So White, who has a 4.17 ERA and 12 saves after 11 seasons as a starter/reliever, signed a minor-league deal with the Dodgers that includes an invite to major-league camp. . . . And he's about as far from Springfield as he could get.

 

 

 

A NEW WELLS?

 

Pitcher David Wells, author of the book Perfect I'm Not, appears serious about his season in hometown San Diego. When he was with the Yankees, the 40-year-old left-hander spent many nights prowling New York bistros and said in his book he pitched a perfect game with a hangover.

 

Wells, though, showed up at 7:30 a.m. one day last week at new Petco Park to work out, but he had to call security to open the gates. He is 20 pounds lighter than last year when the Yankee pinstripes made him look like a globe with longitude lines.

 

 

 

YANKEES AREN'T VISITORS

 

Speaking of pinstripes, for some reason when the Yankees and Tampa Bay play their season-opening series in Japan, the Devil Rays are designated as the home team. But the only thing that means is that they'll bat in the bottom half of each inning.

 

The Yankees are the attraction, and plans call for them to wear their home pinstripes and to occupy the home dugout so Japanese-born Hideki Matsui can make a storybook return to his native land.

 

 

 

FANS AMAZE DUSTY

 

When Dusty Baker was asked about the most amazing thing he saw in his first year of managing the Chicago Cubs, he didn't mention winning the NL Central or his amazing pitching staff or the fan interference that helped cost the Cubs the NLCS against the Florida Marlins.

 

He mentioned the Cubs fans, especially the ones who stagger home after games.

 

"Now that was amazing," he said. "Seven or eight people, locked arm-in-arm sometimes, holding each other up. Those people have a good time. This town has the best time I've ever seen people have on a daily basis, and the weather doesn't stop them. People don't complain about it. I find that pretty amazing."

 

Baker should know what Cubs fans have endured, and the many bars surrounding Wrigley are perfect places to drown sorrow.

 

 

 

SELIG MIGHT STAY

 

When Selig said he might retire as commissioner after his contract expires in 2006, some owners asked him not to do it. Now that the Milwaukee Brewers are up for sale and Selig won't be part of the franchise's ownership (his 26 percent interest in the Brewers went into a voting trust when he became commissioner), he is reconsidering retirement.

 

"I promised the owners I wouldn't say that again (leave after 2006), so I won't," Selig said.

 

That's probably awful news for Pete Rose.

 

 

 

Contact Hal McCoy at [email protected]

[SuperSteve]

Just shows you how full of himself Pete Rose is. I say he should never be let back into baseball. He could have done the right thing and been honest, a long time ago, but he decided to act like he was not treated fairly.

[southsider2k5]

So if the guy goes the teary eyed Bill Clinton route, he is in the Hall, and none of this ever happens. Good job Pete, you reaped what you sowed.

[greasywheels121]

Saw a couple notes on ex-Sox players in that 2nd article. Did Clayton ever end up signing w/ the Rockies? Rick White signed a minor league deal w/ LA.

[SuperSteve]

Did Clayton ever end up signing w/ the Rockies?

Yes.

[BrandoFan]

I don't think Rose should have been let in even IF he had confessed. No way, some crimes are too serious.

 

Now? Please....His supporters should stop embarassing themselves making a "case" for him.

 

His longevity (afterall, people DO realize he was WAS an overrated player) put him in the record books. His place in history is guaranteed.

 

HOF? No. At least not in the bastard's lifetime.

 

Next.