“The banishment for life of Pete Rose from baseball is the sad end of a sorry episode. One of the game’s greatest players has engaged in a variety of acts which have stained the game, and he must now live with the consequences of those acts. By choosing not to come to a hearing before me, and by choosing not to proffer any testimony or evidence contrary to the evidence and information contained in the report of the Special Counsel to the Commissioner, Mr. Rose has accepted baseball’s ultimate sanction, lifetime ineligibility.”

Statement by then Commissioner
of Baseball, A. Bartlett Giamatti,
August 24, 1989

Well after Pete Rose’s public admission of betting on the Reds every night to win, John Dowd, of the Dowd Report, came out and said that Rose didn’t bet to win every night.

“When (Mario) Soto and (Bill) Gullickson pitched, he didn’t bet on the Reds,” Dowd said on Thursday, when reached at his Washington, D.C. office. “We only put in the report what we could find and corroborate three different ways.”

MLB hasn’t made any public comments yet and there is no word on whether or not the Reds will continue with the Rose’s exhibit at their Hall of Fame. Rose is also missing and hasn’t commented since his appearance on “The Big Show.”

What is strange to me is that while he said it in his book, “My Prison Without Bars,” he had never publicly admitted it. He said that he told Bud Selig that he bet every night but Dowd disputes that too. It was funny too because after listening to the interview a few times, Keith Olbermann had been making a point about what he said in the book and Rose corrected him because what Olbermann said wasn’t the truth. That’s when Rose made the startling announcement.

Kevin Youkilis, who grew up in Cincinnati had this to say:

“The whole thing is a bad situation,” Youkilis said. “Betting on baseball isn’t right in any aspect. It’s a league rule. You’re not supposed to do it. If there’s a plus side, it’s you bet on your team every night to win. But being the manager, if you bet against, that could be a problem. But either way, it’s wrong; it’s not the right thing to do.

“There must be something there for him to come out publicly. I know it’s all a black eye for baseball,” he added. “I just wish he could get in the Hall of Fame and get it over with. . . . In Cincinnati, he’s such an idol to lots of kids growing up, and adults. It’s going to be something that’s going to be talked about. For the people there, it’s an ongoing, lingering thing. They just want it to be resolved.”

“For me, I still respect Pete Rose as a ballplayer for what he did for the game of baseball, what he did on the field. For me, he was an inspiration to me growing up playing baseball. To say I’d be the same player without Pete Rose, maybe not,” Youkilis said. “Growing up, watching him play, and how hard he played, with fathers and coaches teaching you, ‘Hey, you’ve got to play hard, you’ve got to play like Pete Rose. You’ve got to hustle.’

“He was a motivator. On the field, from gametime until the game ended with the last pitch, he motivated people to play the game of baseball. For me, I don’t look at all the stuff he did outside of baseball. I look at everything he did on the field. Us baseball players, we’re role models as players. We’re not all perfect people off the field.”

“I still think he should be in,” said Youkilis, who has met the legend. “There’s a lot of guys who have had a lot of problems . . . third and fourth chances. Guys on drugs. They go on rehab and come back. I think he once said it best: ‘If I was an alcoholic or a drug addict, I’d have a chance. But I’m not.’ ”

Well we know you drink Youk judging by the picture.

For me, I think he really is desperate to get in the Hall of Fame. Maybe in his brain, he thinks that coming clean will save his ass. Very doubtful though, when you say you broke a Major League Baseball rule on a 162 nights and not 58 or so like the Dowd Report says. As I said on the radio show the other night, at least he didn’t break the cardinal rule of betting, “Never bet against your own team.”

Here are the links to the Dowd Report. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Agreement