January 05, 2004
Rose Bet on Baseball
The cat is officially out of the bag. ABCNEWS is reporting Rose admits in the interview that he bet on baseball. I don't understand this, however:
The revelation is also expected to be included in Rose's new autobiography, My Prison Without Bars, which is to be released the same day. In his interview with Primetime, Rose says he bet without knowing how drastic the penalties would be.
Rose never heard of the Black Sox? Rose never saw the rules against gambling that I believe are posted in every clubhouse? Please.
By the way, there was a Baseball Prospectus story about Rose being reinstated last August. I reported on it here. That same day, Bob DuPay denied the story. Now, some are saying Rose's admission vindicates the BP story. Not quite. Here's what they said:
Pete Rose and Major League Baseball have reached an agreement that would allow him to return to baseball in 2004, and includes no admission of wrongdoing by Rose, Baseball Prospectus has learned. According to several sources, Rose signed the agreement after a series of pre-season meetings between Rose, Hall of Fame member Mike Schmidt, and at different times, high-level representatives of Major League Baseball, including Bob DuPuy, Major League Baseball's Chief Operating Officer, and Allan H. "Bud" Selig, Commissioner of Major League Baseball.
(Emphasis added.) Obviously, there has been an admission of wrongdoing. Maybe that changed once the story got out. But it does bring into question BP's unnamed source. I'm sure we'll be hearing more from Will and Derek about this.
It depends on how you define wrongdoing. As Stark notes, Rose's remarks fall short of an apology. It's as sincere as someone saying, "I'm sorry if they can't take a joke." If Rose is reinstated based on what we've seen and heard so far, I think BP gets the benefit of the doubt.
I forgot all about that BP report. Funny how it was such a big deal and disaster at the time. Kind of like Sammy's corked bat. I think all that's left of that is a nickname (Corky).
