Yet Another Pete Rose Bombshell

No man was more excited about the retirement of former Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig more than Pete Rose. Rose has been banned from Major League Baseball after betting on baseball as a manager of the Cincinnati Reds and also as a player for the same club. Rose almost immediately asked that new Commissioner of Major League Baseball Rob Manfred to review his application for reinstatement and a face-to-face meeting. The deck was already stacked against Rose after the initial investigation into his gambling problem but now it's not just the jokers being removed from the deck for Rose, it's the aces too.

Major League Baseball's all-time hit king has been accused of committing statutory rape not only as a player but also as a member for the Reds. Wow, how the mighty have fallen. Former Rose associate Michael Bertolini admitted to "running down young girls" for Rose in Spring Training as young as 12-14 years old. Rose obviously denied the allegations almost immediately but this has to be the straw that breaks the camels back for his application and potential reinstatement into the league, doesn't it?

In a July 13th interview with WCHE the man who investigated Rose originally, John Dowd, broke the news of these allegations. Here is the exact quote and HERE is the link to the interview:

Q: Do you find Pete a likable person? Did you see the window inside his soul?

Dowd: "Ah, no. I don't. I've been asked that question whether he had any moral bearings at all and the answer is no. There's a lot of other activity. ... Michael Bertolini told us that not only did he run bets, but he ran young girls for him down in spring training. Ages 12-14. Isn't that lovely? So that's statutory rape every time you do that. So he's just not the kind of person that I find very attractive. He's a street guy.

"Did I get along with him? Yes. If I'd had gotten him alone do I think could have brought him around? Yes. He knew we had him. When I played the tapes for him and also showed him the betting slips and fingerprints, he turned green and gray. I mean, I thought he was going to go over in that disposition I took of him. He knew he was a goner. And then he chisels. He gets this book and defrauds the publisher a million bucks. The guy only sold 40,000 copies, so he lost a million. He says, 'I wanna come clean.' He didn't come clean."

Pete Rose Investigator Says Keep Rose out of Game

The Pete Rose subject and whether to reinstate him or keep him banned from baseball for life is a touchy subject and one that is prone to incite rioting and arguments among baseball fans regardless of their team affiliations. Some, including myself, see a different society today where sports betting is not frowned upon and see little wrong with what Rose did in the grand scheme of things. He wasn’t throwing games, he was trying to win games, and did not alter the game in any shape or form on days he bet then on days when he didn’t. Some still think he disgraced the game and shouldn’t be allowed back into the game ever including one investigator who

We all know the rule, Major League Baseball Constitution, Rule 21, Section (d) subsection (2). You don’t bet on the game of baseball while you’re employed by Major League Baseball. Rose screwed up and no one can or will deny that. Especially John Dowd, the former special counsel to the Commissioner of Baseball, the man hired to probe the gambling allegations and the man who led the investigation who interviewed him for two days straight recently. The fact that Rose could have wiped his slate clean had he admitted to the betting back in 1989. If the league was willing to let Rose get by with just therapy then, why is this such an issue and such a legal hurdle now?

Dowd uses terms like “traitor” and “disgraced the game of baseball” like Rose was Shoeless Joe Jackson and it’s an absolute shame. Pete Rose in no way should be the poster child for Major League Baseball but he shouldn’t be the black sheep either.

I have a feeling this story isn’t going to be going away any time soon Yankees family. Whether you’re on the side of reinstatement or upholding the lifetime ban I think we are all going to be sick and tired of hearing about it before it is all said and done.