Is This The End For Pete Rose's Reinstatement Bid?
NEW YORK (WFAN) -- A bombshell report by ESPN's "Outside the Lines" could prove to be the final blow to Pete Rose's petition for reinstatement to Major League Baseball.
But it won't end the debate.
Rose, as manager of the Cincinnati Reds, was banned for life under late commissioner Bart Giamatti in 1989 for betting on the game, a charge he denied until 2004. Rose maintains he never placed bets as a player, or against his team. But "Outside the Lines" recently unearthed a notebook from associate Michael Bertolini that indicated through written records that Rose gambled on the Reds as an active player-manager in 1986.
Public sentiment appeared to be swinging in favor of Rose, who holds baseball's all-time record of 4,256 hits. Some thought that Commissioner Rob Manfred could feel compelled to grant the 74-year-old reinstatement with this year's All-Star festivities taking place in Cincinnati. Others have said that Rose should be allowed entry to the Hall of Fame, even if he remains on MLB's permanently ineligible list.
Then there are the detractors.
"Reinstating Pete in the game does nothing for the game. It just tarnishes the game," John Dowd, the lead investigator into Rose and author of the Dowd Report, told WFAN radio in March. "He's done nothing to become a credit to the game."
Followers on WFAN's social media pages had mixed reactions:
"I think Pete should be reinstated," Carl Francis wrote on Facebook, "but, Shoeless Joe Jackson's name needs to be cleared first, he had a FAR better case than Pete Rose, and his name belongs in the Hall Of Fame..."
"Nothing will change the opinion of Pete Rose apologists (count how many "change their opinion" on him in this thread)," added David Trimboli. "Maybe Rose will come clean when he has another book to sell (which worked for him in 2004). He's finished."
Another fan, Brian Cosentino, wrote of Rose: "He deserves to be in PERIOD."
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