Rose Suspended for 30 Days : Reds Manager Is Also Fined, Says He’ll Appeal

President Bart Giamatti of the National League suspended Cincinnati Reds Manager Pete Rose Monday for 30 days--the longest ban of a manager in 41 years--for shoving umpire Dave Pallone during Saturday night’s game against the New York Mets.

In a statement released in New York, Giamatti called the incident, in which Rose twice shoved Pallone while arguing a call at first base, an “extremely ugly situation” and “one of the worst in baseball’s recent memory.”

Giamatti also fined Rose a “substantial amount,” but refused further comment, and the league office would not specify the amount of the fine.

The suspension is the longest for a manager since Brooklyn Dodgers Manager Leo Durocher was suspended for a year in 1947 by then-Commissioner A.B. (Happy) Chandler for allegedly consorting with gamblers. Chandler said he was suspending Durocher for “incidents detrimental to baseball.”

Rose released a statement Monday in Cincinnati saying he will appeal the suspension.

“No player or manager has greater respect for the umpires than I do, and I have demonstrated that over the years,” Rose said in the statement. “But I am shocked at the length of the suspension I received.

“While I expected to be suspended, I feel that this unprecedented 30 days is excessive.

“I also feel that I should have been given the right to give my side of the matter to the league president. The umpire certainly presented his side. In light of this , I have no choice but to appeal the decision,” he said.

Since he appealed, Rose can continue to manage the Reds until a decision is rendered. If the appeal is denied, the suspension would begin immediately thereafter.

Jim Ferguson, a spokesman for the Reds, said that Rose had not planned to manage the team Monday in any case because he had undergone arthroscopic knee surgery earlier in the day.

Tommy Helms, a Cincinnati coach since 1982 and Rose’s top assistant in the dugout, was running the Reds Monday night.

Giamatti also criticized Reds’ radio announcers Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall for making “inflammatory and completely irresponsible remarks” about Pallone. Giamatti has ordered the two announcers to meet with him, though no date had been set.

Brennaman called Pallone a “total incompetent,” and, with Nuxhall, questioned Pallone’s qualifications during the fracas.

Brennaman defended his comments. “I don’t back off what I said one inch,” he said Sunday. “I think he is incompetent, and I react on the air the way I do at home. I don’t know how many people were listening to me at the park. My first obligation is to the people listening at home.”

The play that set off the dispute occurred with the Mets’ Howard Johnson on second base, two men out and the game tied, 5-5.

Mookie Wilson hit a ground ball to shortstop Barry Larkin, whose throw appeared to pull first baseman Nick Esasky off the bag. Pallone, however, delayed making a call, and Johnson, in the absence of a throw to the plate, raced home with what proved to be the winning run as the Mets won, 6-5.

Rose vehemently argued the call and shoved the first base umpire twice.

Rose, baseball’s all-time hit leader with 4,256, said Sunday that he expected to be suspended and acknowledged that he was unjustified in pushing Pallone. He said, however, that he did it after being hit on the cheek by Pallone, who, it appeared on videotape, inadvertently hit Rose with his hand as he was gesturing.

“I lost my cool in that situation,” Rose said. “ . . . I was wrong. But if he doesn’t touch me, I don’t touch him.”

Rose also said that he hadn’t been disputing the call so much as he was the lateness of it, which he said kept Esasky from throwing home in an attempt to get Johnson.

Bill Robinson, New York’s first base coach, agreed that the call was late. Robinson said he started onto the field to argue because he thought Pallone had called Wilson out.

“The umpire made a gutsy call because Nick’s foot was off the bag,” Robinson said. “The only problem was that Pallone could have been a little quicker. It put everyone in an embarrassing situation because it wasn’t a split-second call.”

Added Rose: “It makes everyone look bad. It makes (Pallone) look bad. It makes our team look bad. It makes Bill Robinson look bad. It makes our fans look bad. And it makes Marty and Joe look bad.”

The game was delayed for 15 minutes and all umpires left the field when fans showered the field with debris, including lighters, garbage and even portable radios.

When the umpires finally returned, more debris was thrown and senior umpire John Kibler told Pallone to leave for his safety. The final four outs of the game were played with three umpires.

“Such disgraceful episodes are not business as usual, nor can they be allowed to become so,” Giamatti said after reviewing the tapes of the game with Ed Vargo, supervisor of umpires.

The dispute followed a near brawl in the seventh inning when Cincinnati pitcher Tom Browning hit the Mets’ Tim Teufel with a pitch after having just been called by home plate umpire Eric Gregg for a balk that allowed Wilson to score. New York’s Darryl Strawberry charged Browning, the benches emptied and both Browning and Strawberry were ejected.

Rose, 47, is in his fifth season of managing the Reds. He said Sunday that a suspension would only be fair if that punishment also applied to Pallone, contending that he was provoked.

Pallone, who worked the Philadelphia Phillies-Houston Astros game in Philadelphia Monday, said he had no comment on Rose’s suspension. Asked whether he had waited too long to make the call at first Saturday night, he replied: “My honest answer to that is no.”

Richie Phillips, executive director of the Major League Umpires’ Assn., applauded Giamatti’s decision.

“I think that’s just fine,” he said. “I had asked him to move swiftly and severely, and I think 30 days are justified.”

Pallone, ironically, does not belong to the umpires’ union. He is one of two current National League umpires who worked during the umpires’ strike in 1979.

The statement from Giamatti read:

“The extremely ugly situation that developed in Cincinnati in the ninth inning on Saturday, April 30th, was one of the worst in baseball’s recent memory. Such disgraceful episodes are not business as usual, nor can they be allowed to become so.

“For forcefully and deliberately shoving an umpire, the manager of the Reds, Mr. Pete Rose, is suspended for 30 days and fined a substantial amount. Inciting the unacceptable behavior of some of the fans were the inflammatory and completely irresponsible remarks of local radio broadcasters Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall. They have been called to a meeting in New York by me. There is no excuse for encouraging a situation where the physical safety and well-being of any individual is put significantly at risk. Nothing justifies such unprofessional behavior.

“The National League will not tolerate the degeneration of baseball games into dangerous displays of public disorder, nor will it countenance any potentially injurious harassment, of any kind, of the umpires. A tiny minority of fans, or others, cannot be allowed to disgrace the vast majority of decent individuals who truly care for the game.”