THE PETE ROSE INVESTIGATION : Principal Parties Should Step Aside for Baseball’s Sake

Pete Rose must step aside as manager of the Cincinnati Reds until this mess of his is cleared up.

Bart Giamatti must step aside as commissioner of baseball with regard to this one matter, permitting a neutral party or panel of arbitrators to rule on Rose’s innocence or guilt.

If these two men truly love the game as much as they say they do, they will put an end to this distasteful business right now.

Rose would not be giving in. He merely would be diffusing a difficult situation. He would be giving his baseball players and the fans of these players some breathing room, be acting in the best interests of a team and a city that deserve some peace. At the same time, he would be keeping his written word to abide by the decisions of baseball’s appointed officials.

Giamatti, with one gracious and sensible gesture, could meet Rose halfway. He would accept responsibility for having given at least the appearance of prejudging Rose, by signing that truly undiplomatic letter that was never meant to have been made public.

Unless he is determined to appear almighty and all-powerful, Giamatti could make a generous offer of fairness, which is all Rose claims to be asking.

Then, when a decision is reached, Rose can go back to a court of law if he does not care for baseball’s brand of justice. Since Rose’s gripe is with Giamatti and not with major league baseball, however, he would then, in essence, be breaking his bond.

The commissioner held another one of his sidewalk interviews Monday and said: “I’m somehow being turned into the villain. A remarkable act of transference.”

OK. We understand. Giamatti was not the one who placed bets. Giamatti is not under any investigation. For Cincinnati fans to unfurl banners blackening the commissioner’s name, making him out to be a more despicable varmint than Rose, is thoroughly shameful.

Yet, Giamatti must own up to the fact that by putting his personal stamp of approval on Rose’s accusers, by listening to the charges of a witness and immediately declaring them “truthful,” he has placed himself in an untenable position. He comes across as a hanging judge.

By both sides remaining stubborn, we find ourselves faced with depressing scenes, day by day.

First we have the tragicomical case of the Cincinnati judge who must determine the fate of a local folk hero--one for whom nearby highways have been named--while facing election the next year. Some shock it was when Judge Norbert A. Nadel of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court proclaimed that someone else--surely not himself--had “prejudged” Citizen Rose.

Even Cincinnati’s own newspaper columnists had trouble swallowing that. Tim Sullivan of the Enquirer wrote that Nadel’s action “sets back jurisprudence to the Roy Bean era.” Paul Daugherty of the Post called the judge “a homer” and suggested everybody in town buy him some peanuts and Cracker Jack.

If Pete Rose took some solace in Sunday’s courtroom triumph, and he appeared to, it was short and sweet, because he left himself open to the punch delivered Monday: The public release of baseball’s entire 225-page case against the accused.

Two hundred and twenty-five brutal, disturbing pages.

Rose bet on baseball while still a player, the report said. Rose bet on his own team while managing it, the report said. Rose bet $2,000 a game and more than $1 million over a two-year period, the report said.

Rose sold one of his cars to pay gambling debts, the report said. Rose signed autographs for money to pay gambling debts, the report said. Rose was threatened by a bookmaker with the burning of his house and with the breaking of his child’s legs if he didn’t make good what he owed, the report said.

Rose insists he has answers to all this, if somebody impartial is willing to hear them. A man who loves to talk, Pete is going to be talking for hours and hours to explain away all this.

Bart Giamatti should show some heart.

He should voluntarily stay out of the Rose affair from this day forward, which would demonstrate not weakness on his part but fairness.

And, if and when Pete Rose is found guilty, the commissioner should concern himself a little less with the letter of the law and a little more with a demonstration of common decency.

Rose should not be suspended from baseball for life.

Yes, a good, stiff penalty definitely is warranted for anybody who fails to keep baseball’s sacred laws inviolate. A suspension of some length is definitely in order.

Second chances, however, should be second nature to anyone of even the slightest compassion. So, even though the rules say otherwise, there is no need for Pete Rose’s permanent banishment from baseball. If he cannot explain away everything that is written in that report, then punish Pete Rose, suspend him, take away his privileges. Just don’t condemn him.

Better to bend a rule than to break a man.