Double-Crossed by Giamatti--Rose : Says Commissioner Broke Faith in Remarks on Baseball Bets

Pete Rose says he was double-crossed by baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti because of Giamatti’s public statement that he believes Rose bet on baseball.

Rose, in an interview with the Cincinnati Post published today, also did not rule out the possibility he might consider getting counseling for his gambling problem.

“I’m not ruling anything out,” Rose said at his suburban Cincinnati home. “I don’t think I have a problem. But we’re not ruling anything out.”

Giamatti banned Rose from baseball for life last Thursday under an agreement with Rose that stipulated that he did not admit having bet on baseball. The agreement allows Rose, whose five-year term as manager of the Cincinnati Reds ended Thursday, to apply in one year for reinstatement to baseball, but there are no guarantees his application will be accepted.

At a news conference Thursday, the commissioner said he believes Rose bet on baseball. Giamatti made clear that it was his opinion, not an official finding of major league baseball.

“I was dumbfounded that he would say that,” Rose said of Giamatti in the interview. “Just 12 hours earlier, we signed that agreement in good faith, and there he was saying he thinks I bet on baseball.

“The only reason I signed that agreement was that it had no finding that I bet on baseball. We got what we wanted, and we didn’t have to go another eight months and spend another three-quarters of a million dollars.”

Giamatti today said he stands by his stated personal opinion that Rose bet on baseball. He said the agreement does not prohibit comments of the type he made.

“I’m saddened to hear this view. . . . I was very clear about the fact that I was not going to be constrained from saying what I thought was the case,” Giamatti said by telephone from Cape Cod, Mass. “I’m not going to change anything I said.”

Giamatti said that in the absence of the official hearing he had planned to conduct before reaching the settlement, there can be no formal finding by major league baseball in Rose’s case.

“The agreement was reached to acquiesce in their desire to avoid a hearing,” Giamatti said of Rose and his lawyers. “The document also says I have a formal basis for the sanction I imposed.”

Rose said he wants to go public with his story. He has been working since 1986 with Roger Kahn on a book titled “Pete Rose: My Story,” due out in November. Rose said he is also considering a television appearance to tell his side of baseball’s gambling allegations against him.

“What if it were a half-hour show for seven days?” Rose said.