Giamatti’s Remarks Violated Agreement on Ban, Rose Says

Pete Rose and Bart Giamatti had something new to argue about Monday when Rose alleged that the baseball commissioner broke his promise.

In an interview published in the Cincinnati Post, Rose accused Giamatti of failing to follow the agreement they reached last week that banned Rose from the sport.

Rose said that Giamatti had given his word not to say that Rose had bet on baseball, then said so anyway.

Giamatti said the agreement did not prohibit his stated personal opinion, and that his statement last Thursday, that he thought Rose had bet on baseball, not an official finding of major league baseball.

“I was dumbfounded that he would say that,” Rose said. “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 said that Rose appears to have been misinformed about the agreement.

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

Giamatti banned Rose under an agreement stipulating that Rose 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.

Rose told the newspaper he was considering a possible television appearance so he can tell his side of baseball’s gambling allegations against him and that he would not rule out undergoing counseling for his gambling.

“I don’t think I have a problem,” he said. “But we’re not ruling anything out.”

Rose said of the possible TV appearance: “We’ve got some good minds working on it. The key thing is, we’ll tell the story and let the people decide. But I don’t know how I’m going to do it.

“I need time. I need to figure out a way to get this across. We’re not looking for the highest bidder. We’re looking for what’s best at getting it to the people. I want to talk, and I will. I thought all along that it would be in a courtroom.”

The Internal Revenue Service and a federal grand jury in Cincinnati still are investigating whether Rose illegally concealed winnings from gambling or sales of baseball memorabilia. Rose has denied any wrong-doing.