Piniella in Good Standing : Baseball: Commissioner clears Reds’ manager in connection with Steinbrenner investigation.

On the eve of Pete Rose’s sentencing for filing false income tax returns, the new manager of the Cincinnati Reds sat in his office at Riverfront Stadium Wednesday and responded to questions regarding his gambling activities.

The scene was hauntingly familiar to last summer’s media circus when the commissioner’s office conducted a probe of the betting habits of Rose before suspending the then-Red manager for life.

This time, apparently, there will be no ongoing investigation, no threat of suspension, no daily barrage of microphones and cameras to distract the Reds in their attempt to stay ahead in the National League West.

Commissioner Fay Vincent, in a prepared statement Wednesday, said he is satisfied that Lou Piniella does not warrant further attention, that Piniella is in good standing with his office.

The statement came in response to comments made by New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner while testifying last week during the commissioner’s investigation into the $40,000 check Steinbrenner gave alleged gambler Howard Spira, and his treatment of Dave Winfield while the Angel outfielder was still a Yankee.

Steinbrenner testified that one reason for the payment was that Spira threatened to sell information regarding the “sports betting habits” of Piniella, then a former Yankee manager who was still with the organization as a broadcaster and part-time batting instructor.

“The Piniella family is very close to me, and I think the world of Lou Piniella,” Steinbrenner testified.

” . . . I didn’t want to see baseball or Lou Piniella dragged through something the way it would have been sensationalized.”

Piniella sat in his office Wednesday, choosing his words carefully.

He said he is happy to have been vindicated by the commissioner but was “hurt, upset and embarrassed” by the Steinbrenner-created stigma regarding his betting activities.

Was it all:

--A smoke screen?

--A diversionary tactic by Steinbrenner to deflect attention from himself as Vincent nears a decision that could result in Steinbrenner being forced to sell the Yankees?

--An attempt to hand Vincent a body other than his own?

Piniella refused to speculate. Nor would he say if he plans a legal response.

“I haven’t talked to my attorney yet,” Piniella said, adding that he has no reason to feel he has to defend himself. I don’t know what’s going to come of this.

“If I had problems with gambling, I certainly wouldn’t have come here,” he said of the hot seat occupied by Rose. “If I knew I had skeletons in my closet, I’d have stayed in New York and taken my $400,000 for broadcasting.

“I could have stayed in that organization for life, but I had things to prove to myself and to George (who twice fired him as manager) and I had nothing to hide.

“I’ve been to the race track maybe six times this year. I go to relax and enjoy myself and I’ll continue to go if that’s what I choose to do.

“I was watching CNN (Thursday) night and heard myself described as an excessive better. That’s ridiculous. I bet $20 to $50 tops.”

Piniella said he has gone to the track with Steinbrenner and owned horses in partnership with Steinbrenner.

“I own a 2-year-old pacer right now and that’s all,” he said. “I own nothing with George because he wanted to make all the decisions.”

Asked about Steinbrenner’s stated friendship with him, Piniella forced a smile and said his friend has merely fired him twice and accused him of stealing furniture he received for being a guest on a Yankee pregame show.

“George is supposed to be my friend,” Piniella said. “He says he loves my family. But I’m disappointed in him. I’m disturbed by this. If someone gives me information about George, I would talk to him about it. I would have expected him to do the same (with information) about me. I mean, he’s always talked about how much he likes me and likes my family, but this sort of raises doubt.”

Piniella acknowledged that Steinbrenner did talk to him about Spira’s allegations in spring training and said that his name might come up in the investigation. But Piniella implied that it was done in an offhand manner with no indication that Piniella and “his sports betting habits” would later be portrayed by Steinbrenner as a key reason he paid off Spira.

And subsequent to that spring conversation with Steinbrenner, Piniella said he met with John Dowd, the commissioner’s special investigator, and explained that his betting habits are recreational, confined to horse racing.

Wednesday, in response to the Steinbrenner testimony reported in The National, a concerned and angered Piniella said he called Vincent and was assured that he has been exonerated.

Vincent said in a statement: “Regrettably, the release of Mr. Steinbrenner’s testimony without my approval or prior knowledge has caused the disclosure of the names of people who are not involved in my investigation.

“I am satisfied that Lou Piniella did not engage in any activity warranting further attention from my office. I regret that the public disclosure of this testimony had unfairly insinuated Mr. Piniella into this affair. Mr. Piniella is in good standing with me and my office.”

There is suspicion that Steinbrenner is envious of his success with the Reds, but Piniella said: “I don’t think this has anything to do with me or his employees.”

Cincinnati General Manager Bob Quinn, also a former Yankees employee, said Steinbrenner’s testimony implicating Piniella was “an insult to the intelligence, but coming from George I’m not surprised. The commissioner’s statement says all that needs to be said.”

Not quite. Piniella said he remains concerned that the stigma will last. When he should have been talking about how the Reds will survive with Danny Jackson out with a partial rotator cuff tear and joining fellow pitcher Jose Rijo on the disabled list, Piniella shook his head and said: “In this country you can be accused of anything. That’s the amazing thing about it. You can say anything to make people suffer.”