Rose Gets 5-Month Prison Term for Cheating on Taxes

U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel acknowledged Pete Rose as a baseball legend but said Thursday in Cincinnati that he was sentencing “Pete Rose, the individual, who appears today convicted of two counts of cheating on his taxes” to five months in prison and three months in a halfway house.

Rose, 49, the career leader in hits with 4,256 in 24 major league seasons, also was fined $50,000 and ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service with inner-city youngsters during his one-year probation after release from the Ashland, Ky., prison.

He had pleaded guilty April 20 to two counts of failing to report $354,968 in income from the sale of autographs, memorabilia and gambling winnings between 1984 and 1987, a time in which he paid more than $2 million in income tax on reported income of $4.6 million.

The charges carried a maximum of six years in prison and a $500,000 fine. The judge’s decision is in line with federal sentencing guidelines, which recommend jail time for the offenses. He acknowledged Rose’s notoriety for making him an example in meting out justice in a courtroom in Rose’s hometown, a few blocks from Riverfront Stadium, where Rose set records while playing for the Reds. He was the manager of the team when he was banned from baseball Aug. 24, 1989 for gambling.

“I have concluded that Mr. Rose must serve some time in a prison setting for his crime in order to maintain respect for the law and as a deterrent to others who might consider cheating on their taxes,” Spiegel said.

He recommended the sentence begin Aug. 10 and released Rose on his own recognizance. Spiegel offered Rose more time, if needed, after he limped into and out of the courtroom with torn knee cartilage suffered last weekend while playing stickball at a family reunion. Rose will undergo surgery today to repair the knee.

Before being sentenced, Rose stood before Spiegel and, with voice wavering, acknowledged his plight and his fault for it.

“I am very shameful to be here today in front of you,” Rose told Spiegel. “I think I’m perceived as a very aggressive, arrogant type of individual. But I want people to know that I do have emotion, I do have feelings and I can be hurt like everybody else. . . . I lost my dignity, I lost my self-respect, I lost a lot of dear fans and almost lost some very dear friends . . . . I really have no excuses because it’s all my fault.”

Rose is eligible to appeal to Commissioner Fay Vincent for reinstatement to baseball on Aug. 24, but he has indicated that he will not do so at that time.

Thursday’s sentence was the climax to 18 months in which Rose has gone from legend to convicted felon, blaming the fall on a gambling addiction for which he is being treated.

The process began on Jan. 25, 1989, when Arnold C. Metz signed for two winning Pik-Six tickets at Turfway Park in Newport, Ky. It was rumored that one of the winners was Rose, then manager of the Reds.

From that point through Thursday, his status in the game’s lore has been debated, with the chief question likely to be answered in January, 1992, upon Rose’s eligibility for the Hall of Fame.

“History and the tincture of time will decide his place among the all-time greats of baseball,” Spiegel said. “With regard to Pete Rose, the individual, he has broken the law, admitted his guilt and stands ready to pay the penalty.”

After the sentence was pronounced, Rose spoke only of the future.

“I will serve my sentence, pay my debt to society and get on with my life,” he said in a release through spokeswoman Barbara Pinzka.

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