Accused of Gambling, Rose Begins Suspension

Almost 10 years to the day, and Pete Rose still doesn’t get it.

He was in Cooperstown, N.Y., recently, at the same time as George Brett, Nolan Ryan, Robin Yount and Orlando Cepeda, when they were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

But he wasn’t on the same stage.

He was at a sports collectors show signing autographs.

Ten years ago today, it came out that Rose was going to be “suspended indefinitely” for betting on major league baseball games--including Cincinnati Reds’ games, from 1985 to 1987, when he was the Reds’ manager.

Rose still denies gambling on baseball, but there was strong evidence to the contrary in a 225-page report submitted by Washington lawyer John Dowd, the late commissioner Bart Giamatti’s special investigator.

The evidence included Rose’s handwriting and fingerprints on betting slips, plus telephone and bank records.

Rose reportedly agreed to the “indefinite suspension”--now entering its second decade--after Giamatti dropped the threat of a lifetime suspension.

Rose’s legal staff, permitted to inspect the fingerprint evidence, concluded, as had the FBI, that the prints belonged to Rose.

Also on this date: In 1956, Nellie Fox of the White Sox had seven consecutive hits against the Yankees in a doubleheader. Chicago won the first game but New York won the second when Mickey Mantle hit an upper-deck home run, a triple and a bunt single. . . . In 1933, at Broadcast House in London, boxers Archie Sexton and Laurie Raiteri fought in what was believed to be the first televised boxing match. . . . In 1913, in Los Angeles, future world heavyweight champion Jess Willard stopped John Young, who later died of head injuries sustained in the bout. . . . In 1923, Paavo Nurmi of Finland ran 4:10.4 to break the world record in the mile. . . . In 1961, the Giants’ Orlando Cepeda, Felipe Alou, Jim Davenport, Willie Mays and John Orsino hit home runs in the ninth inning. Only four teams have homered five times in an inning in major league history. . . . In 1969, at the Forum, Ruben Olivares won the world bantamweight title by knocking out Lionel Rose in the fifth round.