Talks Might End Ban on Rose

Will Pete Rose soon be receiving the Christmas gift he most covets?

It is not yet a sure bet, but negotiations between baseball officials and Rose’s representatives could result in the lifting of his lifetime ban for gambling on the game, ultimately making the all-time hits leader eligible for the Hall of Fame.

Sources confirmed that Rose discussed his status in a meeting with Commissioner Bud Selig in Milwaukee on Nov. 25, and that Rose’s representatives have since exchanged draft proposals with industry lawyers under the direction of chief operating officer Robert DuPuy.

The meeting between Rose and Selig was brokered by former teammates Mike Schmidt, Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench. Schmidt accompanied Rose to the meeting.

Neither of Rose’s lawyers, S. Gary Spicer and Roger Makley, could be reached Tuesday, but a source familiar with the talks said the process is definitely aimed at reinstatement and that a decision could come sooner rather than later.

The source added that Rose would have to acknowledge that he bet on baseball, which he refused to do for the 13 years since accepting a lifetime ban on Aug. 23, 1989, and might have to serve a probationary period before full reinstatement.

Selig could not be reached Tuesday, and DuPuy would only release a statement in which he noted that Rose had applied for reinstatement (in September, 1997) and “given the pendency of that application,” neither Selig nor any other baseball official would comment further.

If Rose is reinstated, he would be the first of 14 people banned from the game for life to have that penalty lifted.

Why Selig would consider it isn’t clear.

He has long seemed determined to uphold the penalty imposed by the late Bart Giamatti, his good friend and former commissioner, and has said repeatedly that Rose has offered no new evidence to dispute the findings of investigator John Dowd that he bet on baseball while manager of the Cincinnati Reds. The Dowd investigation of a four-month period in 1987 concluded that Rose made 412 baseball wagers -- 52 on the Reds to win.

Sources, however, speculated that Selig has come to grips with Rose’s popularity (as measured again by the ovation he received in San Francisco when allowed to participate in a ceremony before Game 4 of the World Series), now regards Rose’s possible reinstatement as another positive development for the industry in the aftermath of a labor agreement that was reached, for the first time, without a work stoppage, thinks it would be a boon for the Reds’ franchise if the 17-time All-Star was to participate in the opening of the new Cincinnati ballpark in April and is willing to take a chance on Rose’s sincerity.

Lawyer Dowd suggested Tuesday that he considers that a high risk, saying there is no guarantee Rose has reconfigured his life.

“I would be leery of the history and very careful before I put him back,” he said.

“I would be concerned that I was putting the game in jeopardy.”