Monday wasn’t a great day for the Pete Rose reinstatement campaign.
ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” reported that Rose had indeed bet on baseball as a player, something he had long denied, even as recently as two months ago. Producer Willie Weinbaum and reporter T.J. Quinn uncovered an old log of gambling records that had been sealed for 26 years.
The response was immediate from his critics: This was why Rose would never be allowed back into baseball, because you can’t entirely trust him. Of course, the Rose supporters were shouting just as loudly that he still deserves forgiveness from baseball.
All these years later, this remains one of the most divisive issues in sports. But 2015 looked like a year of progress for Rose. He had applied to new commissioner Rob Manfred for reinstatement and Manfred said he’d review the case. The All-Star game is in Cincinnati next month and Rose has been cleared to participate. Rose was even hired as a part-time baseball analyst by Fox Sports.
We can’t say for sure how Monday’s revelation will impact Rose’s reinstatement case or if it will affect his presence at the All-Star game. Those are questions for MLB, and they’ve been mum on this so far. But Fox Sports still has the Hit King’s back. The network released a statement to Sports Illustrated media reporter Richard Deitsch saying nothing’s changing in Rose’s role:
“FOX Sports has no comment on the recent news pertaining to Pete Rose other than his status as a guest baseball analyst for FOX Sports 1 is unchanged. Pete is next scheduled to appear on America’s Pregame, MLB Whiparound and FOX Sports Live on July 1.”
Lawmakers near Cincinnati didn’t show Rose the same support. The Ohio House of Representatives was scheduled to have a hearing Tuesday on a resolution that would have called for Manfred to reinstate Rose. After Monday’s news, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, the hearing has been delayed until “at least October.”
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:
– – – – – – –
Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
- Sports & Recreation
- Pete Rose
