Newsday, among others, is reporting that Pete Rose is willing to admit he bet on baseball in order to be reinstated to the game, pending his behavior during a brief probationary period.
The word is that the matter might be cleared up before Spring Training begins. I get chills just thinking about it. Pete needs baseball and baseball needs Pete. It would be therapeutic for both parties, I think.
Inevitably, thousands of writers will point the finger at him and say that he is a liar if he admits to gambling on baseball. Which will stink, because we're supposed to be a forgiving society, and pretty much everyone gets a second chance.
If Pete is guilty, then he does need to come clean. It's never really been that big of a deal for me, because I think that baseball, at the time, had it in for him.
The Newsday article contains a quote from Rob Butcher, the Reds' PR man, regarding the rumors that Pete will return as the team's manager. Butcher says that there have been no discussions on the matter.
If you know how the Reds operate, then it would not suprise me one bit that if the team is flailing, and Pete is eligible to manage, he'll be in the dugout by August.