The Federal Bureau of Investigation has released 130 pages of documents related to a 1980s gambling and narcotics operation run by the late Ronald Peters, Pete Rose’s former bookie. Some of the information was previously included in the Dowd Report, which was commissioned by Major League Baseball to investigate Rose’s gambling in 1989.
Peters died in 2016 and the FBI publicly releases its files on a person following that person’s death, with redactions to protect privacy, confidential sources, etc. The 130 pages of documents regarding Peters are mostly centered around surveillance records. ESPN has the relevant information regarding Rose:
Among the documents was a 1987 memo requesting an FBI investigation. The memo cited a cooperating witness who said that “at one time Rose owed Peters $90,000 in sports wagering losses.” In the same memo, police officers in Franklin, Ohio, are said to have seen Rose often enter Peters’ establishment, called Jonathan’s, “through its private entrance.” The same memo alleged Rose was “a silent partner in a bar that Peters operated in Cincinnati before [Peters] moved to Franklin.”
A November 1987 interview with a person whose name was redacted said Rose would bet on 10 football games a weekend in 1986, usually around $1,000 to $2,000 per game, and that at one point Rose owed Peters $80,000. The individual also “believes that Rose bet only on football, basketball, and horse racing; he never saw Rose place a bet on a baseball game.” The report also said the individual believed another person “stole $3,500 of Rose’s money” and that person then left town.
Rose, baseball’s all-time hits leader, agreed to a lifetime ban from baseball in August 1989 as part of a settlement with MLB. Earlier this year commissioner Rob Manfred reinstated Rose and 16 others from the permanently ineligible list, ruling that a lifetime ban ends upon death. That paves the way for Rose, who died at age 83 last September, to one day get into the Hall of Fame.
At the time of the lifetime ban, Rose’s gambling was merely alleged and not yet proven. It was not until 2004 that Rose admitted he bet on baseball games he managed, and it wasn’t until 2015 that he admitted he bet on games he played in. MLB Rule 21 is posted in every clubhouse and explicitly prohibits league personnel from betting on “diamond” sports (baseball, softball, etc.).
Rose is baseball’s all-time leader in games played (3,562) and hits (4,256). His chance at Cooperstown could come in December 2027, when the Hall of Fame’s Classic Baseball Committee meets next. The Classic Baseball Committee considers those whose greatest contributions to the game came prior to 1980. Rose played from 1963-86 and managed from 1984-89.