COMM 3130: Case Studies in Sports Communication
8/30/13

McDorman, T. (2003). The rhetorical resurgence of Pete Rose: A second chance apologia. In R.S. Brown & D.J. O’Rourke (eds.). Case studies in sport communication (pp. 1-25). Westport, CT: St. Martin’s Press.

We all know and understand that betting in sports is illegal. In Pete Rose’s defense, I believe that whether or not he is guilty, Rose should not have been banned from Major League Baseball. Since the time Rose was banned until now, amongst the game of baseball and other sports, professional athletes and important athletic figures to society are committing crimes. One of the concepts discussed in this chapter is that Giamatti jumped to the conclusion that Rose was guilty on the allegations of gambling in Dowd’s findings which I do not agree with. Whether or not Rose gambled, he was convicted of it and there’s no turning that around. Today, if we look at the evidence in Dowd’s statement, many of the findings are not legitimate and he may have falsely accused Rose on some crimes. But Giamatti banned Rose from baseball over the reason that he had not confessed or apologized for his actions. Another concept that is important is that Pete Rose was criticized and pressed by Jim Gray into confessing to the crimes which I also don’t agree with. It was an interview. Rose was not in a holding cell for questioning. Rose was actually kind in giving Gray the time to interview him. Jim Gray brought up the allegations in an interview which was irrelevant to the situation. If Rose would have apologized in that interview, Gray would have earned a positive reputation. No one was in Gray’s favor and Gray apologized to baseball fans for bringing up the case at the Century 21 event. Another concept that is important was that crossed my mind was that Rose had a lot of fraudulent coworkers who made his reputation look even worse. Whether or not his coworkers were frauds, they have no connection to the decisions Pete Rose made. The fact that Rose had a problem with his taxes did not have anything to do with betting on baseball. If you look at professional athletes today, most have no control over their taxes and either does not pay or have their agents do it for them. Also, athletes were once famous millionaires are broke now due to actions involved with not paying taxes. The last important concept in the chapter was that Pete Rose had the worst possible outcome in the case. Giamatti passed away 8 days after convicting Rose. In that, there was no way of overturning the decision made my Giamatti. Bud Selig made matters worse by not allowing Rose to participate in Cincinnati Red’s anniversary events or letting him interact with his son, Pete Rose Jr. on the