Bud's 14 month silence on the Rose confession

[Wolf Hopper]

This question came up at the tail end of the M&M show on ESPN Radio today and I thought it was a good one.

Rose confessed to Bud Selig in November of 2002 that he bet on baseball.

We never heard anything on the confession until Rose decided to do the book/etc. now, 14 months later.

Did Bud, as commissioner of baseball, have an obligation to act on the confession when he heard it 14 months ago? Should he, at the least, have shared it with the public? Thoughts?

[RedSeat]

Did Bud, as commissioner of baseball, have an obligation to act on the confession when he heard it 14 months ago? Should he, at the least, have shared it with the public? Thoughts?
I don't think Bud has any obligation to act, period. The simple fact the Rose decided to stop lying doesn't require any action on the part of major league baseball. As for sharing it with the public, I think that Rose deserved the opportunity to be the one to come forward. Unless Pete specifically asked Bud to make an annoucement, I think Bud was right to keep his silence.

[Wolf Hopper]

I'm not sure.

The way I see this is somewhat like this - -

Assume that I ran a firm, and one of my employees was charged with doing something harmful to our clients. But, the employee denied it. I suspended him anyway. And, he stays suspended for 14 years - always denying the wrong doing. Then, one day, he comes to me and confesses to the whole thing. Don't I, at that time, owe it to my clients to share with them that this has come to light? At the least, since it (the confession) has the potential to become public news, should I not take a proactive stance to reach out and tell them (the clients) "Yes, this has been confirmed, but XYZ..........." (where XYZ is some spin control, QA. etc.)?

Perhaps, if Bud had come forward with the confession news in November 2002, we would not be where we are now - the book, etc.?

Bottom line, the Rose situation now is a black eye for Rose - but, it's also a black eye for baseball - - since it's the only "baseball" that people are talking about now. And, if Bud had the chance to prevent that happening to his product, maybe he should have taken that proactive move when he had the chance instead of sitting on it for 14 months?

[Craig S.]

I agree with Redseat here - I don't think Bud had an obligation to let the public know about Rose's confession. Unless he was going to reinstate him at that time, what would make it public information?

[TimmyB]

Selig is under no obligation to say anything. Also, given the initial, mostly negative, reaction to Rose, it's hard to say what benefit to baseball there would have been in making the public aware of the confession. The record was already there with the Dowd report and baseball recently has needed more bad publicity like most people need cancer.

I don't hesitate to take a whack at Selig whenever possible, but, on the surface, I can't dis him for this.

Does Selig have some hidden agenda in which his silence would be beneficial? Maybe. But, in the end, most people knew (well, better said, were pretty darned sure) Rose was lying all along.

Finally, I'm not sure Selig is hot to reinstate Rose. Since most things Selig touches turn to lead -- PR-wise -- he must feel like this is just a giant bag of poop burning on his doorstep. Why touch it unless he absolutely has to?

[sweaver]

Laying aside for a moment the question of whether Bud should have spilled the beans, let's imagine the reaction if he had. If Bud (or some MLB flunky) reports that Rose has confessed to the commissioner, and the same sort of stuff hits the fan as has in the last week, wouldn't Bud get blamed for that? Wouldn't Rose rush to pin responsibility on Selig for things "disclosed in confidence?"

I don't think Bud releases the confession unless Rose tells him he can do it, and he gets that in writing. Not if he's smart.

[JamesI]

I agree with Sweaver.

Rose probably hoped Bud would spill the beans, and get the fan backlash. Bud had no responsibility to say anything.

[Wolf Hopper]

Looks like I'm all alone here..............but, what do I know, I'm only in the client management business for a living......... :D

[KCBOOMER]

It must be Bud's or someone else's fault. Precisely the message Pete wants to convey.