Giamatti Given 2nd Court Defeat on Rose : Appeals Panel Refuses to Upset Order Blocking Disciplinary Hearing

CINCINNATI — A state appeals court today refused to disturb a judge’s order temporarily preventing the commissioner of baseball from holding a disciplinary hearing on charges that Pete Rose bet on his own team’s games.

The ruling was the second court loss in four days for Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti.

On Sunday, Common Pleas Judge Norbert A. Nadel granted Rose a 14-day temporary restraining order blocking the hearing. Nadel said Giamatti had already made up his mind against Rose and could not give him a fair hearing.

Baseball’s lawyers asked an Ohio appeals court to nullify the order, arguing that it interferes with the commissioner’s powers to protect the integrity of the game.

But a three-judge appellate panel this afternoon said it has no authority to review a temporary restraining order.

Baseball’s lawyers could not be immediately reached for comment on whether they will pursue their appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court.

Rose is accused of gambling on his own team, an offense that could get him banned from the game for life.

The allegations against the Cincinnati Reds manager are in a 225-page report by chief baseball investigator John M. Dowd and eight accompanying volumes of evidence.

Among other things, the report contains statements by a former Rose associate that Rose conferred with other baseball managers before deciding whether to bet on their teams and tried to get involved in cocaine deals.

The drug accusations against Rose were made in February by Paul Janszen, a bodybuilder who recently completed a four-month stay in a halfway house for failing to report income from the sale of steroids on his taxes. He said Rose tried to get involved in the cocaine deals of his other associates.

It was the first time Rose has been publicly linked to drugs by testimony in the investigation, which was announced March 20. The report was released Monday.

Janszen didn’t say Rose used drugs but said the manager thought he could get cash from drug deals conducted by a circle of associates. Rose sometimes had trouble paying his large gambling debts, Janszen said.

Several of the associates were sentenced after federal authorities cracked a ring that took cocaine from Florida to Ohio.