NEW YORK - Pete Rose insists he didn't plan to draw attention away from the elections of Dennis Eckersley and Paul Molitor to baseball's Hall of Fame.
Rose's admission in his autobiography that he bet on baseball has been making news for more than a week, upsetting the Hall of Fame, which announced Tuesday that Eckersley and Molitor were its latest inductees.
"I never intended to diminish the exciting news for these deserving players," Rose said in a statement Wednesday.
Eckersley and Molitor accused Rose of bad timing.
"It's a little disappointing in the timing because we can all see the attention it's getting," Molitor said. "I answered questions for an hour (Tuesday) but the only one that was used on the front page of USA Today was about Pete Rose."
Rose's publisher, Rodale Inc., announced last year that the book would be released in March 2004 but moved the date to today.
Sports Illustrated, which Rodale said bought first serialization rights for the issue hitting newsstands Wednesday, put excerpts on its Web site Monday. The Associated Press wrote its story Monday about Rose's admission based on the excerpts released by Sports Illustrated.
"My publisher worked hard to contain the news of this book until after the Hall of Fame announcements, and we were both upset when a media leak on Sunday caused the news to be announced on Monday," Rose said.
However, Sports Illustrated says it released the excerpts only after consultation with Rodale.
Molitor also took exception to Rose's assertion that he would be a Hall of Famer today had he used drugs or alcohol instead of gambling on baseball.
"I understand what he's trying to say, if you want to call it a double standard," said Molitor, who battled a cocaine problem early in his career with the Brewers.
"But the point is, the one rule that everyone is read specifically every spring training is the rule regarding gambling on baseball and how it specifically talks about lifetime bans. That's very clear.
"If a player is using (drugs) and it affects the outcome of a game, it might affect the integrity of the game. But when you're betting on baseball and you're the manager of a team, people have to wonder how decisions are being made and how it might affect the outcome of games."
What Rose intended for his public confession has gone terribly awry, former teammate Mike Schmidt said.
"It doesn't look good, it's taken a turn for the worse," he said. "It is a sad thing. ... I haven't heard anything good, but I hope the commissioner is reserving judgment. I've heard some of the worst references about Pete."
Meanwhile, two informal surveys showed support for Rose's Hall candidacy had slipped considerably.
According to a nationwide poll of voters done this week by nine Tribune Company newspapers, Rose would fall well short of the 75 percent approval he needs.
Reporters contacted 157 of the 508 members of the Baseball Writers Association of America who cast ballots this year. Seventy-one said they would vote him in, 75 said they wouldn't and 11 were undecided.
The New York Daily News re-surveyed 23 randomly selected BBWAA members asking whether Rose's gambling admission had affected their decisions. His support fell from 85 percent a year ago to 67 percent.
BLYLEVEN STILL WAITING: Again, the phone did not ring at Bert Blyleven's house.
And again, as the Hall of Fame inductees were announced, the Fort Myers resident had to deal with being left out in the cold.
Blyleven ranks fifth all-time in strikeouts with 3,701, ninth in starts with 685, 25th in wins with 287 and ninth in shutouts with 60. He is the only pitcher in the top 20 in shutouts, and the only Hall-eligible pitcher in the top 13 in strikeouts, who is not in the Hall of Fame. Of the top 12 in starts, only Blyleven and Tommy John are not in the Hall.
"You kind of feed off what you've been given over the course of the year and I didn't anticipate going in this year," Blyleven told the Naples Daily News. "There are a lot more guys in the 3,000-hit club than in the 3,000-strikeout club, and all of those in the 3,000-strikeout club are in there. So until the writers say I deserve to be in it does me no good to vent, but I am disappointed."
METS AFTER GUERRERO? New York, which has spent the offseason denying any interest in free-agent outfielder Vlad Guerrero, now is seriously considering making Guerrero an offer, ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney reported.
Olney reported that if the Mets do make an offer, it would be for far less than what the Orioles are believed to have offered, a five-year deal of around $65-million.
Also, Mets infielder Jose Reyes will miss this week's minicamp in Port St. Lucie because of a visa problem.
BULLPEN FIGHT: Former Yankees Jeff Nelson and Karim Garcia and a Fenway Park groundskeeper pleaded innocent to charges they brawled in New York's bullpen during the AL Championship Series. Neither player attended the arraignment at Roxbury (Mass.) District Court. The groundskeeper, Paul Williams, was in court but had no comment.
Meanwhile, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner returned to his office at the Legends Field complex in Tampa 11/2 weeks after he was hospitalized after fainting.
STENSON SLAYING: Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty for two men accused of killing Reds outfielder Dernell Stenson.
Deputy Maricopa County (Ariz.) Attorney Catherine Hughes said prosecutors had filed paperwork to seek the death penalty against Reginald Riddle, 19. She said they intend to do the same for David Griffith, 20. Both are charged with first-degree murder.
EXPOS: A group of baseball officials that included Texas owner Tom Hicks visited Monterrey, Mexico, to examine the facilities as the league works toward finding the team a new home.
INDIANS: A judge in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, declined to dismiss a charge against outfielder Milton Bradley, who was accused of driving twice the speed limit and refusing to sign his ticket in August.
MARLINS: Tony Taylor was named bullpen coach, bringing the 67-year-old back to the franchise after a two-year hiatus.
REDS: First-year general manager Dan O'Brien divided the scouting department into amateur, professional and international. Longtime Dodgers employee Terry Reynolds was named director of amateur scouting, Johnny Almaraz director of international scouting and player development and former Brewers general manager Dean Taylor director of professional scouting.
RED SOX: Brian Daubach is returning to Boston, agreeing to a minor-league contract after a year with the White Sox.
