I knew who John Dowd was, but he wasn't connected at all with baseball. |
I respect him because he's very bright. I think he's very committed to his franchises. |
I think he (Selig) is probably better able to get support among owners, ... But they're trying to roll back 25 years of labor agreements in one round. I was telling them the best you can do is incremental improvement - it's going to take a long time to straighten out this. They didn't want to hear that. |
I think he should hire somebody like John Dowd or set up a committee. He needs to do that, maybe headed by Mario Cuomo or George Mitchell, somebody of that ilk. |
I think Mitchell will be good. He's been around baseball. He's a strong person, and people can have confidence in him that he'll do a good job. |
I think the investigation is the right step. I don't think the issue is punishment, I think it's: 'Shouldn't the players be called to task for cheating, even if there is no punishment?' I think baseball has to recapture the moral high ground. |
I'm sorry that we're late. I'm sorry that we couldn't do this 30 or 40 years ago when some of our candidates were alive. But we're here now to make this right. |
If you had a jury and said, 'We have one segment of evidence and we're going to present it,' that would be it. There is nothing else to bet on [but baseball during the summer months]. The bookie told us Rose called him every night. So we had his end of the conversation. We had the phone records. I mean how clear can it be? |
In some respects, it's the most damaging and difficult mess for baseball since the White Sox scandal in 1919. |
It doesn't mean (Selig) shouldn't investigate, but it's going to be a very difficult position for him. If people suggest that he could use the 'best interest of baseball' clause to suspend Bonds, I think it would take the union about three minutes before a federal judge to get that enjoined. |
It's a very difficult situation for Bud. I'm sympathetic to him, because it would be an investigation that somewhat would be directed at him. |
It's not perfect. But George Mitchell is credible. He should do a good job. |
It's only a great sadness that we didn't do this 30 or 40 years ago. I'm sorry that we're late, but I'm proud that we're doing it. |
John is the hero. He did a great job. Now Rose admits John was correct. |
My understanding is that there won't be a deal unless he admits he bet on baseball. I thought for years he would never admit it. Now, I don't know. |