In a ruling Friday, a U.S. District Court judge in Eastern Pennsylvania dismissed one of three counts in Pete Rose's defamation lawsuit against John Dowd and said he failed to sufficiently plead on another count. Rose sued over claims Dowd made in 2015 that Rose had underage girls delivered to him in spring training and that Rose committed statutory rape.
Dowd had filed for dismissal last August. Attorneys for Rose told Outside the Lines the decision amounts to a victory for their client, as the case will proceed and they can amend their complaint to try to address what the judge deemed insufficient on one count.
As special counsel for Major League Baseball, Dowd investigated Rose for gambling, which resulted in the lifetime banishment of the sport's all-time hits leader in 1989.
Rose's complaint, filed July 6, 2016, cites a radio interview with a station in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in which Dowd said, "Michael Bertolini, you know, told us that he not only ran bets but ran young girls down at spring training, ages 12 to 14. Isn't that lovely? So that's statutory rape every time you do that."
Bertolini was a memorabilia dealer whose taped conversations and other information about Rose were cited by the 1989 Dowd Report as evidence of Rose's betting on baseball.
The lawsuit also cites an interview with CBS Radio in which Dowd said, "He has Bertolini running young women down in Florida for his satisfaction, so you know he's just not worthy of consideration or to be part of the game. This is not what we want to be in the game of baseball."
Rose denied Dowd's accusations. Bertolini has said he never made such claims. Former commissioner Fay Vincent, who was deputy commissioner at the time of Rose's ban, has said that he did not remember such allegations.
At the time of the interviews in the summer of 2015, commissioner Rob Manfred was considering Rose's request for reinstatement. Dowd had appeared on the shows to discuss that topic and to talk about whether Rose should be eligible for the Hall of Fame.
Manfred ultimately denied Rose's request.
Rose is now a baseball commentator for Fox Sports and regularly autographs memorabilia at a shop in Las Vegas. Dowd is in private practice and is a member of President Trump's legal defense team.