David Ortiz, Keith Hernandez in for Pete Rose in Fox Sports studio
Keith Hernandez and David Ortiz, who were in 15 All-Star games and won five World Series titles between them, will replace Pete Rose as Fox Sports studio analysts for the postseason, the network announced Monday.
Newsday reported Sunday night that Hernandez and Ortiz would succeed Rose, who had served in the role for two years.
The statement by Fox formalizing its hiring of Hernandez, 63, and Ortiz, 41, did not include any reference to Rose, baseball's all-time hits leader and a 17-time All-Star.
It is the latest fallout for Rose from an allegation that he committed statutory rape more than 40 years ago. Neither Fox nor Rose had commented on an Aug. 31 Hollywood Reporter story that cited sources as saying Rose would not continue at the network.
As first reported by ESPN's Outside the Lines, an unidentified woman's sworn statement contained in a July 31 motion filed in John Dowd's defense against Rose's defamation lawsuit alleges that Rose had committed statutory rape by having a sexual relationship with her for several years in the 1970s, beginning before she turned 16.
Rose acknowledged in court documents that he had a sexual relationship with the woman but said he believed that she was 16. He was married and the father of two children in 1975, the year he says he began having sex with the woman referred to in the filing as "Jane Doe." Rose, who turned 34 that April, said he did not recall how long the relationship lasted.
Two days after the allegation and Rose's acknowledgment became public, the Philadelphia Philliesannounced the cancellations of his Wall of Fame induction, their Rose bobblehead giveaway and his participation in the team's alumni weekend. A charity roast and other planned August events in the area with Rose also were canceled.
After the court filings, even some supporters in Rose's native Cincinnati -- where there is a street named Pete Rose Way and a statue of the 17-time All-Star at Great American Ball Park -- said they had lost faith in the former Reds great.
It is long past Ohio's statute of limitations, so the woman's account did not raise the prospect of a criminal charge for Rose. She said they also had sex outside of Ohio when she was 16 or younger but didn't specify the states, and Rose said their sexual relationship was confined to Ohio. The legal age of consent is 18 in some states, including Florida.
In 1989, Dowd, then-MLB's special counsel, led the investigation into Rose's gambling while manager of the Reds that resulted in his banishment from the sport.
Rose sued for defamation in 2016 over comments Dowd made in radio interviews the year before. Dowd said in the summer of 2015 that he learned more than a quarter-century earlier from former Rose associate Michael Bertolini about Rose committing statutory rape of 12- to 14-year-olds in spring training in Florida.
According to court documents obtained last week by Outside the Lines, Dowd was deposed Sept. 8. Rose has not been deposed yet, but in a Sept. 15 filing, he responded to a defense motion that he identify every person he knew to have been 12 to 14 when he and that person first engaged in sex while Rose was an MLB player or manager. Rose's response was "None."
After Fox hired Rose in the spring of 2015, he drew widespread attention for the storytelling, hitting insights and wisecracking that he would share on the air with Alex Rodriguez -- another all-time great who was disciplined by MLB for violating its rules -- and Hall of Famer Frank Thomas. Hernandez and Ortiz now succeed him on the set with Rodriguez, Thomas and host Kevin Burkhardt.
An MLB spokesman told OTL two years ago that Fox contacted commissioner Rob Manfred "as a courtesy" when it was close to hiring Rose but that Manfred was not asked his opinion and did not weigh in.
In December 2015, Manfred denied Rose's reinstatement bid but said he could take part in teams' ceremonial activities, subject to the commissioner's advance approval -- which Manfred gave the Reds and Phillies for their tributes to "Charlie Hustle," including Cincinnati's retirement of his No. 14 and his induction into its team hall of fame. In December 2016, the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown rejected Rose's request that the Hall overturn its rule that made him ineligible for election as long as he is on baseball's banned list.
Rose, 76, lives in Las Vegas and regularly signs autographs at a collectibles store adjacent to a casino. His lawsuit against Dowd, also 76 and now the leader of President Donald Trump's personal legal defense team in the Russia investigation, asserts that Dowd's remarks two years ago damaged Rose's reputation and cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsement deals.
