Not today, Pete.

Okay, that may not be what Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred told Pete Rose when he called him up on Monday to tell him that he is upholding his ban, but that’s just how I imagined it.

Three months before the decision, Manfred met with Rose at the MLB headquarters on Park Avenue in Manhattan to discuss the ban, which was enforced 26 years ago. Rose described the meeting as “cordial” and he claimed to have answered Manfred’s questions “truthfully”.

According to Manfred’s report, at the meeting, Rose admitted that he extensively bet on Cincinnati Reds games in 1987, although his memory was a bit cloudy on his involvement in betting on baseball when he was still an active player in 1985 and 1986. Another significant confession from Rose, which he tried to deny at the first part of their meeting, was when he admitted that he still bet recreationally and legally (in Las Vegas) on horses and sports, including baseball.