Enquirer news services

The Dayton Daily News, in a copyrighted story published Sunday, has written of conversations between Pete Rose and Dayton gambling kingpin Richard K.Skinner that were recorded in 1986.

The conversations on the tapes described only betting on horse racing and football. But they were unknown to baseball investigators at the time and suggest possible leads in the case that never were explored by Major League Baseball.

"At this point in time, I can't comment," Rose's attorney, Roger Makley, told the newspaper. "I have listened in the past to a considerable number of tapes that were made during the course of the investigation that was conducted in the late '80s. So this is another tape of the kind I've listened to on any number of occasions."

Makley did say, however, that he didn't recall ever hearing a tape of Rose talking directly to a bookie about his gambling.

On one part of the tape, Rose tells the deceased Skinner, who the FBI said had ties to the Mafia and cocaine trafficking, that he would make good on a 3-year-old debt.

"Why don't you just, you know, just let me make it a little before spring training," Rose suggests. "That's three weeks. I've got your number.... I'll straighten it out, I'll straighten it out. I'm not gonna stiff ya."

In another conversation, Rose tells Skinner that he will repay the debt as soon as he is paid off.

"I've got a guy who owes me $17,000," Rose said.

"What, do you mean, a bookmaker?" asked Skinner.

"Yeah," Rose answered. "Oh, he's good for it. It's just for the week."

Rose later referred to a third party. "Bo owes me $25,000," he said, apparently referring to a friend, Dayton businessman Charles E. "Bo" Foreman.