By John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer

All signs are pointing to Pete Rose's reinstatement into baseball, possibly by the end of the year.

Rose recently told the Enquirer he had a good feeling about reinstatement and reiterated that view in an interview with WLWT-TV that will run tonight.

"Based upon my conversation with him, he seems very confident ... that he's going to be reinstated into baseball," said Channel 5 anchor Dave Wagner.

Rose also suggested in the interview with Channel 5 that any reinstatement agreement will allow him to manage again. It is believed that as part of any reinstatement deal, Rose will have to admit to betting on baseball.

Rose recently told the Enquirer that his business agent, Warren Greene, and baseball president and chief operating officer Robert DuPuy sat together at two consecutive Florida Marlins playoff games in Miami in early October. Rose did not divulge what the two discussed, but presumably it regarded reinstatement.

One week later, Rose was in Cincinnati for a hitting clinic and talked freely - individually, and at different points in the day - with three members of the media. That in itself was unusual. Since the news leaked last year that he met with baseball commissioner Bud Selig about reinstatement, Rose rarely has talked to reporters.

Last summer, Rose's former teammate Mike Schmidt said he believed Rose would be reinstated this month. At that time, baseball officials said there was no timetable.

But something is cooking. When DuPuy and Greene met early last month, Selig called DuPuy on the latter's cell phone.

DuPuy's office referred the Enquirer's questions about reinstatement to MLB's spokespersons, who didn't return the Enquirer's calls Tuesday.