By The Associated Press

NEW YORK - John Dowd does not think Pete Rose read the report he compiled for baseball that led to the career hit leader's permanent ban from the sport.

Dowd, the investigator who headed the probe into Rose and his gambling, made the conclusion after reading Rose's new book, Pete Rose: My Prison Without Bars. In the book, Rose ended years of denials and confessed that he bet on Cincinnati Reds games while he was their manager.

But he also repeatedly challenges the report Dowd submitted and the accusations made by his former associates before he accepted a permanent ban in August 1989.

"I concluded after reading it that he never read my report," Dowd told The New York Times for Sunday editions. "He's autographed it and sold it but never read it."

Dowd said one of the lowest points after the investigation came in 1998, when Major League Baseball filed a complaint with the District of Columbia Bar contending that Dowd had violated lawyer-client privilege.

He said he gave all his findings to Rose's lawyers under instruction from then commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti.

"It was clear they wanted me to shut up," Dowd said. "But there was no privilege. Everything I had I gave to Rose's lawyers."

The bar council dismissed the complaint.

"It's no fun when someone goes after your meal ticket," Dowd said. "It was especially difficult when it was the commissioner of baseball doing it."

Earlier this month, Dowd would not comment to The Associated Press on Rose's turnabout.

"I really don't want to get into a Dowd vs. Rose," Dowd said.