Ex-Montreal groundskeeper: Pete Rose corked his bats on '84 Expos

A former groundskeeper for the Montreal Expos alleges that Major League Baseball's all-time hits leader Pete Rose corked his bats during his 95-game stint with the club in 1984.

"Pete Rose would have his bats corked in the visitors' clubhouse at Olympic Stadium," Joe Jammer told Danny Gallagher of the Montreal Gazette.

Jammer - now a club musician in London, England - served as a groundskeeper for the Expos for 11 seasons.

Corking is against MLB's rules that state a player is prohibited from modifying his bat with foreign substances. This process is achieved by drilling a hole in the barrel and inserting cork into the hollowed portion of the bat to make it lighter and easier to swing.

Jammer said Bryan Greenberg, who worked in the visitors' clubhouse, showed him the machine that was used to cork Rose's bats and told him that he had been doing it for a long time.

"The guy (Greenberg) was saying Rose had been corking his bat for 20 years," Jammer said. "The guy said that nobody checks him because he's a singles hitter."

Greenberg said he could not comment on Jammer's allegations.

Rose finished his career with 4,256 base hits over 24 seasons, most of which was spent with the Cincinnati Reds. He received a lifetime ban in 1989 for betting on baseball while serving as manager of the Reds.