BOSTON - Baseball commissioner Bud Selig broke his silence on Pete Rose, but only to say on Monday that he hasn't read Rose's book and doesn't know when he will decide on the hit king's bid to lift his lifetime ban.

Rose agreed to the suspension in 1989 after an investigation into his gambling revealed that he bet on games while manager of the Cincinnati Reds and applied for reinstatement in 1997.

He continued to deny publicly betting on baseball, but publicly reversed his position last week in his new autobiography. Rose also said he made the admission to Selig in November 2002.

Rose's belated confession struck many as falling short of a sincere apology. Selig declined to say on whether he believed Rose was sorry, saying that it would be inappropriate for him to prejudge the case.

Asked when that might be, Selig declined comment. Asked what needs to happen for Rose's application to be heard, Selig declined comment.

Asked what the next step in the process is, Selig said: ''There is no next step.''

Selig was appearing at the annual dinner of the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, where he received the Judge Emil Fuchs Award for long and meritorious service to the game.