NL Player of the Year - Pete Rose
By Vito Stellino
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The numbers tell the story of the man's career but they don't begin to tell the story of the man. The numbers Pete Rose has put in the record books are a monument to his career. He reached the pinnacle last September when he broke Ty Cobb's record of 4,191 hits, but he also played in more games, batted more times, hit more singles and collected more 200-hit seasons than any player in the history of the game.
The numbers are a reflection of his durability and ability, but they don't begin to measure the key ingredient of his career--his enthusiasm for the game. The story of Pete Rose is a story of a man and his love affair with his sport.
Rose is now the player-manager for the Cincinnati Reds but his playing days are winding down at age 45.
"I can't visualize life after baseball because, for me, there never will be life after baseball," he says. "I'll stick around in some kind of capacity--manager, hitting instructor, something. When my playing days are over, I'm not going to fold my tent and say, 'see ya later' to a sport that has been my whole life. The only way I'd ever leave the sport is if it stopped being fun for me."
It's impossible to imagine Pete Rose not having fun playing baseball. Baseball has always been what makes him tick.
That's why it was such an emotional moment for him on Sept. 11, 1985 when he lined a single off San Diego right-hander Eric Show on a 2-and-1 pitch for hit number 4,192--one of the most historic blows in major-league history. "It was awful lonely out there at first base after it happened," he says. "I didn't know what to do. I was okay until I looked up in the air. Then I saw my dad and Ty Cobb. I wasn't so good after that."
It was an emotional moment also because Rose's chase for Cobb's record became the highlight of the American sports scene in the late summer of 1985.
There was a small army of media following Rose and there was even a dramatic twist to the way he tied the record, with hit number 4,191 in Chicago on Sept. 8. Even though Rose is a switch-hitter, he started only against right-handed pitching last season. With Steve Trout scheduled to pitch for the Cubs, Tony Perez was slated to play first base. Rose was supposed to sit out the game and begin the record quest when the team returned home to Cincinnati.
But Trout fell off a bicycle the night before, bruised his shoulder and elbow and had to be scratched from the game. Reggie Patterson, who had been in the minor leagues just five days earlier, was inserted as the Cubs' new starting pitcher.
Rose was suddenly faced with a dilemma. Should he play it the way he normally does when a right-hander is pitching and put himself in the lineup? Or should he wait to go back to Cincinnati to play again. Rose played it the way he normally does even though there wasn't time to stop his family from returning to Cincinnati or to alert team owner Marge Schott to fly to Chicago.
"I had 30,000 people yelling in Chicago," he explains, "and one lady (Schott) sitting back in Cincinnati kicking her dog (a St. Bernard named Schottzie) every time I got a hit."
Even Rose's teammates advised him to take himself out of the lineup but Rose kept playing. The game was eventually stopped by rain in the eighth inning and then called at the end of nine innings because of darkness (Wrigley Field is the only park in the majors that doesn't have lights).
Mrs. Schott wasn't too happy that Rose had tied Cobb's record on the road. "The fans in Cincinnati deserved to see the record tied and broken," she says. "Pete shouldn't have played in Chicago. Nobody would have complained."
But Rose never put his record quest above the team. "You've got to try to win," he counters.
Rose singled in the first and fifth innings to tie the record before grounding out and striking out in the seventh and ninth innings. The game ended as a 5-5 tie and Rose was able to get the record-breaker in Cincinnati.
But the way he played in Chicago, even though it could have deprived him of the chance to break the record in front of the home fans, was another example of Rose's competitiveness.
"I've won just about every award in baseball that's available to a hitter. But of all my awards, I'm proudest of my three World Series rings because those are a reflection of team success," he says.
It's somewhat fitting that Rose was the player to break Cobb's record because Rose was a competitor in the Cobb mold. But Rose doesn't have Cobb's nasty disposition.
"Two guys who knew Cobb--Lew Fonseca and the late Waite Hoyt--told me he was the nastiest player they'd ever seen. He didn't like his teammates. He even fought with them. Now, I've done some things in my life that I'm not proud of. And maybe everybody doesn't like me. But I think I'm more caring when it comes to the younger players in the game. And I still think of myself as a 'nice' individual," Rose admits.
Rose got involved in controversies during his day, notably the collision with Ray Fosse at home plate in the 1970 All-Star game and the wrestling match with Bud Harrelson at second base during the 1973 playoffs, but there was never any deliberate attempt to hurt an opponent.
Players like Cobb have become such mythic figures that it's difficult at times to separate fiction from fact in their careers. But nobody can argue that Cobb set the old record of 4,191 hits and Rose broke it. Pete ended the season with 4,204 hits and he hopes to add to that total this year.
"Age is a state of mind," he says. "Some people are over the hill at 30. My philosophy is that baseball is a case of grownups playing a kid's game and if you keep acting with the enthusiasm of a kid, you never get old. The key is having fun. Some guys quit before their skills tell them to just because they aren't having much fun. Johnny Bench never would have quit after the 1983 season if he'd been playing for a winner."
Five years after Rose does retire, he will be an automatic choice for the Hall of Fame, although he admits he wouldn't mind being remembered in another way.
"A statue in front of the park (Riverfront Stadium) would be nice. I still get chills when I see that statue of Stan Musial in St. Louis," he adds. "Yeah, I'd go for a statue. Dogs and cats might like it. And some of my best friends might sleep there."
Don't be surprised if Rose gets a statue someday.
Even if he doesn't, he has his own monument. He has collected more hits than any player in the history of the game. That feat will always be his baseball legacy (Stellino, 47-48).
Story Taken From the Petersen's 1986 Annual of Pro Baseball - Pages 47-48.
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