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Soon, I expect some enterprising person will graft a brand new flower to sell at your local nursery soon.
Someone is going to come up with the new “Pete” rose.
It will be red and white (for the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies – where he won World Series championship rings).
This new “Pete” rose will bloom every spring without fail. You can place it anywhere in your garden as it won’t care what position it plays. It only wants to be there to bring you joy for several months during spring and summer.
It will likely bloom a consistently large number of flowers every growing season as it never wavers from its mission to deliver the very best for your yard or garden.
Between October 1 and Halloween, your new “Pete” rose bush will go dormant until it returns again next spring and for many years to come.
Pete Rose passed away last week at the end of baseball’s regular season
Though Pete Rose’s passing last week at age 83 was a shock to the sports world, don’t you find it ironic that he passed away one day after the end of baseball’s regular season?
A friend suggested that I should write a story about Pete Rose. There have been hundreds of articles written about Pete over the past week. Most of them included many of the negative stories about his life off the baseball field.
I am not going to cover those in this post.
Let’s just say that his nickname was never “St. Pete” for good reason. Like most of us, the man known as Pete Rose had plenty of personal thorns and internal demons.
Yet, he was also a big inspiration to fans, too.
My personal lesson from watching Pete play ball is summed up as, “Give it everything you’ve got in life – all the time.”
Yes, I confess to have been a big Pete Rose and Cincinnati Reds fan after he came onto the scene in the 1960’s.
I never owned a #14 Pete Rose t-shirt or jersey. From a marketing perspective, any red and white #14 Pete Rose Reds (or Phillies) jersey should have been designed with a permanent dirt stain located on the front side. Pete’s jersey was rarely clean by the end of any baseball game he played in.
Was there ever a more appropriate sports nickname than “Charlie Hustle”?
I can think of very few sports figures who have earned such an appropriate and long-lasting nickname as Pete Rose’s “Charlie Hustle”.
Perhaps golf’s Arnold “The King” Palmer, basketball’s Earvin “Magic” Johnson, or football’s Kenny “The Snake” Stabler come close.
New York Yankees legends Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle are credited with giving the “Charlie Hustle” nickname to Pete Rose. They joked about the way Rose ran hard at all times on the baseball field. It didn’t matter whether he hit a ground ball to the infield, slapped a single to the outfield, received a walk, or even as he was going into and out of the dugout.
Pete Rose was always running somewhere.
He hustled like no other professional baseball player – then or now.
What made Pete Rose so special?
Over the summer, I read a recently published book about Pete Rose. The author shared how Pete’s father had pushed his son into playing various sports.
Unfortunately, the young Pete Rose failed to pay as much attention to his academic pursuits. Pete was required to repeat his sophomore year in high school.
A standout baseball player at Western Hills High School in Cincinnati, Pete Rose later played one season for a local semi-pro baseball team. Batting an incredible .626, the 19-year old Rose was quickly signed by his hometown Cincinnati Reds to a major league contract for just $7,000 in 1960.
That equates to about $74,000 today. What a bargain for the Reds!
Upon reaching the major leagues in 1963, Pete Rose was named the National League “Rookie of the Year”. Batting from the right side or left, Pete would then roll-off nine straight years of batting .300 or more along with 200 or more hits in each of those seasons.
The 1970’s Cincinnati “Big Red Machine” teams featured stars like Pete Rose, catcher Johnny Bench, infielder Joe Morgan, and outfielder Tony Perez. The Reds won the World Series in both 1975 and 1976.
In 1979, the Philadelphia Phillies thought Pete Rose could help them win their first World Series. They signed 38-year old Pete Rose to a 4-year $3.2 million contract.
In 1980, first baseman Pete Rose hit .282 and led Philadelphia to its first World Series title as they beat the Kansas City Royals.
Pete Rose returned to Cincinnati in 1984 as a player-manager for the Reds. He wanted to finish his career in Cincinnati and try to beat Ty Cobb’s career hits record of 4,191. Rose finally captured that elusive record on September 11, 1985 in one of Major League Baseball’s most iconic moments.
Though his playing days ended in 1986, Pete Rose continued to manage the Reds through August 24, 1989. That was the day when baseball’s President Bart Giamatti permanently suspended Rose due to gambling allegations.
Bart Giamatti died suddenly of a heart attack just eight days later at age 51.
Let’s spin some of those classic Pete Rose records!
Over his 24-year major league baseball career, Pete Rose finished with a .303 batting average as an equally effective switch hitter. He played in a record 3,562 baseball games during his major league career.
Let’s say that an average of 20,000 fans attended each game in his career. Pete Rose played in front of more than 71 million fans at baseball stadiums across the US and Canada!
Rose was a 17-time All-Star, a three-time World Series champion, won the NL MVP award in 1973, was named World Series MVP in 1975 and holds the major league record for hits (4,256) and career plate appearances (15,890).
Did I mention that Pete Rose was a three time batting champion in the National League (1968, 1969, and 1973) and a two-time Gold Glove winner for his defensive work? At various times during his career, Pete Rose played all three outfield positions plus third base and first base.
Pete Rose became one of America’s most recognizable and popular sports personalities in the era prior to the internet and social media.
Hall-of-Fame issues
The National Baseball Hall-of-Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York still has not allowed Pete Rose to be inducted. Rose remains “permanently ineligible” until MLB ever decides to lift his 35 year (and counting) ban from baseball.
Major League Baseball’s “Rule 21” is posted in every major league locker room. It mandates a permanent banishment for having a gambling interest of any sort on a game in which a player or manager is directly involved.
Efforts have been made to broker a deal to allow Pete Rose into the Hall-of-Fame. Most recently, the current MLB Commissioner, Rob Manfred, remained unsatisfied that Rose had shown sufficient contrition and a willingness to change his ways.
“It is not at all clear to me that Mr. Rose has a grasp of the scope of his violations of Rule 21” said Manfred in a statement.
In response, Pete Rose countered with his own comment in 2018.
“I am the winningest athlete in team sport history,” said Rose. “To me, my biggest record is the number of winning games I played in. And that’s also a testament to all the great teammates I played with.”
Ironically, the National Baseball Hall-of-Fame currently features a Pete Rose display inside the Hall’s museum. He remains banned from the official roster of Hall-of-Fame players.
The Cincinnati Reds placed Pete Rose into the team’s Hall-of-Fame in 2016. A now-famous statue of Pete Rose sliding head first is a fan favorite just outside the team’s baseball stadium.
Who needs the Hall-of-Fame anyway?
Pete Rose wasn’t the best student in high school and never went to college. Baseball consumed most of his adult life. Like many of us, Pete Rose neglected his family at times while in pursuit of becoming the best at his chosen profession.
Once Major League Baseball cut off his primary method of earning a living in 1989, Pete Rose struggled financially for the remainder of his life. He began to generate most of his income from signing autographs for legions of fans at various memorabilia exhibitions held around the country.
Just two days before he died recently on September 30, the 83-year old Pete Rose was still signing autographs from a wheelchair due to some recent back problems.
At the event, he was surrounded by former Cincinnati Reds teammates Dave Concepcion, George Foster, Tony Perez and Ken Griffey during a weekend autograph session near Nashville, Tennessee.
The county coroner confirmed last week that Pete Rose died of hypertension and cardiovascular disease, with diabetes shown as a contributing factor.
Through good times and bad, Pete Rose is still loved by millions of sports fans
A website posted an obituary for Pete Rose filled with hundreds of heartfelt comments by older and younger fans about one of their favorite athletes. Here are a few:
Misty said:
I was 12 yrs old in Shriners hospital in 1989. In walked Pete Rose in suit and Ray bans to sit and talk to me and my family for 2 to 3 hours. Nicest, most humble man I ever met. I will always think about that day.
Ernie added:
I have been a huge fan of yours since I was 5 years old in 1980. You´ve been my baseball hero and I´ve always tried to hustle as you did in my life. My oldest son (now 16) and I have a collection of every baseball card of you. Thank you so much for all the memories you´ve given me and the example of grit you gave to me as a young boy. I wish you peace in eternity and you will be missed by us and millions more. Love ya Pete!
Jodie commented:
I got my first baseball glove when I was 10 years old. It was a Mizuno Pete Rose special edition with his autograph pressed into the glove and a note about breaking the all-time Hits record. I still have the glove.
Robert recalled:
I grew up watching Pete Rose, I played high school and college baseball and I played it just like Charlie Hustle! He inspired me so much! I wore #14 in his honor. I can´t play anymore, but play golf and every golf ball I have, has #14 on it in his honor! Rest in Peace Pete, you are the greatest!
Thanks for inspiring millions of us little league ball players, Pete. Rest in peace, Charlie Hustle!