Also known as simply Pete Rose, he passed away today/yesterday. It has been a rough week for celebrity deaths. It sucks when anyone dies and they're celebrities so the real effect is often muted other than the acknowledgement that another one has passed. This week though for myself and many others, it was a tougher pill to swallow than normal. We lost Dikembe Mutombo aka Mount Mutombo. All 7'2" of this Hall of Famer lost his battle to brain cancer at the young age of 58. Then we had Kris Kristofferson, mainly known as an outlaw country singer from the 70s on also writing Me and My Bobby McGee. (actor too) That very song was made famous by Janis Joplin who he briefly dated before her death in 1970.
Those two deaths, while sad, didn't hit close to home. The next two did a little bit. First, the late, great Dame Maggie Smith. I won't pretend to have seen much she's been in. Before Harry Potter I wouldn't have even known her name. Once I saw her in those films though it was easy to see what a professional she was and I looked into her. She had started acting in the 50s! and was still going into the mid 2010s. If you're not big on HP and you didn't otherwise know her for the slew of things she was in over the decades, Downton Abbey might have made her 'Hollywood famous'. Coincidentally, Maggie died on the same day a year later as Michael Gambon, the second actor who portrayed Dumbledore in the HP films, did.
If you watch Smith's interviews you'll find out that she really had no interest at all in being recognized in public. No desire for the typical type of fame that comes with Hollywood. She loved her craft and wanted to be a serious actress. As she said, when she started acting it wasn't about fame (like it seems to be now), it was about acting. If you have a couple minutes to kill you could head over and peruse some of Maggie Smith's quotes.
Another nugget I tripped on over the years was another actor I'm fond of, Sir Ian McKellen, became friends with Maggie later in life and they remained friends. One thing he liked to do from time to time was to Ian McKellen does Maggie Smith impression #1 and Ian McKellen does Maggie Smith impression #2. Lastly, in an interview in 2016 Maggie quipped that she was able to continue her career as an actress even as she got on in years playing mothers and grandmothers because she was never considered a 'dish'. The interviewer was quick to remind her that in the 60s on Broadway she was an 'undeniable dish'. Her career carried on because she was that talented.
Now for the main dish of this lengthy post, Pete Rose. If you're American you're already familiar with the life and times of Pete Rose. If you're a foreigner I'd be interested to hear how much if any MLB news makes it to you. To tell Pete's story I first have to tell part of my own.
I'm from small town Ohio. Basically a town that is a little west and dead central. Growing up we were ~90 minutes from Riverfront Stadium, where the Reds played. Like virtually all American boys from that time, you grew up playing baseball. (and whiffle ball) Without the internet and only a handful of tv channels, you would watch baseball on tv when you could and if you couldn't, you'd tune into 700 WLW and listen to Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall call the games. That dynamic duo called games for the Reds for around 40 years!
I'm not sure of the exact details of course, but somewhere along the way Pete Rose became my favorite ball player. He was with the Reds from '63-78 and then again from 84-86. Around the end of his career is also when I got into card collecting which add another layer for following Rose. If you saw him play how could you not love him? He seemed like a regular guy who not only got by, but succeeded immensely due to pure determination and love of the game. He was also from Cincinnati, born and raised so he felt like a hometown here. To this day I still remember meeting Pete briefly at a card signing where I paid $8 for him to put his iconic autograph on my card. As recently as I know of Pete was charging $100 for his signature. (that's before they started staggering signing fees depending on what they were signing)
There's so much I want to include in my Rose wrap up I'm sure I'll forget many things and it will be disorganized so make like a fishing line and give me a little slack.
First, his nickname, Charlie Hustle. While I'd strongly recommend you watch the Full Pete Rose interview from 2023, I understand if you don't want to listen to Pete talk for two hours even though it's beyond incredible how much this guy knows and remembers about the game. For the short version, click here for how Pete got his nickname. While Pete had his faults that plenty of people are just in pointing out, if you go down the rabbit hole of watching his seemingly endless supply of interviews on YouTube you will be treated to hearing one of the all time best. And when I say all time best here I don't even mean as a player, I mean as a student of the game. He understands baseball. He can tell you the whats, the hows, and back it up with the why. He knows stats, he remembers all the details of these situations, it's uncanny. He's like XG if XG made the decisions and I provided the reasoning.
Let's jump to some memorable moments in Rose's storied career.
Moment #1 - 1970 All Star Game w/Ray Fosse
Back in the day players cared about whether the NL or AL won the All Star game. It was the first night AS game. It was held in Cincinnati, at their new stadium, Riverfront. In the twelfth inning, yes, twelfth, the game was tied 4 a piece. Two outs and Rose on second Jim Hickman singled to center. Rose, known for his hustle and head first slides, was obviously rounding the corner and trying to end the game. Well, that's enough detail from me, check out the short video of the play.
For some reason Ray Fosse has spent his career being salty towards Rose. From what I've seen and heard Pete has had nothing but praise and reality towards Fosse. Here's Pete clearing up the Fosse incident. And while I can't find any actual interview where Fosse talks about the incident, we do have this gem which is a window into how low class he appears to be. If it wasn't for Rose nobody would even know who Ray was.
Moment #2 - 1973 NLCS Fight
We move on to 1973 with the Reds against the Mets in the 3rd game of the NLCS. Rose is on first when the batter hits a potential double play ball to first, they throw to second for one, back to first for the double play. Rose, always the competitor, apparently slid a bid hard trying to break up the double play. (a lot more common back in the day) Unfortunately the video cuts out before seeing how hard Rose really went into second. Take a look for yourself. From this video alone it looks like a standardish slide. Wish we had another second or two to see if he plowed into Bud Harrelson or what. For all the details that complete the story, check out this short video. Years later Harrelson and Rose ended up playing for the same team. Sadly, Bud Harrelson also passed after struggling with Alzheimer's at the beginning of 2024.
Moment #3 - Go Redlegs, Go Redlegs, Go
Not a pinpoint moment in time but a decade in which Rose was an integral part of one of the best baseball teams of all time, the Big Red Machine. During the 1970s the Reds dominated. Arguably some of the best players ever at their respective positions were on this team. They won back to back World Series in '75 and '76 while reaching the World Series two other years during the decade. It's near impossible to put into words the team that was the Big Red Machine and the Great Eight.
Moment #4 - The OG 9/11
For me, 9/11 will always first and foremost mean September 11th, 1985. This day in history is forever etched into my mind. Pete Rose broke a record many had previously thought untouchable in accumulating more lifetime hits than anyone else in the sport ever. Ty Cobb previously held the record of 4,191. Rose breaks the record!.
I could go on to tell you about my Eric Show autographed card (the pitcher who gave up the hit to Rose), I could go on to tell you about the shirt I have til this day that I got in 1985 or 1986 commemorating that day (it probably fits a 10 year old and I can't find it anywhere online), I could tell you about the newspapers I have from the next day that are iconic, I could tell you we used to use certain Pete Rose stats as our codes/passwords, I could ... and I did. As the announcers said at the time, Pete Rose is baseball and 'this Bud's for you'!
If you watch that record breaking hit I wish he would have tried to stretch it to a double and went in head first to second ... only if he was safe of course. That would have been the cherry on the cherry on the cherry on top.
Moment #5 - The Ball Player's Stats
There's so much to go on about Pete's career in baseball I'm simply going to rattle off a short but incredible list in no particular order.
- A 44 game hit streak in 1978.
- Rookie of the Year 1963
- 17x All Star at FIVE different positions, only player ever to do so
- 3 batting titles, 3 World Series Rings, 2 Gold Gloves, MVP, WS MVP, etc...
