Pete Rose: Beyond The Stats And The Scandals
By June 8, 2022
Most people who have followed baseball know who Pete Rose is. Or at least, they know of his rather impressive record while he played, of the scandals that plagued him, and of the fact that the Baseball Hall of Fame permanently banned him. However, there is much more to the man who not only had a fantastic hitting record, but who is also the only player to play 500 games in five different positions: first, second, third, right field, and left field. He also played 73 games in centerfield.
Growing Up With Baseball in Cincinnati
Rose was born on April 14, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father, Harry Rose, worked in a bank, and was a semi-pro football player; he was relatively well-known locally, and his son was the team waterboy. Rose grew up in Anderson Ferry, a working-class neighborhood, where stickball was always played on the street outside his home, and a homemade baseball field was nearby. Rose seemed destined to play baseball, and even when he was a child, his father would not allow him to go to the local movies as he was concerned about the damage that he thought watching them would have on his ability to hit.
Making His Way To The Majors
Rose developed a reputation from a young age as a kid who could hit anything, and his father helped him to become a switch-hitter. He had a natural tendency to hit on the left, and when he was 9, his father insisted he get a number of hits on the right side before he could hit on the left. His father’s training paid off, as he became one of the greatest major league switch-hitters of all time. While he continued to play baseball, he was a running back on his high school football team as well. It was because of football that he was held back a year in high school (he did not make the varsity team and let his grades slip). By his senior year, he was not eligible to play baseball since they had a four-year limit. He decided to join a Class AA team in the Dayton Amateur League, playing catcher, second base, and shortstop. He ended up with a .626 batting average. He signed with the Reds at 19 after he graduated from high school. However, he wasn’t drafted for the team as the MLB did not have a complete amateur draft until 1965. Rose’s uncle, Buddy Bloebaum, was a “bird scout” for the Reds, and convinced them to take a chance on him in 1960. He spent his first three seasons with the Reds in the Minors, playing for the Geneva Redlegs, Tampa Tarpons, and the Macon Peaches before being invited to spring training in 1963. He not only earned his spot on the Reds at that point, he also got his nickname, “Charlie Hustle.” Whitey Ford gave him the name and it was meant to be derisive, although the story of exactly what led to the nickname is unclear.
He Enlisted In The U.S. Army Reserves
When he made his MLB debut on April 8, 1963 against the Pirates, he went 0-for-11. He actually didn’t have his first hit until April 13, and he eventually finished the season hitting .273 and being named rookie of the year. During his second year with the Reds, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves, serving at Fort Thomas, Kentucky. There, he was the company cook and, along with Johnny Bench, trained the fort’s baseball team. He managed to cook for the fort during the early morning shifts, and played in the Reds home games later in the day.
