It was 39 years ago Wednesday that all of baseball stopped when the game did that night at Riverfront Stadium for what has become one of American sports' most iconic moments , after Pete Rose drove the single to left-center off the San Diego Padres’ Eric Show that earned Rose the title of baseball’s all-time Hit King .
It was No. 4,192 of the Cincinnati native’s career. He would reach 4,256 before he retired the following year.
And if any of today’s pitching trends and hitting patterns continue to influence the game even remotely close to the way they do today, it might be the most enduring, unbreakable record in the books.
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When Pete Rose really broke Ty Cobb's record
Which figures to only elevate that moment in 1985 to an even more rarefied perch compared to other historic moments in Cincinnati’s history.
Except for the fact it didn’t really happen .
Or at least not the way it was celebrated.
Long after Ty Cobb's death in 1961, researchers agreed that the man who owned the longtime record Rose broke was given credit for two more hits than he actually accumulated over a 24-year career. Cobb had “only” 4,189 hits – a number that in subsequent decades came to be recognized by every independent keeper of baseball statistics. MLB defers to former commissioner Bowie Kuhn’s declaration in 1981 that Cobb’s iconic numbers (4,191 and .367 career average) were “grandfathered” into the so-called official record books.
From a just-the-facts-ma’am standpoint – and by “ma’am,” we mean Marge Schott – Cincinnati may well rather not let the facts get in the way of a better story.
In fact, Rose broke the record during the final game of a series in Chicago three days earlier with the first of his two hits that day against right-hander Reggie Patterson – instead of tying the record with his second hit that day and bringing the record chase home.
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As fans of a certain age may remember, Rose wasn’t supposed to play that day at all. As the switch-hitting player-manager, he only put himself in the lineup as a platoon starter against right-handers.
And lefty Steve Trout was supposed to pitch for the Cubs that day – until the Cubs said he got hurt when he supposedly “fell of a bicycle” at home.
Turned out the Chicago club would get the benefit from the extra gate and international attention on their venue for one of baseball’s greatest moments of achievement. Assuming Rose was willing to install himself in the lineup on the final day of that road trip, against all of Reds owner Schott’s greatest champagne wishes and caviar dreams of weekday sellouts at Riverfront.
Asked about the decision, Rose told the media it was tough when considering the 30,000 fans on hand in Chicago “and one lady sitting back in Cincinnati every time I get a hit kicking her dog.”
A local TV crew stayed with Schott as she attended the Bengals game that Sunday as Rose played against Patterson, chronicling her reaction to each at-bat.
Upon his second hit in the game, with at least one more at-bat to come, she said, “I can’t believe it. He tied it, right?
“If I find out that guy doesn’t have a bicycle…”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Happy anniversary (plus three days), Cincinnati Reds and Pete Rose!
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