In a sport made famous by Babe Ruth , Shoeless Joe Jackson and Ty Cobb, Pete Rose was the greatest hitter of all.
But while Ruth, Jackson, Cobb and countless other heroes of America’s fields of dreams are decorated and lauded at baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, Rose is the fallen idol, a legend banished to the wilderness.
The man known as Charlie Hustle, because he always played at full speed, had been retired from home plate for three years when then- Major League Baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti banned him for life following revelations he had been betting on games while manager of his hometown Cincinnati Reds.
At the age of 83, Rose died on Monday night, 35 years after his punishment was announced to a crushed fan base that still advocates annually for his right to be inducted to the Hall of Fame.
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Longtime Reds teammate and Hall of Famer Johnny Bench said: “My heart is sad. I loved you Peter Edward. You made all of us better. No matter the life we led. No one can replace you.”
For fans who came of age in the 1960s and ’70s, no player was more exciting than the Reds’ No. 14, the brash superstar with the shaggy hair, puggish nose and muscular forearms.
At a time when the game was modernising, Rose was old school, a conscious, dirt-stained throwback to baseball’s early days.
A 17-time All-Star, the switch-hitting Rose played on three World Series winners. He was the National League MVP in 1973 and World Series MVP two years later.
He holds the major league record for games played (3,562) and plate appearances (15,890) and the NL record for the longest hitting streak (44 consecutive games).
But no milestone approached his 4,256 hits, breaking his hero Ty Cobb’s 4,191 and signifying his excellence no matter the notoriety which followed.
Rose’s secret was consistency, and longevity. Over 24 seasons, Rose had 200 hits or more 10 times, and more than 180 four other times. He batted .303 overall, even while switching from second base to outfield to third to first, and he led the league in hits seven times.
“Every summer, three things are going to happen,” Rose liked to say. “The grass is going to get green, the weather is going to get hot, and Pete Rose is going to get 200 hits and bat .300.”
On September 11, 1985, Rose was 44 and the Reds’ player-manager when he broke Cobb’s hits record. The crowd stood and yelled. The game was halted to celebrate. Rose was given the ball and the first base bag, then wept openly.
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Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth declared that Rose had “reserved a prominent spot in Cooperstown.” After the game he received a phone call from President Ronald Reagan.
“Your reputation and legacy are secure,” Reagan told him. “It will be a long time before anyone is standing in the spot where you’re standing now.”
Four years later, he was gone.
Rose, who accepted the ban but denied his guilt, finally confessed in 2004 but the game’s authorities never forgave him and he died - like the eight Chicago White Sox players in the movie Field of Dreams - an outcast of the sport he loved.
Items at the Hall of Fame include his helmet from his MVP 1973 season, the bat he used in 1978 when his hitting streak reached 44 and the cleats he wore on the day he became the game’s hits king.
The only thing missing is the man himself.
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