Dave Kingman
Kingman while with the Cubs.
Left fielder / First baseman / Designated hitter
Born: (1948-12-21) December 21, 1948 (age 63) Pendleton, Oregon
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
July 30, 1971 for the San Francisco Giants
Last MLB appearance
October 5, 1986 for the Oakland Athletics
Career statistics
Batting average	.236
Home runs	442
Runs batted in	1,210
Teams
San Francisco Giants (1971–1974) New York Mets (1975–1977) San Diego Padres (1977) California Angels (1977) New York Yankees (1977) Chicago Cubs (1978–1980) New York Mets (1981–1983) Oakland Athletics (1984–1986)
Career highlights and awards
National League Home Run Champion (1979, 1982) 3× All-Star (1976, 1979, 1980) AL Comeback Player of the Year (1984)

David Arthur Kingman (born December 21, 1948), nicknamed "Kong" and "Sky King", is a former Major League Baseball left fielder, first baseman, third baseman, and designated hitter. The towering 6' 6" Kingman was one of the most feared sluggers of the 1970s and 1980s. His height and long-armed, sweeping swing were sufficient to propel a baseball a very long distance when he connected solidly. It was said of him that he was one of those players that when he came to bat, everyone in the park stopped whatever they were doing to watch him. He hit plenty of home runs, and he could hit them farther than many had ever seen, once over 530 feet.

His free-swinging, however, cut both ways, as he was also apt to strike out frequently, and usually posted a low batting average and on-base percentage, often leading the league in outs made. His 1,816 strikeouts was the fourth-highest total in MLB history at the time of his retirement. He currently ranks twelfth as of the start of the 2012 season - three strikeouts ahead of Manny Ramirez and seven ahead of Adam Dunn who are both active players.^[1]

USC Trojans[link]

Born in in Pendleton, Oregon, Kingman was drafted by the California Angels out of high school in the second round of the 1967 Major League Baseball Draft, and by the Baltimore Orioles in the first round of the 1968 draft, but chose, instead, to play baseball at the University of Southern California under legendary coach Rod Dedeaux. Kingman began as a pitcher before being converted to an outfielder. In 1970, he was named an All-American and led the Trojans to the College World Series championship. He was selected by the San Francisco Giants with the first pick of the 1970 secondary phase draft.

San Francisco Giants[link]

Kingman came up as an outfielder and first baseman with the San Francisco Giants. He made his major league debut on July 30, 1971, pinch running for Willie McCovey, and finishing the game at first base. In his next two games, he showed some of the power that would make him one of the most feared sluggers of his era, hitting a home run in his next game,^[2] and slugging two more a day later.^[3]

On April 16, 1972, the second day of the season, Kingman hit for the cycle in the Giants' 10-6 victory over the Houston Astros. A day earlier, he made his debut at third base, a position he would play off and on for the remainder of his Giants career. Kingman also made his major league debut on the mound with the Giants, pitching two innings of "mop up duty" on an 11-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on April 15, 1973.^[4] He pitched again in the mop up role on May 13 in a 15-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.^[5] In both games, he pitched the final two innings and gave up two earned runs.

In 1974, he committed twelve errors in 59 chances at third, and lost his starting job to Steve Ontiveros. Following the season, the Giants sold him to the New York Mets.

New York Mets[link]

Kingman did play twelve games at third with the Mets; however, the Mets essentially abandoned the idea of Kingman as a third baseman and kept him at his two primary positions. He emerged as a slugger upon his arrival in New York, setting a club record with 36 home runs in 1975. However, he also scored 65 runs, the highest percentage of runs scored on homers for anyone that hit more than 30 in a season. A year later, he broke his own record with 37 homers, and was elected to start in right field for the 1976 National League All-Star team.

Facing the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on April 14, 1976, Kingman hit what is likely the longest home run of his career, and believed to be the longest in the history of the Cubs ballpark. There is a street called Kenmore Avenue that T's into Waveland Avenue behind left-center field. Kenmore is lined with houses, and the ball Kingman launched landed on the third porch roof on the east side of Kenmore, a shot estimated at 550 feet.^[6] Despite Kingman's titanic shot, the Cubs beat the Mets 6-5.

The best game of Kingman's Mets career occurred on June 4, 1976 when he hit three home runs against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Mets' 11-0 victory (the first of five times Kingman accomplished this feat in his major league career).

1977 season[link]

Kingman was batting only .209 with nine home runs when he became one of the three players traded in the infamous "Midnight Massacre" in New York. On June 15, 1977, the Mets traded Kingman to the San Diego Padres for minor league pitcher Paul Siebert and Bobby Valentine; Tom Seaver was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Pat Zachry, Doug Flynn, Steve Henderson and Dan Norman; and Mike Phillips was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joel Youngblood. Kingman also did not pan out with the Padres, being waived by the team on September 6 and claimed by the California Angels. On September 15, Kingman became one of only a handful of players to play for four major league teams in the same season when he was traded to the Mets' crosstown rivals, the Yankees, for Randy Stein and cash. Although Kingman's four home runs in eight games helped propel the Yankees into the post-season over the second place Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles, he could not participate in the team's push to a World Series crown as he was added to the roster after the July 31 cutoff date.

Chicago Cubs[link]

Following the season, Kingman signed as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs. One of Kingman's career days at the plate occurred in Los Angeles on May 14, 1978, when he again hit three home runs against the Dodgers, including a three run shot in the top of the 15th inning that gave the Cubs a 10-7 victory. Eight of the Cubs' ten runs were driven in by Kingman.^[7] Following the game, radio reporter Paul Olden (now the public address announcer at Yankee Stadium) asked Dodgers' manager Tommy Lasorda his opinion of Kingman's performance that day, inspiring an oft-replayed (and censored) obscenity laced tirade.^[8]

The best season of Kingman's career came with the Cubs in 1979, when he batted an impressive .288 with a National League-leading 48 homers, as well as 115 runs batted in (second to San Diego's Dave Winfield's 118) and 97 runs scored. He hit three home runs in a game twice that season, both coming in Cubs losses. The first was a memorable slugging duel with Mike Schmidt; Kingman hit three home runs and drove in 6 while Schmidt hit two in the game, with Schmidt delivering the killing blow in the top of the tenth inning to give the Phillies a 23-22 victory.^[9] The second three homer game for Kingman that year came against his former team on July 28 at Shea Stadium in a 6-4 loss to the Mets.^[10]

His .613 slugging percentage was almost 50 points higher than that of his next closest National League competition, Mike Schmidt. Kingman finished eleventh in NL MVP balloting that year despite leading the league in strikeouts for the first time in his career (131).

In 1980, Kingman's enigmatic personality (which former Mets teammate John Stearns once compared to a tree trunk)^[11] began to assert itself, as he dumped ice water on a reporter's head during Spring training. Kingman claimed he was often misquoted, and he began appearing regularly in the Chicago Tribune, as the nominal author of a ghost-written column. Mike Royko, then writing for the rival Chicago Sun-Times, parodied Kingman's column with a series said to be written by "Dave Dingdong."^[12] Kingman eventually quarreled with his own ghostwriter. The series came to an end, and so did Kingman's days with the Cubs.

Return to New York[link]

In January 1980, the Payson heirs sold the Mets franchise to the Doubleday publishing company for $21.1 million. Nelson Doubleday, Jr. was named chairman of the board while minority shareholder Fred Wilpon took the role of club president. On February 28, 1981, eager to make right with a fan base that had become disenchanted with the team, the Mets reacquired Kingman from the Cubs for Steve Henderson and cash. In separate deals, the new organization also reacquired Rusty Staub, and two seasons later, Tom Seaver.

Kingman primarily played first base upon his return to the Mets in 1981, and exclusively there his second season back in New York. In 1982, he tied his own Mets' single-season home run record, but also batted just .204, the lowest batting average ever recorded for a first baseman with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. Leading the league in home runs that year, it is also the lowest batting average for any season's home run leader.^[13] Additionally, he accomplished the dubious feat of leading the league in home runs while having a lower batting average than the Cy Young Award winner, (Steve Carlton, .218).^[14]

Kingman led the NL in strike outs both of his first two seasons in New York (105 in 1981 & 156 in 1982). On June 15, 1983, the sixth anniversary of the Midnight Massacre, the Mets acquired first baseman Keith Hernandez from the St. Louis Cardinals for pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey. Kingman remained with the team for the remainder of the season in a limited role. He was released at the end of the season, and signed as a free agent with the Oakland Athletics.

Oakland A's[link]

On April 16, 1984, Kingman collected his fifth and final 3-homer game, in a 9-6 win over the Seattle Mariners.^[15] Always an awkward defensive player, he made just nine appearances at first base in 1984, and was the A's regular designated hitter the remainder of the time. For the season, Kingman hit 35 home runs and drove in 118 runs to be named the American League's Comeback Player of the Year, and finish 13th in MVP balloting.

In three seasons as a DH in Oakland, he collected at least 30 home runs and 90 RBIs in each of those years. He also had two remarkable at-bats in this period which did not result in home runs, but nonetheless added to his legend: in the Metrodome at Minnesota, on May 4, 1984, he hit a pop-up that flew into a hole in the roof and got stuck for a ground rule double. In a game in Seattle on April 11, 1985, he hit a tremendous drive to left field which struck a speaker hanging from the roof of the Kingdome, bounced back and was caught.^[16]

Controversy[link]

During his final year in Oakland in 1986, Kingman sent a live rat wrapped in a pink box to Sue Fornoff, a sportswriter for the Sacramento Bee newspaper.^[17] The rat had a tag attached to it that read, "My name is Sue." Fornoff claimed that Kingman had told her that women do not belong in the clubhouse, and that he harassed her several times since she began covering the team the year before. For his part, Kingman claimed it was practical joke.^[18] The A's fined Kingman $3,500 and warned that he would be released if a similar incident occurred again.

Lifetime walks-to-strikeout ratio: 0.335 (608-1816)

Hall of Fame candidacy[link]

Kingman signed with the San Francisco Giants during the 1987 season. After twenty minor league games in which he batted .203, he retired.

While impressively belting out more than 400 home runs in his career, he was never a serious candidate for the Baseball Hall of Fame. In his first year of eligibility, 1992, he appeared on just three ballots, disqualifying him from future BBWAA voting. He was the first player to hit 400 or more home runs without being eventually inducted into the Hall of Fame.^[19]

See also[link]

• List of top 300 Major League Baseball home run hitters
• Hitting for the cycle
• List of Major League Baseball home run champions

References[link]

External links[link]

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Dave Kingman at Retrosheet
• Dave Kingman at Baseball Almanac
• DaveKingman.com (under construction)
• The Dave Kingman Award
• Dave Kingman at the Ultimate Mets Database

Pete Rose
Outfielder / Infielder / Manager
Born: (1941-04-14) April 14, 1941 (age 71) Cincinnati, Ohio
Batted: Switch	Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 8, 1963 for the Cincinnati Reds
Last MLB appearance
August 17, 1986 for the Cincinnati Reds
Career statistics
Batting average	.303
Hits	4,256
Home runs	160
Runs batted in	1,314
Teams
As player Cincinnati Reds (1963–1978) Philadelphia Phillies (1979–1983) Montreal Expos (1984) Cincinnati Reds (1984–1986) As manager Cincinnati Reds (1984–1989)
Career highlights and awards
3× World Series champion (1975, 1976, 1980) NL MVP (1973) World Series MVP (1975) 3× National League Batting Champion (1968, 1969, 1973 17× All-Star (1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1985) 2× Gold Glove Award (1969, 1970) Silver Slugger Award (1981) NL Rookie of the Year (1963) Hutch Award (1969) Lou Gehrig Memorial Award (1969) Roberto Clemente Award (1976) Major League Baseball All-Century Team Holds numerous other records and achievements MLB Records 4,256 career hits 3,562 career games played 14,053 career at-bats

Peter Edward Rose (born April 14, 1941), nicknamed "Charlie Hustle", is a former Major League Baseball player and manager. Rose played from 1963 to 1986, and managed from 1984 to 1989.

Rose, a switch hitter, is the all-time Major League leader in hits (4,256), games played (3,562), at-bats (14,053) and outs (10,328).^[1] He won three World Series rings, three batting titles, one Most Valuable Player Award, two Gold Gloves, the Rookie of the Year Award, and made 17 All-Star appearances at an unequaled five different positions (2B, LF, RF, 3B & 1B).

In August 1989, three years after he retired as an active player, Rose agreed to permanent ineligibility from baseball amidst accusations that he gambled on baseball games while playing for and managing the Reds, including claims that he bet on his own team. In 1991, the Baseball Hall of Fame formally voted to ban those on the "permanently ineligible" list from induction, after previously excluding such players by informal agreement among voters. In 2004, after years of public denial, Rose admitted to betting on baseball and on, but not against, the Reds.^[2] The issue of Rose's possible re-instatement, and election, to the Hall of Fame remains a contentious one throughout baseball.

Early life[link]

Peter Edward Rose was born April 14, 1941 in Cincinnati, Ohio, one of four children born to Harry Francis "Pete" and LaVerne Rose. He was a member of the Order of DeMolay as a young boy, and was encouraged by his parents to participate in sports.

Rose played both baseball and football at Western Hills High School. He was small for his age but earned the starting running back position on his freshman football team. When he was not promoted to the varsity football team in his sophomore year, Rose was dejected and lost interest in his studies. At the end of the school year, Rose's teachers decreed that he would have to attend summer school or be held back. Harry Rose decided that it would be better for Pete to repeat a year of school than miss a summer playing baseball. Plus, it would give Pete an extra year to mature physically. When Pete reached his senior year, he had already used up his four years of sports eligibility, so in the Spring of 1960, he joined the Class AA team sponsored by Frisch's Big Boy of Lebanon, Ohio in the Dayton Amateur League. He played catcher, second base and shortstop and compiled a .626 batting average. This would have been the pinnacle of Rose's baseball career if not for the help of his uncle Buddy Bloebaum. Bloebaum was a bird dog scout for the Reds and he pleaded the case for his nephew. The Reds, who had recently traded away a number of prospects who turned out to be very good, decided to take a chance on Pete. Upon his graduation from high school, Rose signed a professional contract.

Cincinnati Reds[link]

Rookie of the Year[link]

Rose walks onto the field with the Cincinnati Reds

During a spring training game against the Chicago White Sox in 1963, the Reds' regular second baseman, Don Blasingame, pulled a groin muscle; Rose got his chance and made the most of it. During another spring training game against the New York Yankees, Whitey Ford gave him the derisive nickname "Charlie Hustle" after Rose sprinted to first base after drawing a walk. Despite (or perhaps because of) the manner in which Ford intended it, Rose adopted that nickname as a badge of honor. In Ken Burns' documentary Baseball, Mickey Mantle claimed that Ford gave Rose the nickname after Rose, playing in left field, made an effort to climb the fence to try to catch a Mantle home run that everyone could see was headed over everything.

Rose made the club, and made his major league debut on April 8, 1963 (Opening Day) against the Pittsburgh Pirates and drew a walk. After going 0-for-11, Rose got his first Major League hit on April 13, a triple off Pittsburgh's Bob Friend. He hit .273 for the year and won the National League Rookie of the Year Award, collecting 17 of 20 votes.

Rose entered the US Army Reserves after the 1963 baseball season. He was assigned to Fort Knox for six months of active duty, which was followed by six years of regular attendance with a 478th Engineering Battalion USAR at Fort Thomas, Kentucky. At Fort Knox, he was a platoon guide and graduated from United States Army Basic Training January 18, 1964, one week before his marriage to Karolyn. Rose then remained at Fort Knox to assist the sergeant in training the next platoon and to help another sergeant train the Fort's baseball team. Later in his Fort Thomas service, Rose served as company cook which entailed coming in early for the one weekend/month meeting so that he could get out early enough to participate in local Reds games. Other Reds players in the unit included Johnny Bench, Bobby Tolan, and Darrel Chaney.

Early years[link]

On April 23, 1964, in the top of the ninth inning of a scoreless game in Colt Stadium, Rose reached first base on an error and scored on another error to make Houston Astros Ken Johnson the first pitcher to lose a complete game no-hitter. However, he slumped late in the season, was benched, and finished with just a .269 average. He continued to play winter ball in Venezuela with Leones del Caracas team during 1964–1965 season to improve his batting. Rose came back in 1965, leading the league in hits (209) and at-bats (670), and finishing sixth in NL MVP balloting. It was the first of his ten seasons with 200-plus hits, and his .312 batting average was the first of nine consecutive .300 seasons. He hit a career-High 16 home runs in 1966, then switched positions from second base to right field the following year.

In 1968, Rose started the season with a 22-game hit streak, missed three weeks (including the All-Star Game) with a broken thumb, then had a 19-game hit streak late in the season. He had to finish the season 6-for-9 to beat out Matty Alou and win the first of two close NL batting-title races with a .335 average. He finished second to St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson for the NL MVP award, earning six first place votes.

Rose had his best offensive season in 1969, setting a career high in batting (.348) and tying his career-best 16 homers. As the Reds' leadoff man, he was the team's catalyst, rapping 218 hits, walking 88 times and pacing the league in runs with 120. He hit 33 doubles, 11 triples, drove in 82 runs, slugged .512 (by far the highest mark of his long career), and had a .432 OBP (also a career best). Rose and Roberto Clemente were tied for the batting title going into the final game; Rose bunted for a base hit in his last at-bat of the season to beat out Clemente (.345).

1970 All-Star game[link]

On July 14, 1970, in brand-new Riverfront Stadium (opened just two weeks earlier), Rose was involved in one of the most famous plays in All-Star Game history. Leading off against the California Angels' Clyde Wright in the 12th inning, Rose hit a single and advanced to second on another single by the Los Angeles Dodgers' Billy Grabarkewitz. The Chicago Cubs’ Jim Hickman then singled sharply to center. Amos Otis' throw went past Cleveland Indians catcher Ray Fosse, as Rose barreled over Fosse to score the winning run. It has been written that Fosse suffered a separated shoulder in the collision, but it went undiagnosed initially. Fosse continued to hit for average (he finished the season at .307), but with diminished power—he had 16 home runs before the break but only two after. He played through the 1979 season, but never approached his first-year numbers.^[3] The collision also caused Rose to miss three games with a bruised knee. As can be seen in a replay of the event, Rose initially intended to slide headfirst as he usually did, but when Fosse blocked the plate prior to the throw reaching home, an off-balance Rose came back up and ran through Fosse as the throw went by. Immediately after the play, Rose can be seen trying to check on the injured Fosse as Rose's National League teammates ran onto the field to celebrate his winning run.

1973 season[link]

Pete Rose at bat during the Big Red Machine years

In 1973, Rose led the league with 230 hits and a .338 batting average en route to winning the NL MVP award, and leading "the Big Red Machine" to the 1973 National League Championship Series against the New York Mets.

During the fifth inning of game three of the series, Joe Morgan hit a double play ball to Mets first baseman John Milner with Rose on first. Rose's slide into second attempting to break up the double play incited a fight with Mets shortstop Bud Harrelson, resulting in a bench-clearing brawl. The game was nearly called off when, after the Reds took the field, the Shea Stadium crowd threw objects from the stands at Rose, causing Reds manager Sparky Anderson to pull his team off the field until order was restored. Mets Manager Yogi Berra and players Willie Mays, Tom Seaver, Cleon Jones, and Rusty Staub were actually summoned by NL President Chub Feeney out to left field to calm the fans. The Reds ended up losing the game, 7–2, and the NLCS, 3–2, despite Rose’s .381 batting average in the series, and his eighth-inning home run to tie Game One and his 12th-inning home run to win Game Four.

The Big Red Machine[link]

The Cincinnati Reds of the 1970s earned the nickname "the Big Red Machine," and is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest teams ever. On a team with many great players, Rose, along with Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Tony Pérez, was viewed as one of the club's leaders.

In 1975, Rose earned the Hickok Belt as top professional athlete of the year and Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" award. The following year, he was a major force in helping the Reds repeat as World Series champions. The 1976 Reds swept the Phillies 3–0 in the 1976 National League Championship Series, then swept the Yankees 4–0 in the World Series. The 1976 Cincinnati Reds remain the only team since the expansion of the playoffs in 1969 to go undefeated in the postseason. The Reds have not lost a World Series game since Carlton Fisk's extra inning home run in 1975, a span of 9 straight wins. What tends to get overlooked was that in 1975 and 1976, it was the successful changing of Rose's primary position from the outfield to fill the void at third base (3B) that seemed to solidify the Reds team for these 2 championship seasons as this move enabled the Reds to use power hitting outfielder George Foster more.

44-game hitting streak[link]

On May 5, 1978, Rose became the 13th player in major league history to collect his 3,000th career hit, with a single off Montreal Expos pitcher Steve Rogers. On June 14 in Cincinnati, Rose singled in the first inning off Cubs pitcher Dave Roberts; Rose would proceed to get a hit in every game he played until August 1, making a run at Joe DiMaggio’s record 56-game hitting streak, which had stood virtually unchallenged for 37 years. The streak started quietly, but by the time it had reached 30 games, the media took notice and a pool of reporters accompanied Rose and the Reds to every game. On July 19 against the Philadelphia Phillies, Rose was hitless going into the ninth with his team trailing. He ended up walking in the eighth inning and the streak appeared over. But the Reds managed to bat through their entire lineup, giving Rose another chance to bat in the ninth inning. Facing Ron Reed, Rose laid down a perfect bunt single to extend the streak to 32 games.

He would eventually tie Willie Keeler's 1897 single season National League record at 44 games, but on August 1, the streak came to an end as Gene Garber of the Atlanta Braves struck out Rose in the ninth inning. The competitive Rose was sour after the game, blasting Garber and the Braves for treating the situation "like it was the ninth inning of the 7th game of the World Series" ^[4] Instead of being insulted, Garber took the comment as a compliment: "I said to myself, 'Well, thanks Pete. That's how I try to pitch every time I'm in a game'."

Philadelphia Phillies[link]

The Philadelphia Phillies had won the National League East three years running (1976–1978) two of which were won with 101 win seasons, but were unable to make it to the World Series. In 1979, believing that he was the player who could bring them over the top, the Phillies temporarily made Rose the highest-paid athlete in team sports when they signed him to a four-year, $3.2-million contract as a free agent. With perennial All-Star Mike Schmidt firmly entrenched at third, Rose made the final position change of his career to first base.

Although they missed the postseason in his first year with the team, they earned three division titles (one in the first half of the strike shortened 1981 season), two World Series appearances and their first ever World Series title (1980) in the following four years.

The worst season of Rose's career was also the season that the Phillies played in their second World Series in four years, 1983. Rose batted only .245 with 121 hits, and found himself benched during the latter part of the '83 season, appearing periodically to play and pinch hit. Rose did blossom as a pinch-hitter, with 8 hits in 21 at bats, a .381 average.

Rose bounced back in a big way during the postseason, batting .375 (6-for-16) during the N.L. Playoffs against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and .312 in the World Series (5-for-16). Rose collected only one hit in his first eight at-bats in the first two games in Baltimore against the 1983 A.L. Champions. Rose found himself benched for game three back in Philadelphia, and would ground out in a pinch-hitting appearance. Worse yet, Rose showed some unsportsmanlike attitude toward his own manager, Paul Owens, complaining about his benching in a pre-game interview with ABC's Howard Cosell. Rose bounced back with four hits in his last seven at-bats in the remaining two games. Still, the Phillies lost decisively to the Baltimore Orioles in the 1983 World Series, 4 games to 1.

Montreal Expos[link]

Rose was granted an unconditional release from the Phillies in late October 1983. Phillies management wanted to retain Rose for the 1984 season, but he refused to accept a more limited playing role. Months later, he signed a one-year contract with the Montreal Expos. On April 13, 1984, the 21st anniversary of his first career hit, Rose doubled off of the Phillies’ Jerry Koosman for his 4,000th career hit, becoming only the second player in the 4000 hit club (joining Ty Cobb).

Back to Cincinnati[link]

Rose was traded to the Reds for infielder Tom Lawless on August 15, 1984 and was immediately named player-manager, replacing Reds' manager Vern Rapp. Though he only batted .259 for the Expos, his average jumped to .365 with the Reds, as he managed them to a 19–22 record for the remainder of the season.

On September 11, 1985, Rose broke Ty Cobb’s all-time hits record with his 4,192nd hit, a single to left-center field off San Diego Padres pitcher Eric Show. According to its Web site, MLB.com, Major League Baseball continues to recognize Cobb's final hit total as 4,191, though independent research has revealed that two of Cobb's hits were counted twice.^[5][6] Because of this, it has been suggested that Rose actually broke Cobb's record against the Cubs' Reggie Patterson with a single in the first inning of a Reds' 5–5 called game against Chicago on September 8. Because Rose broke Cobb's record, ABC's Wide World of Sports named Rose as its Athlete of the Year that year. Rose accumulated a total of 4,256 hits before his final career at-bat, a strikeout against San Diego’s Rich Gossage on August 17, 1986.

Retirement from playing[link]

On November 11, Rose was dropped from the Reds’ 40-man roster to make room for pitcher Pat Pacillo, and he unofficially retired as a player, however, he continued as manager. "Charlie Hustle" finished with an incredible number of Major League and National League records that have lasted for many years. Rose, always proud of his ability to hit .300 or better in 15 of his 24 playing seasons, has a lifetime .303 batting average.

Rose managed the Reds from August 15, 1984, to August 24, 1989, with a 426–388 record. During his four full seasons at the helm (1985–1988), the Reds posted four second-place finishes in the NL West division. His 426 managerial wins rank fifth in Reds history.

30 days suspension[link]

On April 30, 1988 during a home game against the New York Mets, following a call by umpire Dave Pallone, which allowed the Mets' eventual winning run to score in the 6–5 game, Rose argued and made physical contact with the umpire, pushing him. Rose claimed that Pallone had scratched him in the face during the argument, which provoked the push. National League president A. Bartlett Giamatti suspended Rose for 30 days, which was the longest suspension ever levied for an on-field incident involving a manager. Cincinnati fans, upset with what they viewed as Pallone initiating contact with the player, showered the field with paper cups, programs and other harmless debris. The umpiring crew then walked off the field for several minutes. When the umpires returned, fans assumed the crew coming back onto the field would not include Pallone. When they realized he was returning to the field, a near-riot ensued at Riverfront Stadium. Fans then showered the field with heavier objects, such as transistor radios and batteries. The length of the suspension did allow Rose to undergo and fully recuperate from knee surgery.^[7]

Permanent ineligibility[link]

Amid reports that he had bet on baseball, Rose was questioned in February 1989 by outgoing commissioner Peter Ueberroth and his replacement, Bart Giamatti. Rose denied the allegations and Ueberroth dropped the investigation. However, three days after Giamatti became Commissioner, lawyer John M. Dowd was retained to investigate these charges against Rose. Sports Illustrated, who first reported the story of Rose's gambling on March 21, 1989,^[8] gave the public their first detailed report of the allegations that Rose had placed bets on baseball games. Sports Illustrated ran the cover story in issue for the week of April 3, 1989.^[9]

Dowd interviewed many of Rose's associates, including alleged bookies and bet runners. He delivered a summary of his findings to the Commissioner in May. In it, Dowd documented Rose's alleged gambling activities in 1985 and 1986 and compiled a day-by-day account of Rose's alleged betting on baseball games in 1987. The Dowd Report documented his alleged bets on 52 Reds games in 1987, where Rose wagered a minimum of $10,000 a day. Others involved in the allegations claim that number was actually $2,000 a day.

According to the Dowd Report itself, "no evidence was discovered that Rose bet against the Reds."^[2] This is in contrast to the case of the players in the Black Sox Scandal, who were accused of intentionally losing the 1919 World Series. Those critical of Rose's behavior, including Ohio's own Hall of Fame baseball reporter Hal McCoy, have observed that "the major problem with Rose betting on baseball, particularly the Reds, is that as manager he could control games, make decisions that could enhance his chances of winning his bets, thus jeopardizing the integrity of the game."^[10]

Rose continued to deny all of the accusations against him and refused to appear at a hearing with Giamatti on the matter. He filed a lawsuit alleging that the Commissioner had prejudged the case and could not provide a fair hearing. A Cincinnati judge issued a temporary restraining order to delay the hearing, but Giamatti fought to have the case moved to Federal Court. The Commissioner prevailed in that effort, after which he and Rose entered settlement negotiations.

On August 24, 1989, Rose voluntarily accepted a permanent place on baseball’s ineligible list.^[11] Rose accepted that there was a factual reason for the ban; in return, Major League Baseball agreed to make no formal finding with regard to the gambling allegations. According to baseball's rules, Rose could apply for reinstatement in one year. Rose, with a 412–373 record, was replaced as Reds manager by Tommy Helms. Rose began therapy with a psychiatrist for treatment of a gambling addiction.

In a December 2002 interview, investigator Dowd stated that he believed that Rose may have bet against the Reds while managing them.^[12]

Rose's ban has prevented the Reds from formally retiring his No. 14 jersey. However, aside from his son Pete Jr.'s brief stint with the team in 1997, the Reds have not issued that number since Rose's ban. Even though the number has not been retired, it is highly unlikely that any Red will ever wear that number again. Uniform number 14 was retired in Rose's honor by the Cincinnati Cyclones of the East Coast Hockey League.^{[citation needed]}

Tax evasion[link]

On April 20, 1990, Rose pleaded guilty to two charges of filing false income tax returns not showing income he received from selling autographs and memorabilia, and from horse racing winnings. On July 19, Rose was sentenced to five months in the medium security Prison Camp at the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois and fined $50,000.^[13] He was released on January 7, 1991 after having paid $366,041 in back taxes and interest, and was required to perform 1000 hours of community service.^[14][15]

Hall of Fame eligibility[link]

On February 4, 1991, the Hall of Fame voted formally to exclude individuals on the permanently ineligible list from being inducted into the Hall of Fame by way of the Baseball Writers Association of America vote (though it was already an "unwritten" rule prior). Rose is the only living member of the ineligible list. Players who were not selected by the BWAA could be considered by the Veterans Committee in the first year after they would have lost their place on the Baseball Writers' ballot. Under the Hall's rules, players may appear on the ballot for only fifteen years, beginning five years after they retire. Had he not been banned from baseball, Rose's name could have been on the writers' ballot beginning in 1992 and ending in 2006.^[16] He would have been eligible for consideration by the Veterans Committee in 2007, but did not appear on the ballot.^[17] In 2008 the Veterans Committee barred players and managers on the ineligible list from consideration.^[18]

MLB All-Century team[link]

In 1999, Rose was selected as an outfielder on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. To select the team, a panel of experts first compiled a list of the 100 greatest players from the past century. Fans then voted on the players using paper and online ballots.

An exception was made to his ban to allow him to participate in the pre-game introduction of the All-Century team before Game 2 of the 1999 World Series between the Braves and Yankees. Despite never having been a member of the Braves, Rose received the loudest ovation of the All-Century team members from the crowd at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia.

After the ceremony on live television, NBC's Jim Gray repeatedly asked Rose if he was ready to admit to betting on baseball and apologize.^[19][20][21] Many people were outraged over Gray's aggressive questioning, feeling that it detracted from the ceremony. In protest, Yankees outfielder Chad Curtis, at the behest of his team, refused to speak with Gray after his game-winning home run in Game 3. Earlier that season, Rose had been ranked at number 25 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players.

While allowing him to participate in the All-Century Team, MLB has refused to allow him to participate in local events in Cincinnati, such as the 25th anniversary reunion of the Big Red Machine, the closing of Cinergy Field, and the opening of the Great American Ballpark, as well as the closing of Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia and 1980 Phillies anniversary celebrations.

Reinstatement efforts[link]

In September 1997, Rose applied for reinstatement. Bud Selig, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, never acted on that application. He had previously applied for reinstatement in 1992, but then-commissioner Fay Vincent also never acted on it.

In public comments, Selig said he saw no reason to reconsider Rose's punishment; however, in March 2003, Selig acknowledged that he was considering Rose's application, leading to speculation that Rose's return might be imminent.^[22] Ultimately, however, Selig took no action. Even supporters of Rose's reinstatement concede that it is not likely that reinstatement will occur under Selig's tenure as commissioner.

On July 27, 2009, the New York Daily News reported that Commissioner Selig has seriously considered lifting Rose's lifetime suspension from baseball.^[23] The next day, Selig shot down these rumors and Rose will in fact remain suspended, indefinitely.

Coming clean[link]

In his autobiography My Prison Without Bars, published by Rodale Press on January 8, 2004, Rose finally admitted publicly to betting on baseball games and other sports while playing for and managing the Reds. He also admitted to betting on Reds games, but said that he never bet against the Reds. He repeated his admissions in an interview on the ABC news program Primetime Thursday. He also said in the book that he hoped his admissions would help end his ban from baseball so that he could reapply for reinstatement.

In March 2007 during an interview on The Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio, Rose said, "I bet on my team every night. I didn't bet on my team four nights a week. I bet on my team to win every night because I loved my team, I believed in my team," he said. "I did everything in my power every night to win that game."^[24] Whether Rose bet every night is significant to whether he had an incentive to influence the team's performance depending on whether he had a bet down on a particular game. John Dowd disputed Rose's contention that he bet on the Reds every night, asserting that Rose did not bet on his team when Mario Soto or Bill Gullickson pitched.^[25] Both Gullickson^[26] and Soto had ERA's substantially poorer than others in the National League during 1987.

The criticism of Rose did not diminish after this admission—even some Rose supporters were outraged that Rose would suddenly reverse fifteen years of denials as part of a book publicity tour. In addition, the timing was called into question—by making his admission just two days after the Baseball Hall of Fame announced its class of 2004 inductees, Rose appeared to be linking himself publicly to the Hall. Further adding to the debate was the 2004 ESPN made-for-TV movie Hustle, starring Tom Sizemore as Rose, which documents Rose's gambling problem and his subsequent ban from baseball.

WWE[link]

Between the years 1998 and 2000, Rose appeared at World Wrestling Entertainment's annual WrestleMania pay-per-view event. At WrestleMania XIV he served as "guest ring announcer" during a match between Kane and the Undertaker, before which he took a Tombstone Piledriver from Kane (nicknamed "The Big Red Machine" for his red ring attire).^[27] For the next year's WrestleMania XV, Rose was portrayed as seeking revenge. To do so he dressed as the San Diego Chicken and "attacked" Kane before his scheduled match, only to take another Tombstone.^[28] He returned for a third time the following year, at WrestleMania 2000, but again was thwarted by Kane, as well as his tag team partner that night, Rikishi.

In addition to these three appearances, he appeared in a Halloween-themed commercial for WWE's No Mercy event in 2002 and was chokeslammed by Kane. In 2004, Rose was inducted into the "Celebrity Wing" of the WWE Hall of Fame.^[29] He was the first celebrity to go into the Hall, and was inducted at a ceremony prior to WrestleMania XX by Kane himself.^[30]

On March 22, 2010, he appeared as the guest host on WWE Raw, which was the last episode of Raw before WrestleMania XXVI. As his first order of business, he setup a match between Shawn Michaels and Kane, which Michaels won. Later on in the night, Kane attacked Rose offscreen.

Personal life[link]

Pete Rose married Karolyn Englehardt on January 25, 1964, and the couple had two children, daughter Fawn (born on December 29, 1964) and son Pete Rose Jr. (born on November 16, 1969). The couple divorced in 1980.

Rose married his second wife, Carol J. Woliung, in 1984. They have two children, son Tyler (born on October 1, 1984) and daughter Cara (born on August 22, 1989). Rose filed for divorce from Carol in March 2011. The 69-year-old Rose cited irreconcilable differences for the split, but his petition did not offer any additional details. Rose didn’t include a date for their separation. Further documents in the filing say that Rose is looking to acquire all memorabilia and other possessions before the marriage.^[31]

Rose began openly having an affair with glamor model Kiana Kim while still married to his wife Carol. During a 2009 interview, Rose discussed his relationship with Kim while omitting her name, stating, "My girl has finally decided to try to shoot for Playboy, and they were kind enough to give her an opportunity to come to Houston for an interview, and we’re excited about that."

Two of Rose's children have lived public lives. Cara has worked as a television actress, appearing as a regular in the first season of the soap opera Passions and playing a recurring role on Melrose Place. She uses the stage name "Chea Courtney".^[32]

His oldest son, Pete Rose Jr., spent sixteen years as a minor league baseball player, advancing to the majors once for an 11-game stint with the Cincinnati Reds in 1997. In his first Major League at-bat, Pete Jr. paid tribute to his father by imitating Pete Sr.'s famous batting stance.^{[citation needed]}

Records and achievements[link]

• Major League records:
  • Most career hits – 4,256
  • Most career outs – 10,328
  • Most career games played – 3,562
  • Most career at bats – 14,053
  • Most career singles – 3,215
  • Most career runs by a switch hitter – 2,165
  • Most career doubles by a switch hitter – 746
  • Most career walks by a switch hitter – 1,566
  • Most career total bases by a switch hitter – 5,752
  • Most seasons of 200 or more hits – 10 (shared)
  • Most consecutive seasons of 100 or more hits – 23
  • Most consecutive seasons with 600 or more at bats – 13 (1968–1980)
  • Most seasons with 600 at bats – 17
  • Most seasons with 150 or more games played – 17
  • Most seasons with 100 or more games played – 23
  • Record for playing in the most winning games – 1,972
  • Only player in major league history to play more than 500 games at five different positions – 1B (939), LF (671), 3B (634), 2B (628), RF (595)
• National League records:
  • Most years played – 24
  • Most consecutive years played – 24
  • Most career runs – 2,165
  • Most career doubles – 746
  • Most career games with 5 or more hits – 10
  • Modern (post-1900) NL record for longest consecutive game hitting streak NL – 44
  • Modern record for most consecutive hitting streaks of 20 or more games – 7

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	Baseball portal
	Cincinnati portal

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Pete Rose

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pete Rose

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• PeteRose.com – Official website
• WWE Hall of Fame Profile of Pete Rose
• baseball1.com – the Dowd Report on Rose's gambling
• baseball1.com agreement between Rose & MLB
• Will a new All- Time Hit King be Crowned?