Word: pete
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Seeing Enos Slaughter of the Cardinals run out a walk to first base, Rose resolved that he would do that every time if he ever made it to pro ball. Rose's uncle Curley Smart was a clubhouse helper for the Redlegs and helped Pete into an extra uniform. While still in high school, Rose became a familiar figure around the team, having a catch with Johnny Temple or Roy McMillan. Signed eventually at the age of 19 by Buddy Bloebaum, another uncle, Rose took just three years in the minors to turn into an annoying presence at Reds training...
...fellowship, Rose gravitated to the black players, and was warned by the front office about fraternizing too much with Robinson and Vada Pinson. "Pete is turning nigger on us" was the brutal expression of the day. "But they were the only ones who treated me like a human being," he says. "I think now maybe they were able to see something in me." Robinson remembers it this way: "We accepted him for what he was. They called him a hot dog for trying to do things he couldn't. We admired him for laboring beyond his skills. They resented...
...Rose is no more self-centered than a fried egg. "Sometimes I get the feeling that everyone thinks I spend all of my time working out statistics," he says defensively. As a matter of fact, First Wife Karolyn testifies, "There never was a morning when I didn't see Pete at the kitchen table figuring out his records and averages." Not unkindly, she says, "What makes him a success as a ballplayer was what made him fail, in my opinion, in our marriage. He never grew...
...quick. If they want to, I'll talk all day." The last of five cut last spring was a sloe-eyed and red-freckled pitcher, Ron Robinson, fondly nicknamed "True Creature." "Shoot, I've idolized him," says Robinson, who was one year old when Rose broke in. "The day Pete was made the manager, I was the first player in the clubhouse. 'How are you doing, Ron?' he called over to me. I couldn't get over the fact that he knew me. Shoot...
...first day in the majors, the centerfielder walked, then took off for second base. Eighty years later, players are still trying to catch Ty Cobb. Maury Wills first did it in 1962 when he ran by the old mark of 96 stolen bases in a season. Now Pete Rose, barring calamity, will exceed the hallowed record of 4,191 hits. But, like Wills, he will surpass only the man, not the icon...