Word: rosee
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Leaving the park late after the second game, I heard the cracking of a bat and went back out on the field to see Russ Nixon [a coach then] hitting grounders to him at third. I watched from the shadows for a while. That's Pete to me." Knowing Rose's determination, some opponents marshal their best skills especially for him, and they are his favorites. "Do you know what [Houston's] Nolan Ryan told me the other night? He said, 'I hope it's me pitching the day you're going for the record. You can look...
...Rose's earliest playmate in suburban Cincinnati, Eddie Brinkman, "the Babe Ruth of our high school," made it to the major leagues for 15 distinguished seasons and retired ten years ago. "At seven and eight Pete was really a little guy," recalls Brinkman, now a White Sox coach. "I'd pitch and he'd catch, and when the hitter swung and missed, Pete would stick the ball up in their face and say, 'Hey, batter, batter, batter.' " Pete was a banker's son, though his father was more famous for playing halfback with the semipro Cincinnati Bengals...
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...
...hitter forgets the first pitcher he faced in the big leagues, though Rose wonders yet why it was modest Earl Francis for the Pirates that opening day and not Bob Friend. "My first time up, Francis walked me on four pitches. What he didn't realize was I couldn't have swung at any of them." It was the first of 1,506 walks. "Frank Robinson followed with a homer--on the second pitch. Since Cincinnati used to open before anyone else, I scored the first run of the year." It was the first of 2,129 runs. Off Friend...
...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...