LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The start of October typically symbolizes an exciting time for baseball fans. Today, however, the loss of a legend overshadows playoff anticipation after Cincinnati Reds icon Pete Rose passed away Monday night at the age of 83.
“Whenever somebody who is larger than life leaves this earth, it’s quite a shock,” said Dick Gabriel of the UK Sports Network. Gabriel calls Kentucky baseball games alongside Doug Flynn, a former teammate of Rose. “When you remember him as a player, you know him as a winner.”
Any kid who’s ever stepped onto a local field to play baseball wants to play like Rose. After all, he’s a 17-time all-star with three World Series rings, and Rose still stands at the top of MLB’s all-time hit leaderboard.
“If you were a kid growing up and you watched the Big Red Machine you wanted to be Pete Rose,” said Gabriel. “I mean, we all wanted to be Pete Rose. Why not? Because above all else when you watched him play baseball, you could tell he was having fun.”
Rose was also given the nickname "Charlie Hustle" for his unique play style and extra effort.
“It became a badge of honor because of the way he played the game,” said Gabriel. “You know, running a walk to first base, and bowling over a catcher in the All-Star Game because that’s how important winning was to him. He made sliding headfirst popular because he said it was the fastest way to get to the base. I think he played the game the way he wanted others to play the game.”
After his playing days, Rose faced controversy when he was banned from baseball for gambling on games. Rose has been ineligible for the MLB Hall of Fame ever since.
“It’s weird to have a Hall of Fame and not have Pete Rose in it,” Gabriel said.
From time to time, baseball’s hit king would make his way to Lexington, watching horse races at Keeneland.
“Pete would have his space in the back,” Gabriel shared. “He would place his bets in peace. I don’t know if he won more than he lost, but man he loved the horses.”
While Rose was voted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 2016, he never quite made amends with the major league. Rose himself once said, “I want baseball and Pete Rose to be friends.”
“I don’t think baseball wrapped its arms around Pete the way he was hoping it would,” said Gabriel. “Most of that’s on him, because he didn’t really come clean until his autobiography, until he was selling books. I really think if he had admitted to what he did and apologized, both to the fans and to his teammates, I think that he would be in the Hall of Fame today.”
