#120 Pete Rose - Cincinnati Reds

Peter Edward Rose
Cincinnati Reds
Outfield

Bats:  Both  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  192
Born:  April 14, 1941, Cincinnati, OH
Signed:  Signed by the Cincinnati Reds as an amateur free agent, July 8, 1960
Major League Teams:  Cincinnati Reds 1963-1978; Philadelphia Phillies 1979-1983; Montreal Expos 1984; Cincinnati Reds 1984-1986

World Series Appearances:  Cincinnati Reds 1970, 1972, 1975-1976; Philadelphia Phillies 1980, 1983
As a Manager:  Cincinnati Reds 1984-1989

Major League Baseball's all-time leader in games played (3,562), plate appearances (15,890), at-bats (14,053) and hits (4,256), Pete Rose was permanently banned from the game he loves in 1989 for his gambling activities.  Rose was a spark plug player from the start, winning the National League Rookie of the Year award in 1963.  He was a 17-time All-Star, the league's MVP in 1973 and a two-time Gold Glove winner.  Rose won the league's batting title three times (1968, 1969, 1973) and led the league in hits a staggering seven times.  A versatile player on defense, he helped lead the Reds to the World Series four times as his club won it all in back-to-back years in 1975 and 1976.  Rose spent stints as the team's regular second baseman, left fielder, right fielder and third baseman.  He was the World Series MVP in 1975, after hitting .370 in the seven game victory over the Red Sox.  Rose left the Reds via free agency following the 1978 season, signing with the Phillies and guiding that club to its first World Championship title in 1980.  He returned to the Reds in 1984 as their player-manager, and surpassed Ty Cobb as the game's all-time hits leader on September 11, 1985, with a single to left off the Padres' Eric Show.

Rose retired as a player following the 1986 season, and would continue to manage the Reds until his ban from baseball on August 24, 1989.  Despite numerous reinstatement efforts, his ban has not been lifted as of yet, resulting in his exile from baseball's Hall of Fame.  In the years that followed the ban, Rose's troubles mounted and he served five months in prison in 1990 for tax evasion charges.  He was selected as an outfielder on the MLB All-Century Team in 1999 and the Reds retired his #14 in 2016, after receiving permission to do so from the commissioner's office.  Rose owns a .303 lifetime average and he's ranked 6th on the all-time runs scored list with 2,165, and 2nd on the all-time doubles list with 746.  In recent years, he's been ubiquitous at baseball card shows across the country and my son Doug and I briefly met Charlie Hustle, The Hit King in 2015.

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.

1979 Burger King Phillies #13

1982 Donruss #1

1986 Topps #3

October 31, 2015

Building the Set / Card #271
September 23, 2023 from The Philly Show (Ed's Old Baseball Cards)
Given the massive haul of 193 cards acquired for our 1969 Topps set at the March Philly Show, I held off on adding more cards throughout the summer of 2023.  We weren't even going to go to the Philly Show last September, but our oldest son's baseball tournament was rained out, and we found ourselves with a free weekend.  I wrote about the show originally over at The Phillies Room.  

I added just 15 cards to our set build at this show, all from the same dealer, Ed's Old Baseball Cards out of the Buffalo area.  Technically, the cards I bought were from Ed's associate, Gary, who explained he was along for the ride and brought a bunch of his vintage cards for sale.  I picked four needed star cards, including this Rose, which was the most expensive of the bunch.  Gary gave us a nice discount on the purchase, so we went back after securing a few autographs and I picked 11 more commons and semi-stars from his modest selection of 1960s Topps cards for sale.  Posting for these 15 cards should take me a lot less longer than what it took to get through the box of cards brought home from the March 2023 Philly Show.

The Card / Reds Team Set / Accuracy Index +5

Rose is all over the 1969 Topps set and he appears on the front of three cards in the set - this base card, the National League Batting Leaders card (#2) and an All-Star card (#424).  He's also on the back of 10 different All-Star cards, forming a puzzle of the baseball superstar.  Growing up a Phillies fan, Rose was one of my earliest favorite players - see below.  It's cool to me that I now own a card like this, along with the card to be featured in the next post, after seeing pictures of this card in baseball card publications over the years and thinking I'd never have a card this "old" or this cool in my collection.

Accuracy Index:  Rose's card scores a solid +5.

Inserts:  Rose is included in the 35 card Topps Deckle Edge insert set and is one of 48 decals in the Topps Decals insert set.  He's one of 27 players to appear in both insert sets.

1969 Season
Rose was the opening day center fielder for the Reds.  In late June, he and Bobby Tolan (#448) would switch positions, with Rose going to right and Tolan moving to center.  Overall, Rose started 100 games in right and 56 games in center, on the way to his second straight batting title with a .348 average.  Rose collected 218 hits and led the league with 120 runs scored.  He was named to his fourth All-Star Game, placed fourth in MVP voting and won his first Gold Glove for his outfield defense.

Phillies Career
Rose was my first favorite Phillies player, and his 1979 Burger King Phillies card was the first baseball card I ever clearly remember seeing.  The Phillies won the Rose free agency lottery on December 5, 1978, signing him to a then-record four-year, $3.2 million contract.  With Mike Schmidt at third base, Rose moved to first base and he'd prove to be the final piece to the puzzle for the Phillies as the club advanced to and won the World Series in 1980.  He was an All-Star while in Philadelphia four times between 1979 and 1982, leading the league in doubles in 1980 with 42 and in hits in 1981 with 140.  Rose, now 42, helped the Phillies reach the World Series again in 1983, although he suffered through one of the worst seasons of his career.  Towards the end of the 1983 season, Rose was benched by manager Paul Owens in favor of giving Len Matuszek more playing time at first.  His last at-bat with the team came during Game 5 of the 1983 World Series.  Rose went 2 for 4 in that game, as the Orioles prevailed, 5-0, to give them the World Series title.  

Rose was released by the Phillies on October 19, 1983, and he'd somewhat surprisingly sign with the Expos.  In 745 games with the Phillies, Rose batted .291 with 826 hits.  He was set to be inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame in 2017, but the club cancelled the induction a week before the ceremony when news came to light of Rose's sexual relationship with a minor during the 1970s.

1963 Topps #537

1970 Topps #580

1975 Topps #320

1980 Topps #540

1988 Topps #475

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1963 Topps #537
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (27):  1963-1989
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2023 Panini Prizm #33
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  1,930 in the Beckett online database as of 3/24/24.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog / The Phillies Room

#119 Doug Rader - Houston Astros / #121 Joe Grzenda - Minnesota Twins

#2 1968 N.L. Batting Leaders - Pete Rose / Matty Alou / Felipe Alou

Beginning in 1961, Topps started including league leader cards in its sets and there are 12 league leaders cards kicking off the 1969 Topps set.  League leader cards can be found at the beginning of each Topps set issued in 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968 and 1969.

Building the Set / Card #27
September 15, 2022 from San Diego, CA (Kit Young Cards)

This card was part of a larger stress-induced purchase from Kit Young Cards in mid-September.  The stress was all work related, and while some people choose to relieve stress through less productive means, I opted to purchase several vintage baseball cards.  The centerpiece of the haul was the 1965 Topps Yaz card, which dropped the number of cards needed for that complete set down to five.  Joining Yaz were Diamond Stars cards of Joe Stripp and Lloyd Waner, along with this League Leaders card.  I've long been a fan of purchasing cards from Kit Young, and I took advantage of a mid-fall sale to add to three different set builds.  The League Leaders card was the least expensive of the quartet at a little less than $8.

September 2022 was a blur.  I travelled for work the better part of two weeks, school started, the boys' fall sports schedules (cross country and baseball) were non-stop and there was little to no time to rest or to enjoy baseball card purchases.  Taking a mental health day in early October, I was happy to have the time to catch my breath and truly appreciate the new baseball cards that helped get me through that month.  I composed posts for the Yaz and Diamond Stars cards then, and the it only took me until early January to finally compose a post for this League Leaders card.

The Card / Reds Team Set / Pirates Team Set / Braves Team Set

1968 was the first of three years in which Pete Rose (#120) won the National League batting title, as he'd repeat in 1969 and win a third time in his MVP year of 1973.  His .335 average was enough to top the .332 average of the Pirates' Matty Alou (#490).  On September 27th, Rose's average sat at .330, but he'd go 6 for 8 in the final two games of the season to bump him into the top spot, including a 5 for 5 performance on September 28th.  Matty Alou had been at .329 on September 27th, and he'd go 4 for 4 on September 28th to raise him to .334, but then 0 for 4 on September 29th.  Matty Alou had previously won the batting title in 1966 with a .342 mark.

Older brother Felipe Alou (#300) rounds out the top trio with a .317 average, and younger brother Jesus Alou (#22) makes an appearance on the back of the card with his .263 average for the year.

#1 1968 A.L. Batting Leaders / #3 1968 A.L. RBI Leaders

#424 Pete Rose AS - Cincinnati Reds

All-Star cards returned to Topps sets in 1968 under The Sporting News banner for a three-year run between 1968 and 1970.  Topps included 20 All-Star cards in its 1969 set, featuring 10 All-Stars from each league and one player from each position, including both a right-handed and left-handed pitcher.  

Building the Set / Card #15
May 3, 2022 from Wenonah, NJ (Gar Miller Cards)

Growing up in South Jersey, I'd look forward to the Ocean City Baseball Card show every summer, saving my precious birthday or gas mowing money so that I could spend it all during one glorious afternoon inside the Ocean City Music Pier among dozens of tables of vintage baseball cards.  When my wife Jenna texted me that there was a baseball card show scheduled in Ocean City this past April 30th, I admittedly got giddy.  We needed 11 cards to complete our 1965 Topps set, I had plans to begin collecting a 1969 Topps set, and I figured I'd add a Diamond Stars card or two to that growing set.  We loaded the family in the car, trekked down to Ocean City, and I stepped inside the Music Pier for the first time in over 20 years.

The memories came flooding back, but none of the former baseball card dealers from my youth did.  There were maybe 15 tables scattered on the lower portion of the Music Pier floor and I immediately scanned mostly shiny slabbed cards, bobble heads, signed jerseys, and nary a vintage baseball card in sight.  It was a little depressing.  Determined to come away with something, anything for my collection, I scoured a "3 for $20" box and came away with a few cards for Doug's collection, namely Alec Bohm relic cards, and six cards from sets I wasn't even collecting yet.

1965 Topps #134

All of this is meant as a prelude to how this card ended up in my collection.  My budgeted show money burning a hole in my pocket, I navigated over to Gar Miller Cards' online store when we got home and held my own virtual baseball card show.  I added four cards to our Diamond Cards set, crossed off three more cards for our 1965 Topps set and threw in a few cool cards to add to the 1969 Topps pile I had started, including this Pete Rose (#120) All-Star card.

The Card / Reds Team Set / Carl Yastrzemski Puzzle

Rose is one of three outfielders from the National League All-Stars subset, along with Cardinals' teammates Lou Brock (#85) and Curt Flood (#540).  Of the three, only Flood actually started in left field for the 1968 National League All-Stars, with neither Brock or Rose getting a starting nod in the 1968 or 1969 games.  In the 1969 game, Rose replaced starter Cleon Jones (#512) in left field in the bottom of the eighth.  He'd catch a pair of fly balls that inning and come to bat against Ray Culp (#391) in the top of the ninth, popping up in foul territory to third baseman Brooks Robinson (#550).

The stock photo used in the background behind Rose is a picture of Mickey Mantle (#500) from a 1965 Topps World Series subset card, highlighting Game 3 of the 1964 World Series.  The backs of these All-Star cards contain a puzzle piece of either Rose or American League All-Star Carl Yastrzemski (#130).  Oddly enough, the back of Rose's card doesn't feature a piece of the Rose puzzle, but rather the bottom of Yaz's elbow.

Topps All-Star Card Appearances (9):  1969-1970, 1974-1977, 1979, 1982-1983

1970 Topps #458

1976 Topps #240

1979 Topps #650

1982 Topps #337

1983 Topps #397

Sources:  
Baseball Reference

#423 Bert Campaneris AS - Oakland Athletics / #425 Carl Yastrzemski AS - Boston Red Sox