10/01/2024
Pete Rose
When Connersville hosted the Babe Ruth World Series, I was fortunate enough to be selected as the photographer. Because of that I got to photograph all the celebrities and everything that went on. One of those was Pete Rose. He stood for over an hour taking pictures with any fan who wanted one, joking and having fun with everyone. What a lot of people also don't know is that he signed photographs to give to the players. He went up into the press box and chatted with everyone there. He was just a guy talking about baseball and sharing stories and laughs. What really made me admire him was when he asked to speak to each one of the teams getting ready to play a game. They took the players down to their respective bullpens and Pete spent time speaking to each team. What I thought was going to be a talk about how great he was and how he did this and he did that was nothing of the sort. That night he talked to each team about what it takes for them to get better. What it takes for each player to move up in the lineup. What it takes for them to be the best they can be. Why practice is the most important thing they will do. To be honest, I got a little teary-eyed. The man knew how to motivate players. No wonder they liked playing for him. It's sad that his gambling troubles kept him out of the Hall of Fame because no one deserved it more than him. The example he set on the field as a player and the message he sent to his team as a manager made him one of the greatest.
