a moment for pete rose

i did a double take about 24 hours ago when i saw a headline on the espn app that pete rose had passed away. it took awhile for the mlb app to catch up, but by that time i had seen the news on a few different platforms.

i am not a pete rose apologist, but i am a fan of pete rose as a baseball player. can we separate the player and the on field accomplishments from the person? i would like to think so.

during the formative years of my baseball fandom, pete rose was a force. he became my favorite non-dodger player as my knowledge of the game expanded beyond the southern california market and i recognized rose's skill as a hitter and passion as a competitor. it took me a long time, but i finally picked up a (verified authentic) 1963 topps card that i often refer to as ken mcmullen's rookie card

but there is no doubt that the card belongs to the hit king. 

two of my favorite players from my youth collided on september 11, 1985 when rose collected hit number 4,192 against the padres. the iconic photo of rose after reaching first base included steve garvey in the background and has made its way onto cardboard a few times, including this 1994 upper deck the american epic card

in fact, this was the photo espn used for the "above the fold" story on rose's passing.

i boxed up my player collections after i chose to primarily focus on team collecting in 2003, but i still have most of the cards from my rose collection. he is represented in my hall of famer collection (with an asterisk) and i have several of his modern day cards in one collection or another, including a few auto and relic cards which he shared with garvey.

his 1978 topps card remains a favorite of mine, and i was happy to have him sign it for a fee

even as he had previously signed a 1987 topps card 

for my collection for free.

rose's passing had me thinking back to seeing him up close and in person at my hometown's annual hot stove dinner in the late 1970's. my dad took some photos at the 1980 version of the event which was renamed the "don sutton celebrity golf tournament". rose got all dressed up for the dinner following the golf

which was a different look than the other attendees i remember. a year or two earlier, i had followed rose into the bar area of the local elks lodge and i realized in retrospect that he was probably looking for a respite from the crowds. still, he signed my autograph book

and i never forgot that he did so.

rest in peace charlie hustle.