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Pete Rose

Leads Reds To Nl Championship

In 1972 Rose, now playing left field, led the NL in hits (198) and at-bats (645), finishing the regular season with a batting average of .307. In the post-season, he batted .450 in the NL championship series against the Pirates but slipped to only .214 in the World Series, which the Reds lost to the Oakland Athletics in seven games. For Rose personally, 1973 was the best season ever. With a batting average of .338, he won his third and final batting title, was named the NL's most valuable player, and collected a career-high total of 230 hits. The Reds, however, did not fare quite as well, losing the NL championship series to the New York Mets, despite Rose's best efforts. Those best efforts included his eighth-inning homer that tied the first game of the series and a 12th-inning homer that won Game Four. Ironically, the Mets may well have been energized in their quest for the league championship by a fight Rose had in the third game with Mets shortstop Bud Harrelson.

Chronology

1941	Born April 14 in Cincinnati, Ohio
1960	Begins pro baseball career with Geneva (NY) Red Legs
1963	Makes major league debut with Cincinnati Reds
1970	Becomes baseball's first singles hitter to sign six-figure contract
1989	Major League Baseball launches probe into Rose gambling charges on March 6
1989	Bart Giamatti announces Rose's suspension from baseball for life on August 24
1990	Sentenced to five months in jail on tax charges
1991	Moves from Cincinnati to Boca Raton, Florida
1997	Applies for reinstatement to baseball
2003	Commissioner Bud Selig considers reinstating Rose, if Rose admits to gambling on baseball

Related Biography: Baseball Player Ray Fosse

Pete Rose figured prominently in one of the more memorable moments of catcher Ray Fosse's baseball career. In the 12th inning of the 1970 All-Star Game, the score was tied 4-4. As Rose charged toward home base with the run that would win the game for the National League, Fosse blocked his way. Never one to be put off, Rose barreled right over Fosse, fracturing the catcher's right shoulder. Fosse, whose nickname was "Mule," played out the rest of the season despite the broken shoulder.

Born in Marion, Illinois, on April 4, 1947, Fosse was the number-one pick of the Cleveland Indians in the first-ever June 1965 free agent draft. After a couple of years in the Indians' farm system, Fosse made his major league debut for the Indians late in the 1967 season. He was injured a number of times during his years in professional baseball, missing all or parts of several seasons. He was traded in March 1973 to the Oakland Athletics, for whom he played through 1975. Back with the Indians in 1976 and the first part of 1977, Fosse played out the end of the 1977 season in Seattle, missed all of 1978 because of injury, and spent his final year with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1979. With a career batting average of .256, the injury-prone Fosse left baseball in 1979 and became an Oakland executive and broadcaster.

Rose's batting average slipped below .300 in 1974 to.284, but he still managed to lead the league in runs scored with 110. He bounced back in 1975, batting .317 and knocking in a total of seventy-four runs for the season. To make room for rookie outfielder Ken Griffey, Rose moved to third base. He also led the Reds to the first of two back-to-back World Series victories. In the first, against the Boston Red Sox, Rose, batting .370, piled up a total of ten hits, earning him the title of MVP for the 1975 World Series. The following year, Rose turned in a brilliant performance during the regular season with a batting average of .323 and sixty-three RBIs. In the post-season, the Reds swept the Yankees in the World Series, although Rose's personal stats were far less impressive with a series batting average of only .188.

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