The late Pete Rose wasn’t with the Expos for lengthy, however his temporary presence supplied Montreal followers with a historic second.
Rose was pronounced lifeless at 83 years previous on Monday, with the reason for dying but to be decided.
He was a 17-time all-star, received Nationwide League MVP in 1973 and three World Collection titles. Rose holds the foremost league file for hits (4,256), video games performed (3,562) and plate appearances (15,890).
He signed a one-year contract with the Expos for the 1984 season, his twenty second in Main League Baseball, after being launched by the Philadelphia Phillies.
At 43 years previous, Rose performed 95 video games in Montreal, amassing 72 hits and 23 RBIs with a .259 batting common.
A kind of hits, in opposition to Philadelphia on April 13, 1984, marked his 4,000th profession hit, making him simply the second participant to achieve the milestone alongside Ty Cobb.
“He got here on the verge of his 4,000th hit, so it was an enormous deal and John McHale, who was the president and GM of the Expos understood what his presence would imply,” mentioned former Expos PR chief Richard Griffin. “He reported to spring coaching already a celebrity.
“I feel it’s underestimated how huge a clubhouse presence he was together with his teammates. There’s ideas on the market that he wasn’t in style with teammates and wasn’t a great man. He was tough across the edges however he was so admired inside that clubhouse.”
Rose was traded again to the Cincinnati Reds in August, turning into player-manager and changing the fired Vern Rapp, in trade for a minor leaguer.
Rose spent the primary 16 years in Cincinnati as a key cog within the Massive Crimson Machine and returned to spend the ultimate two-plus seasons of his enjoying profession there.
“It was a particular yr due to the 4,000th hit, proper?” mentioned Perry Gee, an Expos memorabilia collector and president of Expos Fest, which hosts superstar galas and fundraisers for the Montreal Youngsters’s Hospital.
“From that yr, I acquired his game-used jersey, pants, cap and I imagine to be the final bat he ever used as a Montreal Expo earlier than he acquired traded. He solely performed right here for a short while however I feel he has his place right here in Expos historical past.”
From Griffin’s account, Rose by no means put up a entrance relating to his play or who he was.
“He grew up a troublesome avenue child in Cincinnati and he by no means modified from that. And that’s the way in which he performed the sport,” Griffin mentioned. “He by no means apologized for working over Ray Fosse and ruining his profession within the all-star recreation, he by no means actually apologized for his playing, and I don’t assume he’s apologized for something he’s carried out within the recreation.
“It’s a flaw, but it surely’s additionally who Pete Rose is, and on the sector of play, he needed to be admired for that.”
Rose’s legacy suffered when he obtained a lifetime ban from baseball in 1989 for playing on video games whereas managing the Reds, a call that led to his ineligibility for induction into the Corridor of Fame.
Gee, who acquired to know Rose by fundraisers, mentioned what unfolded “damage a bit as a result of I do know Pete was a flawed man.”
Nevertheless, Gee famous that Rose was all the time type to attendees at Expos Fest, which featured former Expos at occasions, together with signings and an annual gala
“I simply noticed Pete final month in New York, we did a signing with him. … He’s all the time helped us, we’ve carried out a number of signings with him, he’s all the time been well mannered,” Gee mentioned. “He remembered all the things from his days in Montreal.
“He used to joke that he used to go to Blue Bonnets (raceway) whereas he was right here as a result of that was the one type of playing in Montreal again in ’84.”
— With recordsdata from Gregory Sturdy and The Related Press.