In the top of the ninth inning, New York Mets player Pete Alonso grounded out to shortstop. The second game of a doubleheader saw the Atlanta Braves defeat the Mets 3-0. Thus, the 2024 baseball regular season came to a conclusion. The Braves and Mets split the doubleheader, with both teams earning postseason spots. However, baseball’s arduous 162-game schedule was completed.
When I saw the news, my house was still airing the Mets postgame show.
Pete Rose was dead.
PETE ROSE, THE ALL-TIME HITS LEADER IN MLB AND A POLARIZER, DEAD AT 83
It made perfect sense to time it that way. Pete Rose was a fixture at all 162 of the baseball games.
Pete’s story serves as a bookend to my life. Ever present. Always a part of my childhood and early reporting career.
Pete Rose, along with Mr. Rogers and possibly Captain Kangaroo, was my childhood hero. As a fan, I watched Pete lead the Reds to two World Series wins, amass 3,000 hits, and set a record-setting 44-game hitting streak—only topped by Joe DiMaggio’s 56 games—that will never be topped.
When he left Cincinnati for Philadelphia in 1979, I was devastated. On a night in August of 1984, though, when he triumphantly returned to Cincinnati as player-manager, I was jubilant. In his first at-bat against the Cubs, Pete singled. His line drive went past Chicago centerfielder Bob Dernier. And Pete went straight for second, like only Pete could. Dernier had trouble.
