When it comes to baseball’s most memorable and celebrated moments, the pitcher is always recognized, but the catcher is often ignored. On the night Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb’s Major League Baseball record for most hits, San Diego Padres pitcher Eric Show delivered him the famous pitch. The catcher was Bruce Bochy, the current manager of the Texas Rangers.
Bochy’s big league career lasted from 1978 until 1987. He spent his whole career in the National League, so he faced Rose’s Reds, Phillies, Expos, and Reds on numerous occasions. Bochy was behind the plate in Cincinnati on September 11, 1985, when Rose crushed Show’s first-inning pitch into left center for lifetime hit number 4,192.
Bochy and Rangers GM Chris Young met with the media on Tuesday morning at Globe Life Mall in Arlington to discuss the team’s recently concluded season. Bochy was questioned about Rose, who died in Nevada on Monday at the age of 83.
Rather of lamenting the man’s complicated, and often sad, legacy, Bochy concentrated on the aspects he valued.
“I grew up as a Reds fan. My father was a huge Reds fan. So I go back to his early years, when Frank Robinson was on the team, Vada Pinson. “Those guys, up to Johnny Bench and The Big Red Machine,” Bochy said about Rose’s career, which began in Cincinnati in 1963. “Huge Cincinnati Reds fan, and Pete Rose fan.”
That made Bochy no different from the majority of Americans. The Reds were the most popular club in baseball throughout the 1970s, having won consecutive World Series victories. The team’s lineup included Bench, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, George Foster, Ken Griffey, Rose, and Davey Concepcion, among others. “There were times when I could chat to (Rose) about those days. I was fortunate to be catching when he set the all-time hit record. “That was quite a night there in Cincinnati,” Bochy stated.
Rose went 2-for-3 that night, scoring two runs in the Reds’ 2-0 triumph. Bochy went 1-for-3. For all of those who witnessed Rose collect that hit and stand at first base while being showered with a 10-minute standing ovation from a crowd that loved him in ways they couldn’t describe, it was one of the most memorable moments in modern baseball history. “Two-one pitch from Show… to left center. There it is! When Rose gathered his single at Riverfront Stadium, the TV commentator exclaimed, “That’s number four thousand, one hundred and ninety two!” Even if you loathed Pete Rose, you had to love his legacy. I admire what it took to break that record.
Much like Neil Armstrong’s arrival on the moon, it seemed impossible for anyone to break Cobb’s record, which he had held since he retired in 1928. It was one of those moments that binds generations together and cements baseball’s place in American history as the sport that Americans most adore. Despite the man’s numerous shortcomings, which would be revealed in the coming years and forever taint a wonderful career, there was something about the way he played that people enjoyed. Including Bochy. “His legacy, if you look at Pete Rose, it’s how he played the game,” Bochy said of a player who began making a name for himself in the minors by sprinting to first base.
after he collected a stroll. “He was nicknamed ‘Charlie Hustle,’ which explains why he was so popular, given the fervor with which he played. “It’s unlike any player you’ve ever seen.”This guy never gave up. How he went out, played, and hustled. He played all over the field. World championships. That, to me, is his legacy: he played hard.” For many, this is how he will be remembered.
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