GOODYEAR, Arizona – For now, the Cincinnati Reds jerseys are hanging in the locker room at the team’s spring training facility, awaiting their debut. When the jerseys are finally worn on the field in 2025, fans will notice a significant addition – a “14” patch on the right sleeve to honor Pete Rose.
Current Reds players and notable alumni are praising the new circular black patch, featuring the number “14” in white stitching, placed above the team’s “Kroger” sleeve sponsor patch.
The legendary and controversial Rose passed away on September 30 at the age of 83. On Monday, the Reds unveiled the honorary patch in a post on X (formerly Twitter). This patch, one of the most visible tributes any team can offer to its late legends, will be worn throughout the 2025 season.
Pitcher Brent Suter, a Moeller product, believes the patch helps emphasize Rose’s value to the Reds and Cincinnati.
“Obviously, what he meant to this franchise, as well as Pete Rose’s significance to this community and Cincinnati, is difficult to express. “You always see Pete Rose jerseys at games,” Suter remarked Tuesday. “You can see what he meant to both the game and the city. It’s difficult to put into words. To be able to memorialize him and his life with a patch is fantastic.”
The gesture also carries weight for some of the all-time great Reds like Barry Larkin, another Moeller product and a player who was enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and Eric Davis, a Reds hall of famer.
“It’s fascinating, it’s fantastic, it’s honorable and it’s well-deserved,” Davis said. “I don’t see why anybody wouldn’t do it.” Talk of Rose prompted Larkin to revisit memories of a chartered flight out of Cooperstown last summer. With Rose on board, Larkin said he and his wife shared what might have been his most meaningful conversation with his former manager.
“It was the first time that my wife and I had a chance to just sit down in front of him and just talk. It was really, really, really cool and really special at the time,” Larkin said. “Then Pete passed soon thereafter. It was like, ‘well wait a minute. There’s a fragility and Pete’s not here anymore.’ It’s still kind of unbelievable, but Pete’s always been such an influential and inspirational person for me, and so impactful in my career.’
“I believe it is great. First and foremost, I think it’s fantastic for the company to recognize him in that way… I believe it’s great that the group chose to go this path and memorialize him with the patch.”The Pete Rose Hall of Fame questions loom.
Not surprise, Tuesday’s conversations about Rose sparked debate over whether Rose should be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
“The gambling thing should be old news,” Davis remarked. “We have betting in the ballparks.”
Davis stated that he believed Rose did not gamble against the Reds.
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