A couple weeks ago my wife and I were at the Harvest Performance Center in Rocky Mount to hear my daughter-in-law’s band, Rachael Hester and the Tennessee Walkers. I’d been there several times before, and always to hear music. It’s a great place to watch a show, very comfortable and the acoustics are great.
So, I was somewhat surprised to see that Pete Rose was going to be there on Friday, February 23. My first thought was, what kind of band does he have? Pete is 82 years old, two years old than Mick Jagger, and I never heard Pete sing before.
Well, rest assured he won’t be singing. He certainly didn’t “sing” for Bart Giamatti when he was investigated for gambling on baseball, using the word “sing” in a mafia kind of way. With that said, what will Pete be doing in Franklin County in February?
Apparently he’s going to sit in a comfortable chair and talk about baseball, and I’m sure he has some interesting stories to tell. There will be a moderator named Brittany Morgan, who is described as a Northern Virginia native who has spent her professional career either at the ballpark or as a sports anchor on TV. The bio says she spent the 2017 and 2018 seasons in the entertainment department for the Washington Nationals.
This could be interesting if you care what Pete Rose has to say, and you believe him. I’m old enough to remember Pete as a rookie player for the Reds in the early ‘60s, and he was the firstbaseman for my favorite team, the Phillies, when they won the World Series in 1980. My feeling is they wouldn’t have won it without him, because he was a great player and a great leader. . . .but he’s also somewhat of a rascal and that could be entertaining if you’re a baseball fan old enough to remember Pete’s hey day.
I watch just about every Phillies game during the summer, and there was one occasion in 2022 whem Pete was at the ballpark for a reunion of the 1980 team and they had him join in on the telecast. It turned out to be somewhat controversial as he made a couple off color comments about women and said he knew Phillies analyst John Kruk when he still had two testicles. That caused the station to issue an apology, and one of the writers covering the Phillies noted that Pete “doesn’t have a filter.”
Rose has always been an interesting character. From his early days as “Charlie Hustle,” running to first base on a walk and making the head first slide popular, Pete has been admired as a baseball player. He’s the all-time hits leader and he still holds a long list of baseball records, things like “most career winning games played” and “most seasons of 200 hits or more.” In the promo for his appearance there are 19 MLB records listed that Pete still holds.
So why isn’t this guy in the Hall of Fame? As most of you know, he was accused of betting on baseball and he’s never really come clean on it. Will he do so at the Harvester Performance Center on February 23? Well, you can find out if you go.
Tickets are $77 for a reserved seat, $97 for a premium reserved seat and $440 for a table of four. To me, that seems like an awful lot to hear someone most folks under 50 could care less about. I would expect the crowd to be a lot of old folks like myself who grew up with Pete Rose being one of the great players of the era.
I’m wondering if an autograph comes with this? While Rose was a great player, he’s also famous for trying anything he can to make a buck. He’s been known to set up a table near the grounds of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY during induction week and charge for autographs. And, of course, his gambling is well documented.
Rose has always insisted he never bet against his own team. However, the argument made was on the days he didn’t bet on his team he was saying he didn’t think they would win. It will be interesting to see what kind of answers he gives to questions about the gambling. Will he “have a filter” in that regard?
I’d love to see it, but the last week of February is right in the middle of high school basketball playoffs and the ODAC basketball tournament is at the Salem Civic Center that weekend. And I can’t see paying $77 to sit in the back of the room and listen to Pete Rose talk about baseball. Maybe $20, but not $77. Does a meal come with it? I think not.
It will be interesting to see what kind of crowd he gets. For all I know they might pack the place, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
