Pete Rose showing off his excellent taste in head-gear.
Aside: At first I wrote that headline as “hocking” furniture, since I’ve really only heard, and not read, the phrase. After a little internet research I realized that, in that sentence, “hocking” would mean “pawning.”
Thought I think Rose probably makes enough money writing things on baseballs that he doesn’t need to hock the end tables, I still think it might be a Freudian slip. After all, pawn shops do kind of bring to mind the same ambiance as I imagine being around Rose basically all of the time.
The Hardball Times is marking today as the 50th anniversary of Pete Rose’s major league debut. Chris Jaffe says:
Rose has been such a big name for such a long time that it’s easy to assume he’s always been part of the baseball landscape, but of course that wasn’t the case. Fifty years ago today he was just a cocky young middle infielder who was certain he belonged in the major leagues.
In his first trip to the big league plate on April 8, 1963, Rose got on base, though without getting a hit. Pirates pitcher Earl Francis walked him. Though Rose typically looked for a hit, he wasn’t excessively aggressive. He walked in about one-tenth of his big league trips, ending his career with 1,566 walks, 14th most all time.
I’ve been on vacation for over a week, so last night was the first regular-season Reds game I’ve gotten to watch on TV. And so while we’re on the topic of Rose anyway, I wanted to draw attention to this Muenchens Furniture commercial featuring him and his fiancee (or did they get married already? Hits and Mrs was taken off the air before I got completely steeped in minutia of Rose’s personal life):
“Wow! We’ll take it all!”…it’s just so poignant.
Posted in Random Ramblings. Comments Off on Rose debuted 50 years ago and today he’s hawking furniture
This is an old picture from 2009, but he was probably wearing about the same shirt yesterday.
Last game
The Reds won their second tough series in a row to start the season last night. Johnny Cueto put his 6 innings of 3-run ball again Steve Strasburg’s 5.1 innings of 6-run pitching to win the rubber game against the Nationals. The offense just barely got him the win, breaking a 3-3 tie in the inning when Cueto came out of the game.
Sean Marshall finally got to make an appearance, having been unavailable before due to shoulder fatigue. Jonathon Broxton and Aroldis Chapman also put in an inning. All three of the relief innings were pointless. As in, no points were scored.
Derrick Robinson, the young guy brought up when Ryan Ludwick got hurt, got his first major league hit and got to score a run when pinch hitting for Cueto in the sixth. He got a standing ovation for that. Jay Bruce was the most productive contributor, going 2-for-5 with 3 RBI.
Next game
The Reds go to visit the Cardinals tonight. Mat Latos (RHP, 0-0, 4.05 ERA) will face off against Jaime Garcia (LHP, 1-0, 1.59 ERA). It’s one of those weird early-spring start times: first pitch at 4:15 p.m.
Above average
We’re only 6 games in to the season, but so far the Reds’ offense has been highly present. It’s a nice change of pace from last season. Here are some tidbits that jump out at me as I look at the stats:
Todd Frazier has 9 RBI. That’s almost 30% of the teams’ total 38 runs so far. He’s also hitting .480 in 25 ABs.
Of the 6 guys who have played in all 6 games, 3 are hitting over .300. NOT among them: Joey Votto. He’s hitting only .238. He has, however, taken 8 walks already. Even that only gets him the third highest OBP of those 6 guys.
The one with the highest OBP is Frazier, of course. Second is Shin-Soo Choo. He’s 9-for-24 so far with 3 walks. He’s getting on base at a .516 clip. This guy has been a real boon so far.
This is awesome! And I’m sure it’s going to last.
What to say to sound smart at the water cooler
The Reds were only 3-3 after their first 2 series last year against the Marlins (2-1) and the Cardinals (1-2).
Posted in Daily Briefs. Comments Off on In brief: 27 of Reds’ 38 runs all from 6 guys
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