The Tragedy of Peter Edward Rose

Fox News' Chad Pergram appears on OutKick's "The Ricky Cobb Show" to talk about MLB legend Pete Rose.

The Major League baseball regular season ended Monday night.

Pete Alonso of the New York Mets grounded out to shortstop in the top of the 9th inning. The Atlanta Braves defeated the Mets 3-0 in the second game of a doubleheader. Thus, ended baseball’s regular season for 2024. Both the Braves and Mets qualified for the postseason, splitting the twin bill. But baseball’s laborious, 162-game schedule was in the books.

The Mets postgame show was still on in my house when I saw the news.

Pete Rose was dead.

PETE ROSE, MLB’S POLARIZING ALL-TIME HITS LEADER, DEAD AT 83

The timing was only fitting. When it came to baseball, Pete Rose was always there for all 162 games.

Pete’s saga serves as bookends to my life. Ever present. Always a part of my youth and early career as a reporter.

After Mr. Rogers and maybe Captain Kangaroo, Pete Rose was my first hero as a kid. As a fan, I watched Pete win two World Series with the Reds, get 3,000 hits, amass a staggering 44-game hitting streak – second only to Joe DiMaggio’s 56 games. 

I was crushed when he abandoned Cincinnati for Philadelphia in 1979. But I was ebullient on an August night in 1984 when he triumphantly returned to Cincinnati as player-manager. Pete singled in his first at-bat against the Cubs. His line-drive skipped past Chicago centerfielder Bob Dernier. And Pete, as only Pete would, immediately headed for second. Dernier struggled to track down the errant ball. Pete then took third, flinging himself into third base with a signature head-first slide.

Pete Rose was one of my first childhood idols. (IMAGN)

Dirt sprayed everywhere, a cloud slowly drifting up from the green