Rose Goes Hitless in 4 At-Bats : LaMarr Hoyt, Padres Foil Attempt at Record

When Hank Aaron went after Babe Ruth’s home run record, there were thousands of interested spectators at the park and millions of curiosity seekers at home. Among both was a stubby little singles hitter from Cincinnati who trailed Hammerin’ Hank and the Babe at the time by about 600 homers.

“I watched Aaron’s tying homer fly over my head,” said Rose, who played left field for the Reds that 1974 season, “and I watched No. 715 on TV from my hotel room in Pittsburgh.”

Tuesday night, Pete Rose was not just an innocent bystander, not just an eyewitness. He was the star of the show. He was the guy going after the all-time hit record of Ty Cobb, a man who never had one of his 4,191 hits on live TV.

Not since Aaron passed Ruth had an individual baseball feat seemed so special. NBC-TV broke into its regularly scheduled programming each time Rose stepped to the plate.

But Rose went hitless in the 3-2 loss to San Diego, lining out to left field in his last at-bat. He will try again tonight against Padre right-hander Eric Show.

The interest in his pursuit of Cobb “kind of proves baseball in America is in the No. 1 position,” Rose said. “You can talk to a 90-year-old lady or a 9-year-old kid, and they know something about it.”

Riverfront Stadium was filled nearly to the gills (51,045) as Cincinnati’s player-manager and native son went after his 4,192nd hit, the Ty-breaker. Hanging from the center-field facade was a banner:

Rose is red,

Cobb is blue,

‘Cause Pete just hit

4,192

Except he didn’t. He popped out twice and flew out twice--”I haven’t made a lot of money hitting the ball in the air,” Rose said later--and admitted he might have been a little jumpy. “ ‘Overanxious’ is a better word, not ‘nervous.’ Hell, I’ve made more outs than anybody. I’m not nervous,” Rose said.

The game began 15 minutes late, to allow traffic-jammed fans to arrive in time for the first inning. Rose put himself No. 2 in the Reds’ order, and when he came to bat, flashbulbs popped like fireflies.

The first pitch was a strike, but LaMarr Hoyt, a control artist, missed the plate three straight times with off-speed pitches. Rose then popped out to short.

Leading off the fourth inning, Rose went after Hoyt’s first pitch and flew out routinely to left field. In the sixth, he again popped to the shortstop, Garry Templeton taking this one in shallow left.

The closest Rose came was against rookie Lance McCullers in the eighth. He hit the ball hard and low, but left fielder Carmelo Martinez had to move only a few steps for it.

“I thought it might have a chance, but it hung up there,” McCullers said. “Shoot, I’d like to have another chance.”

Rose had tried to have a quiet, normal day. He slept late--”I quit watching ‘Captain Kangaroo’ a long time ago,” he said--after having watched Jim Cobb, son of Ty, Monday night on ABC-TV’s “Nightline.”

Cobb’s son had said, among other things, that he considered his father a superior hitter. Rose understood completely, saying his own son Pete “would defend me” in a similar situation.

“At no time did I ever say I was a better batter than Cobb,” Rose said emphatically. “He was the greatest batter in history. Nobody will ever hit .367 (lifetime) again.”

Rose did propose one “argument you never hear” as a reason Cobb might have had an easier time getting hits:

“There wasn’t the amount of black outfielders playing then. I mean, the speed . . . try hitting in the gaps these days. I’ve had to hit against guys like Willie Mays. Ty Cobb could go up there, and if they were in left-center he’d hit into right-center. The outfielders are faster today.”

Nevertheless, Rose added, Cobb deserves credit because “he was hurt more than me. He missed 500 games or something like that.” And still got his hits--in 2,338 fewer at-bats than Rose presently has (11,429 to 13,767).

Rose said the first time he can recall being conscious of Cobb’s record was before the 1979 season, when several clubs were trying to sign him as a free agent. He knew he had a shot at Stan Musial’s National League hit record, but Ewing Kauffman, then the owner of the Kansas City Royals, told Rose: “Forget about Musial’s record. Come to the American League and go after Ty Cobb.”

Rose did break Musial’s mark, for Philadelphia, and then got his 4,000th hit, for Montreal. Each time he received Presidential phone calls, and, while anticipating one for this occasion, Rose said: “I hope the Ayatollah doesn’t act up at 9:30. The Ayatollah knocked me off the cover of Time once, you know.”

As usual, Rose hopscotched from subject to subject. One reporter, with Cobb in mind, had asked him Monday if there was anyone from history Rose would have liked to meet. Yeah, he said--Al Capone.