Rose to Take It Easier, Go to Spring Training

To most baseball players, spring training means the end of a relaxing vacation. To Pete Rose, it means the end of a hectic traveling schedule.

Rose, who last season passed Ty Cobb to become baseball’s all-time hit leader, has spent much of the off-season making public appearances to endorse a variety of products and causes.

A marketing specialist who handles many of Rose’s dealings says Rose, whose winter trips included several stops on the West Coast and a visit to Japan, makes more from endorsements than the $225,000 the Reds paid him last year.

Bill Hayes of Taft Marketing said Rose’s return to Cincinnati, the Reds successful 1985 season and, most importantly, his record-setting exploits have made Rose a hot commodity.

“Instead of having a picture of a swaggering, sliding, head-first hot dog, people see something different,” Hayes said. “Consistency has set in and we see the effort, the hard work, the enthusiasm necessary for such an achievement.”

Despite the rigorous schedule, Rose managed to maintain his regimen of off-season workouts in preparation for spring training, which begins for the Reds Feb. 21 for pitchers and catchers. The full team holds its first practice Feb. 27.

Hayes said requests for appearances and business offers have been tightly controlled and that he and Rose are taking a “long-term” approach.

“We wanted Pete to be involved in things that actually led to something,” Hayes said.

Rose made appearances for the Boy Scouts and Easter Seals among other organizations during the off-season, and he also agreed to be a co-chairman of Hands Across America along with other celebrities.

But, Hayes said, one type of request is always rejected--those asking Rose to visit a school.

“If you make one, you run the risk of offending how many others?” he said.