The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/956502
B-2 Sports Wednesday, March 21, 2018 The Press-Dispatch er in 1986 with 4,256 career hits and a plethora of oth- er major league records, in- cluding most games played (3,562), most at-bats (14,053) and most winning games played (1,972). "I've got a memory of all the things I've been through and all the things I've done. When you start talking about Stan Mu - sial and Willie Mays and To- ny Perez and Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan, it's kind of neat." The Broadway-style pro- duction – currently in its fifth year – will be making the first of 18 stops in 2018, with future performances set to be held in Indianapolis, Pitts - burgh, Florida and Ohio. "Every place we've done it, it's a hit," Rose said. "If you're a baseball fan, it's a fun evening. It's my stories in baseball and my relation - ships – who I've played with, who I've played against." "We get the audience in- volved because we take ques- tions for about a half hour or so," added Rose, who will celebrate his 77th birthday two weeks later, on April 14. "And there's always interest - ing questions from the audi- ence." No topic – including his lifetime suspension in 1989 as a result of allegations that he gambled on baseball games while managing the Reds – is off limits, accord - ing to Rose. "You can ask anything you want; just know what you're talking about," said Rose, who denied the gambling al - legations for 15 years before admitting publicly that he had bet on baseball games – but only on his own team to win – in his autobiogra - phy, My Prison Without Bars. "Most people, if not all peo- ple, will leave there with a good taste in their mouth. We're not there to offend anybody. We're not there to make anybody mad." In 1991, the National Base - ball Hall of Fame voted to ban individuals on major league baseball's "permanently inel- igible" list from induction. "I don't worry about that," Rose said. "Any athlete wants to be in the Hall of Fame of his or her sport. And I'm not going to complain to you about that, because I'm the one that screwed up on that. But in the last two or three years, I've gotten my number retired, I've made the Reds' Hall of Fame, and I got a stat - ue – all in Cincinnati, my hometown. So that's enough for me." "To be honest, I know I made mistakes, and I know what kind of player I was, and the Hall of Fame's the Hall of Fame mostly about stats. And nobody's got stats like me." Stewart noted that while the show is performed in a theatrical setting, it is set up as if the audience is actually attending a baseball game. "Somebody throws out the first pitch, somebody sings the Star Spangled Banner, and we do all the extra things you normally do for, like, a World Series type game," Stewart said. "And, then, when Pete comes on, that's actually the game." "The idea is, at some point, we would really like to play this on either Broadway or Off-Broadway, for a week or two," Stewart added. "If we can just play this in New York on Off-Broadway, or even in a place like Vegas, where we'd do a month's run or whatev - er, that's kind of the ultimate goal. Broadway's the ulti- mate goal for this show." Stewart added that while he serves as the show's on- stage prompter, Rose doesn't necessarily need very much prompting. "I'll ask Pete the ques - tions, and he'll tell stories, and then, when he kind of runs out, he'll go, 'What else do you got? '" Stewart said. "He's the show for sure. He knows the stories that are relevant and where we're go- ing with this show. I can just look at him and he'll get a cue from just me looking at him." "Once he's asked me a cou- ple of questions, I kind of just take it and go from there," Rose said. "J.T. just sits there, and he's kind of second in the deal there, because I could go an hour." "But," Rose added, "I can tell when the audience has had enough and they want to go home." Stewart said that Rose in- sisted that he schedule a stop for the show in Evansville fol- lowing a performance that was held in Owensboro last year. "When we played Ow- ensboro, he said, 'I want to play Evansville,'" Stewart re- called. "I go, 'Well, we're do- ne for the year.' And he liter- ally stayed on my case. He wanted to play Evansville. If I didn't book Evansville, he probably would have kicked my rear end." "I think one of the rea- sons we wanted Evansville was because we had such a good crowd at Owensboro," Rose recalled. "We had, like, 700 people or something like that. I don't think there's bet- ter fans in Kentucky than there are in Indiana." "I have been to Evansville and I know there's maybe a lot of Cardinal fans, Cub fans and some Cincinnati fans up there," Rose added. "We're not necessarily reaching out to Cincinnati fans when we do this. We're reaching out to baseball fans. The good thing about our timing on this show is Opening Day is two days before that. There'll be a lot of baseball in the air." Rose said that another rea- son he wanted to perform the show in Evansville was be- cause it was close to former Cincinnati Reds great Edd Roush's hometown of Oak- land City. Roush, who was elect- ed to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, batted .323 while collecting 2,376 hits during his major league career using a massive 48 -ounce Louisville Slugger – the heaviest bat ever used in a professional baseball game. Roush, who threw out the first pitch at the final game at Cincinnati's Crosley Field on June 24, 1970, passed away in 1988 and is buried in Oak- land City. "My dad was, obvious- ly, born in Cincinnati, and my family are real big Reds fans," Rose said. "Edd was playing along the time when he was probably a youngster, but the age that you'd be a baseball fan. And Eddy being such a good player, probably a lot of parents who'd be my parents' age rooted for Edd Roush.": "He was a hitter, boy," add- ed Rose, who recalls meeting Roush during spring train- ing in Tampa, Fla. "That guy could hit." Another of Rose's connec- tions with southern Indiana is the fact that Petersburg's Gil Hodges was the manager of the National League All- Star team in 1970, one sea- son after leading the New York Mets to their first-ever World Series title. That All-Star game – which was played at Cincin- nati's Riverfront Stadium – ended with Rose barrel- ing over Cleveland Indians rookie catcher Ray Fosse to score the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. According to Mort Zach- ter's biography of Hodges, Gil Hodges: A Hall of Fame Life, Hodges, when asked about the game-ending play, said, "It took a fellow like Rose to make a play like that." "I played against the Mets when he was manager and, of course, when I was a lit- tle boy, because of my affili- ation with Don Zimmer – he grew up in the same neigh- borhood and he played with Gil, behind Pee Wee (Reese), with Jackie (Robinson), with (Roy) Campanella – I got to meet all those guys, too." "His is a name that comes up every time people start talking about people who ar - en't in the Hall of Fame but belong in the Hall of Fame," Rose continued. "I know he was a tremendous ballplayer, but, as I sit here in Las Vegas and talk to you, really am not aware of his statistics. I don't know how many home runs he hit or how many RBIs." "I know he was on a great team with the Dodgers, and he was one of the best play - ers on that team, along with Duke Snider and Carl Furillo and Sandy Amoros and Pee Wee Reese and Campanella and Jackie Robinson," Rose added. "I know all the players who were on that team be - cause I got to meet them all." Stewart said that 4192: An Evening With Pete Rose will showcase many of the high- lights of Rose's career, in- cluding the Ray Fosse colli- sion to win the 1970 All-Star game, the fight with New York Mets shortstop Bud Harrelson during the Na- tional League Championship Series in 1973, and Rose's 44-game hitting streak in 1978. "When we get to The Hit, what typically happens is we talk about what hap - pened that day, things that people don't know," Stewart said. "He'll talk about play- ing catch with Petie and Pe- tie being so nervous because there's 50,000 fans watching them play catch." "And, then, typically, we get to The Hit, and I'll just say, 'Let's take a look,' and then we literally watch the entire at-bat, from the time he walks up to the plate un - til the time he gets The Hit," Stewart continued. "In this particular show, that truly is a magical moment. I mean, the audience, you would think they thought they were there. The video is very dra - matic." At the end of the show, a list of all of Rose's major league records scroll across the video screen, Stewart noted, as Frank Sinatra's "I Did It May Way" is played. "And it goes on and on," Stewart said. "The people in the theater just stand there and look at that. They're just amazed that he has that ma - ny records." "People don't understand, especially younger people," Stewart added. "All they un- derstand is the scandal and that Pete is out of baseball and all that. They don't un- derstand how great a base- ball player he was. And the thing about him being a great baseball player is he was, like, the least of the least as far as talent. It was true work ethic and heart." Rose described the show as "a good production" whose purpose is to do noth - ing more – and nothing less – than entertain the audience. "I'll go up there and I'll do the best job I can," Rose said. "I believe that people will en- joy this evening. They'll have fun. They'll feel like they're part of the show, which is important. We'll make ev- erybody feel at home. It's just like you should feel at home when you go to a ball- game. You're sitting in the stands and you're watching me play. Here, you're sitting in the stands and watching me talk." "The only difference here is, I'm going to give you a chance to talk to me," Rose continued. "When I was play - ing left field at Riverfront Sta- dium, nobody could talk to me. But here, in Evansville, hey, I'm going to take ques- tions. All you've got to do is raise your hand and have a question." Rose noted that the Cin- cinnati Reds will be open- ing its season two days ear- lier, on Thursday, March 29, and that he will be making a personal appearance the fol- lowing night in Indianapo- lis, where his brother is a high school assistant base- ball coach. "The Reds open on that Thursday, then I'm in India- napolis, and then I'm at your place," Rose said. "There'll be a lot of baseball in the air." "I know it's the day after Good Friday, but that means everybody's home," Rose added. "And the next day is Easter. I know that, too. We'll get them out of there in time to get the Easter baskets ready for the Easter Bunny." Ticket prices for "4192: An Evening With Pete Rose" – which is scheduled to start at 8 p.m., Eastern time – range in price from $ 37 to $101. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Victory The - atre or through TicketMas- ter. KING Continued from page 1 HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' BASKETBALL Pocket Athletic Conference Standings PAC Overall Team W-L W-L Forest Park .................................... 7-1 ..................... 25 -4 Heritage Hills ................................ 7-1 ..................... 20 -4 Pike Central .................................. 5 -3 ...................11-12 Gibson Southern ........................... 4-4 ...................11-12 North Posey .................................. 4-4 .................. 13-13 Tell City .......................................... 4-4 .................... 16 -9 Southridge ..................................... 2-6 .................. 12-13 South Spencer ............................... 2-6 .................... 8 -16 Tecumseh ...................................... 1-7 ..................... 8 -16 STATE TOURNAMENT (All times Eastern) Results of March 17 Semi-State At Huntington Southwood 56, Fort Wayne Blackhawk 53 (1A) Oak Hill 70, Westview 54 (2A) At Lafayette Culver Academy 65, New Castle 60 (3A) Carmel 63, South Bend Riley 44 (4A) At Seymour Morristown 77, Barr-Reeve 70 (2A) Warren Central 64, New Albany 62 (4A) At Washington Forest Park 58, Indianapolis Scecina 47 (1A) Evansville Bosse 64, Danville 61 (3A) Games of March 24 State Finals At Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis Southwood (25 -3) vs. Morristown (27-2), 10 :30 a.m. (2A) Oak Hill (25 -5) vs. Forest Park (25 -4), 12:45 p.m. (1A) Culver Academy (22-6) vs. Evansville Bosse (25 - 4), 6 p.m. (3A) Carmel (21-7) vs. Warren Central (31-40, 8:15 p.m. (4A) UPCOMING SPORTS SCHEDULE THURSDAY, MARCH 22 High School Softball: Barr-Reeve at Pike Central, 5 p.m. ( JV 2nd) SATURDAY, MARCH 24 High School Softball: Pike Central at Jasper, 11 a.m. ( JV 1st) TUESDAY, MARCH 27 High School Softball: South Knox at Pike Cen- tral, 5 p.m. ( JV 2nd) High School Girls' Tennis: Vincennes Rivet at Pike Central (scrimmage), 4:30 p.m. THURSDAY, MARCH 29 High School Baseball: Pike Central at Washing- ton, 6 p.m. MONDAY, APRIL 2 High School Baseball: Pike Central at North Knox, 5:30 p.m. High School Girls' and Boys' Track and Field: Pike Central at Tecumseh, 6 p.m. High School Girls' Tennis: Tecumseh at Pike Cen- tral, 5:30 p.m. Middle School Softball: South Knox at Pike Cen- tral, 6 p.m. TUESDAY, APRIL 3 High School Baseball: Pike Central at Boonville, 6 p.m. High School Boys' Golf: Pike Central at Prince- ton, 5 p.m. High School Softball: Pike Central at North Da- viess, 5:30 p.m. ( JV 2nd) High School Girls' Tennis: Vincennes Lincoln at Pike Central, 5 p.m. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4 High School Baseball: Shoals at Pike Central, 5 p.m. Middle School Softball: Jasper at Pike Central, 6 p.m. THURSDAY, APRIL 5 High School Softball: Pike Central at Loogootee, 5 p.m. ( JV 2nd) High School Girls' and Boys Track and Field: Pike Central at South Knox, 5 p.m. High School Girls' Tennis: Princeton at Pike Cen- tral, 5:30 p.m. SATURDAY, APRIL 7 High School Baseball: Pike Central at Princeton Invitational, 10 a.m. High School Softball: Pike Central at Sullivan, 11 a.m. ( Varsity Only) High School Boys' Golf: Pike Central at Vin- cennes Invitational, 1 p.m. High School Girls' Tennis: Pike Central at Loo- gootee Invitational, 9 a.m. Cincinnati Reds great Pete Rose is scheduled to appear in Evansville on Saturday, March 31, when "4192: An Evening With Pete Rose" is held at the Victory Theatre. The theatrical pro- duction will feature video clips of highlights from the 17-time All-Star's 24-year major league ca- reer with the Reds, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Montreal Expos. Above: Cincinnati Reds great Pete Rose follows through on his swing while collecting his 4,192nd career hit on Sept. 11, 1985, to break the previ- ous record of 4,191 set by Ty Cobb. Rose, who end- ed his 24-year major league career in 1986 with 4,256 career hits, is scheduled to appear in Evans- ville on Saturday, March 31, when "4192: An Eve- ning With Pete Rose" is held at the Victory Theatre. Right: Cincinnati Reds great Pete Rose (left) shares the stage with J.T. Stewart (right) during a recent performance of "4192: An Evening With Pete Rose." Rose, who ended his career with 4,256 career hits, is scheduled to appear in Evansville on Saturday, March 31, at the Victory Theatre.