The Cincinnati Reds decided to take Pete Rose’s shirt out of the roster exalting him to the team’s hall of fame. The “hit king” was the member of honor of a short ceremony where everybody witnessed the removal of his number and honored the Big Red Machine. The last member of the “eight elite” lined up at the Great American Ball Park last Saturday to be inducted while thousands of fans celebrated with him.
“I’ve got five minutes to talk,” Rose said in a speech at the stadium. “I could spend five days thanking the people of Cincinnati. You motivated me to play the way I did. I wasn’t diving for me. I was diving for you. I was hitting for you. I was trying to score runs for you.”
Later at the press conference, the Big Red Machine met to continue Rose’s induction celebration with a lot of hall of farmers attending the party such as Jack Billingham, Cesar Geronimo, Tony Perez and many others. However, one absence was felt, Joe Morgan could not assist to the event. Morgan and Rose have been close friends for decades, and they are still very tight. Morgan works as an adviser for the Reds’ directors. The board announced that due to illness Joe wasn’t going to attend, he recorded a video that was played at the conference instead. The Cincinnati Reds have not clarified what his illness is, but since he could not make it to his friend’s induction, it must be something serious.
Padres beat the Reds amidst the celebration
The Big Red Machine wanted to give Rose a victory on such an important day, but the San Diego Padres had other plans in mind, especially Drew Pomeranz. While the Reds were celebrating their “hit king” inductee, the Padres’ pitcher kept the bats silent as he eliminated batter after batter without breaking a sweat. But that was not enough for Mr. Pomeranz, and he got at the front of his team’s offensive by connecting a 2 point home run, and then a hit that would bring the third term. The Reds were only allowed to 3 hits in the whole game which ended 3 – 0 favoring the Padres.
The Reds are going through a bad streak. The defeat against San Diego was the 4th in line, and the 6th in their last seven games and the fans are starting to point fingers. Brandon Finnegan, one of the Reds’ pitchers, has opened four of the last six games Cincinnati has lost, and even though no one is making him directly responsible, people are saying he has been a bad luck charm this season.
The Chicago Cubs are going through some difficulties too. After losing four games in a row, the Cubs managed to break the streak with a win. However, the Marlins defeated them last Saturday. In the beginning, the Cubs controlled the game with a couple of home runs by Miguel Montero and Addison Russel, and by the 4th inning, the game was 4-1 favoring Chicago. However, the Cubs pitching was kind of weak, and the Marlins took full advantage. Run homers by Justin Bour and Giancarlo Stanton gave the impulse to their team’s offensive. Then, in the 5th inning, Miami’s battery took turns to punish Chicago’s pitcher.
The final score was 9 – 6 favoring Miami, and Ichiro Suzuki got to 2,984 hits in his career, but he needs a lot more than that to take Rose’s crown, more than a thousand more.
Source: Cincinnati Reds