Pete Rose Jr. ready to try again
Posted: Monday January 25, 1999 07:21 PM
| |
Pete Rose Jr. will get another chance after signing a Triple-A contract with the Dodgers AP |
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Another spring training is at hand, another chance for
Pete Rose Jr. to think this could be the year it finally happens.
The son of baseball's hit king is 29 now and coming off one of his most
discouraging seasons, one that started in the Cincinnati Reds' farm
system and ended on a college field in Upper Montclair, N.J.
Instead of taking that last step to the big leagues, he wound up in a free
fall to the bottom of pro ball, landing on an independent league team, the
New Jersey Jackals of the Northeast League. And now he's hoping to bounce
back up.
"It was a good experience," he said in a recent interview. "Not that I've
ever taken anything for granted, but I was at the bottom of the barrel. Now
I'm going to a big league camp with a Triple-A contract and a chance to
make the big leagues."
When the Los Angeles
Dodgers offered him a Triple-A contract and invited him to spring
training, Rose didn't hesitate. His dream of sticking in the major leagues
was as strong as ever.
"I told them, 'You want me to sign it in blood?' I hope they give me a
look," Rose said. "I think it's a good chance to make it."
The stocky infielder with his father's name and looks has been trying to
make it since 1989, when the Baltimore Orioles
drafted him in the 13th round. He spent his first six years at the lowest
levels of pro ball.
Things started to happen when the Cincinnati Reds -- his dad's team --
signed him on Dec. 13, 1996. He had his best season at Double-A in 1997,
hitting .308 with 25 homers and 98 RBIs in 112 games.
On Sept. 1 that year, with his famous father sitting in the front row,
Rose Jr. made his major league debut at first base for the Reds and got a
single. He had arrived.
But not for long. He didn't start again and went 2-for-14 overall with
nine strikeouts and a pair of walks. Then he got into a contract dispute
with the Reds and wasn't invited to spring training.
He opened last year at Triple-A Indianapolis and hit .277 with three
homers, but got passed over by younger prospects and wasn't playing much.
When the Reds gave him the choice of taking a demotion to Double-A or free
agency, he left.
Things kept going downhill. He latched on with Pittsburgh's Triple-A club
in Nashville, but hit only .208 and was released a month later. He ended up
with the New Jersey Jackals, playing on the cramped field of the Montclair
State University team.
While there, he declined interviews -- "I didn't talk to anybody because I
was not there to talk, I was there to play baseball and let my playing do
my talking."
He went on the tough road trips to hardscrabble fields in obscure places.
"It makes you feel like you're back in rookie ball, back on the buses," he
said. "But, hey, you've got to do what you've got to do."
And he heard the cynics say he should just quit.
"I'm thinking to myself, 'I'm 29, not 39,'" Rose said. "There's no reason
to think about it. People say, 'Are you ready to retire?' No. The way I
take care of myself, I've got at least another 10 years."
In the offseason, he dedicated himself to the weight room, the place where
he added the muscle that led to his breakthrough season in the minors two
years ago.
"I'm in probably my best shape ever," he said. "I weigh 240, but I'm
leaner than I've ever been."
He's gotten used to the idea of playing for the Dodgers instead of rooting
against them. When his father was piling up those 4,256 hits, the Dodgers
were one of the Reds' biggest rivals.
"It's funny," he said. "All those years I used to hate the Dodgers, being
from Cincinnati and being a Red and with dad. And now, I woke up one
morning and I liked Dodger blue."
Mainly, he likes having another chance.
"Everybody is accepting failure, but I'm not," he said. "I'm not done. I'm
a baseball player."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
| 
