Cutting A Hit Record

Reds rightfielder Dave Parker, like Rose a native Cincinnatian, sensed what might be coming. "Don't do it," he kept telling his manager. Rose himself admitted feeling torn in several directions. He truly wanted to break the record in Cincinnati, before friends and family. His wife, Carol, and 11-month-old son Ty, as well as his attorney and close friend Reuven Katz, were not expecting Rose to play. This was no time for him to pass Cobb—except that he wanted to win the game. And that would take hits.

"I had 30,000 people yelling here," Rose said later, "and one lady sitting back in Cincinnati kicking her dog every time I got a hit."

The 4,191st hit came on his third at bat, in the fifth inning, and may have sent Schottzie howling, but Rose had to savor the moment. He stood on first base, letting the cheers wash over him. "Don't move," said Cubs' first baseman Leon Durham, patting Rose on the butt. "I want to get some TV exposure." Rose glanced over to the Cubs' dugout and saw Trout sitting at one end, ostentatiously pointing to himself with both hands so that Rose might recognize the true hero of the day. Rose smiled again.

Durham walked over to Patterson, who didn't seem to know what to do amid all the chaos. "Pete'll probably buy you a steak dinner now," Durham told him. Patterson, who would leave the game after five innings with Chicago leading 5-4, considered it "an honor" of sorts to have given up three hits in three days to the great Pete Rose. After all, Patterson is lucky to be even pitching—he was shot in the back by muggers last November in Venezuela. He said he wouldn't ask for the steak.

Finally the skies burst with rain and delayed the game for more than two hours. Rose eventually batted against Lee Smith with two men on in the ninth, but he struck out. "Is it tough to see?" Petey asked him as he returned to the dugout.

"I don't know," answered his dad. "It sounded like a strike so I swung at it." The game was suspended after nine innings with the score 5-5. The statistics count, but the game will likely not be completed. Thus, in yet another of Sunday's odd twists, Rose had tied Cobb's record in a game that will never show up in the standings.