Pete Rose’s Historic Hit

The most electric night in Veterans Stadium history happened on Oct. 21, 1980, when Tug McGraw struck out Willie Wilson to give the Phillies their first World Series championship before 65,838 fanatical fans.

• Phillies Alumni

The second on the list happened Aug. 10, 1981, when baseball was about to resume the season after a lengthy strike. Pete Rose needed one more hit to break Stan Musial’s National League record. The 55-game strike was about to end with a marquee matchup. Veterans Stadium was packed as was the press box for a Monday night ABC TV national telecast against St. Louis to start the second half of the season.

The tension was mounting after Rose went hitless after three ground-ball outs. Leading off in the Phillies’ eighth inning, Rose grounded a single between shortstop and third base in the eighth inning off Mark Littell for his 3,631st hit, surpassing Musial, who set the record in a Cardinals uniform.

The 60,561 crowd rose to its feet. First-base coach Ruben Amaro Sr. vacated his normal location. The game was halted. Fireworks filled the sky. Fans displayed signs. ABC captured every moment, allowing the nation to witness baseball history. Musial was escorted to first base where he congratulated Pete. Pete Rose Jr. came out of the dugout to hug his dad. Teammates followed, creating a traffic jam at first base.

Bedlam at the Vet. Baseball was back.

“Remember, the fireworks went off in the first inning,” Rose said after the game. “The scoreboard thought it was a hit [ground ball to short], but it was ruled an error.

“The whole thing about breaking records is the reaction of the fans. It was very special, because it happened at home in front of so many Phillies fans. Musial being there was icing on the cake.

“There was no pressure attached to this record. It’s not like a hitting streak. I needed one more hit and it was going to happen. It was just a matter of where, when, the kind of hit and the pitcher.”

An interview room was set up in a large room behind home plate to accommodate the media mass. As we walked to the room, he asked, “You got the president calling?” I mumbled, “Don’t know.”

Through Major League Baseball, President Ronald Reagan was supposed to call on a phone we had next to the podium, but the White House said it was subject to last-minute changes.

Shortly after the start of the press conference, the special red phone rang. It was the White House. A historic moment turned into a hilarious one:

White House operator: “Mr. Rose, hold on please ...”

Pete: “Tell the President, I’ll be with him in a minute.”

White House: “Mr. Rose, hold on please ...”

Pete: “Good thing there isn’t a missile on the way.”

White House: “Mr. Rose, hold on please ...”

Pete: “I’ve waited 19 years for this, I can wait another minute.”

White House: "Mr. Rose, hold on please ...”

Pete: “Larry, I’ll give him my home phone.”

Finally, “Hello Pete, this is President Reagan calling.” Pete brought down the house further by responding, “Hey, how ya’ doing?"

Leading up to this record-setting night, a restaurant owner from South Jersey called. He had read that Musial was in town dining on lobster at Bookbinder’s Restaurant. He wanted to present Pete with a lobster after he broke the record. I agreed, but told him it might be an hour or more because of the press conference. He was fine with that.

Once the press conference was over and we were back in the clubhouse, I introduced Pete to the restaurant owner, who brought an 18-pound lobster -- one pound for each of Pete’s years in the Majors -- into the clubhouse. It was the biggest thing I ever saw. Pete took one look and asked, “That thing isn’t going to take a [crap] in my Rolls, will it?” Only Pete could come up with a comment like that.

Pete had tied Musial’s record on June 10 (the last day before the strike) at the Vet with a first-inning single off Houston’s future Hall of Famer, Nolan Ryan. Ryan looked at Rose on first base and touched the bill of his hat, essentially saying, “Nice going, but that’s it.” Ryan struck out Rose each of the next three at-bats with a mixture of blazing fastballs and back-breaking curveballs.

Ironically, Musial’s 3,630th hit came in the Cardinals’ final game of the 1963 season on Sept. 29 in St. Louis, which also was his last game. It was a sixth-inning, ground-ball single to right past a rookie second baseman on the Cincinnati Reds ... Pete Rose.

Did You Know?

As a free agent after the 1978 season, Rose and his agent, Reuven Katz, met with the Phillies at the Wilmington, Del., home of owner Ruly Carpenter. GM Paul Owens and executive vice president Bill Giles were also there. It was reported the Kansas City Royals were interested in signing Rose.

The Phillies' $600,000 offer per year was short. Giles drove Rose and Katz to the airport. Giles reminded Rose if he signed with the Phillies he could become the National League record holder for hits.

“If you change leagues, you won’t have a chance to be first,” Giles wrote in his book, "Pouring Six Beers at a Time."

“Pete Rose knew his own statistics better than any player who ever played the game, so I was fairly confident it would resonate with him.

"Pete, your good friends Larry Bowa, Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinski really want you to as a teammate. We all believe we can win a world championship in Philadelphia if you join us.”

Upon arriving at the airport, Katz whispered to Giles, “If you get Ruly up to $800,000 a year, I think I can talk Pete into signing with you guys.”

More from Giles’ book, “Heading back to the office, I had a brainstorm. If Pete Rose signed with the Phillies, our flagship TV station would benefit tremendously with high ratings and more advertising revenue. We could get them to pay us $200,000 more a year for broadcasting rights. I presented my idea to Ruly, and he blessed it.

“I contacted WPHL-TV, the station that served as the local network for Phillies’ telecasts and presented my idea to them. Within a couple of days they agreed, and we upped our offer to Pete to $800,000 a year.”

The Phillies signed Rose that December to a four-year, $3.24 million contract, the highest in baseball.

Two years later, the Phillies won their first World Series championship.

Three years later, Rose became the National League hit king.