One of the greatest tragedies in American pro baseball history is the fact that Pete Rose isn’t in the Hall of Fame.
Full stop.
I mean he is still the MLB’s all-time leader in hits (4,256), games played (3,562), at-bats (14,053), singles (3,215), and outs (10,328) even though he stopped playing in 1986!
Sure, sure, he got in a bit of trouble, but he was iconic, and didn’t hurt anyone or take it even remotely to the level of the Eight Men Out Black Sox affair.
What you may not know about the late Mr. Rose, was that during the Cold War, he volunteered for the U.S. Army Reserves in November 1963 and was assigned to Fort Knox for basic training and six months of active duty before completing six years of drills with the USAR’s 478th Engineering Battalion— alongside fellow Reds players Alex Johnson and Johnny Bench– at its armory in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinnati. He served as a platoon guide and company cook.
In an interview in 2014, Pete said, “I enjoyed the Army. It was tough, but that was all part of being a good citizen.”
The 478th still exists, and its unit motto is Numquam Deorsum, which translates to “Never Down,” on a field of red and white, which all seems very appropriate.
