There is no doubt that Pete Rose had a compulsion for
hitting. In the summer of 1990, Pete
Rose confessed to tax evasion and was sentenced to five months in jail and a
fine. In January of 1991, after serving
his time in prison, he was picked up by his son, Pete Rose, Jr. Pete asked his son if he knew where the
closet batting cage was located. “Yes,”
said Jr. “there happens to be one close by. When they got there, Pete asked the attendant
which machine was the fastest. The attendant
said they had a machine that threw 85 mph.
Pete Rose, “the hit king,” was 51 years old when he stepped into the
batter’s box. A crowd had now gathered around
to see what would happen. On the very
first pitch the machine delivered, Pete hit a screaming line drive straight
back at the pitching machine. He dropped
the bat, turned to the crowd, and said, “Some things never change.”
Andy Purvis
www.purvisbooks.com |