Pete Rose bet on baseball (I know it was with Cincinnati); it was wrong.
As a member of the Phillies, Rose had his moments, but one at-bat sticks out in my mind.
In Game 1 of the 1980 World Series, the Phillies were in a quick 4-0 hole heading into the bottom of the third inning.
Philadelphia clawed back in the inning and manufactured two runs to make it 4-2.
There were two outs with the bases empty.
With two outs in an inning with no men on base, there may not be anyone else in MLB history you'd rather have up there to start a rally than Pete Rose.
What happened next led to a five-run third inning, and an eventual 7-6 Phillies win.
Rose was hit by a pitch, and ferociously flung the bat backwards. He wanted to send a message to Royals pitcher Dennis Leonard.
Whether this rattled Leonard, who knows? The 20-game winner got wild against Mike Schmidt, and walked him.
Bake McBride stepped up next and got a fastball on the inner-half of the plate—right in his kitchen.
McBride turned on it and launched it in the right-center field seats.
5-4 Philadelphia, and the entire two-out rally started with Pete Rose.
