Earl Francis just couldn’t seem to find the strike zone against the 21 year old pint sized second baseman for the Reds.

Maybe it was nerves. After all, this was the 1963 opener in Cincinnati. The lead-off batter Leo Cardenas flew out to left and now this kid, who only had made the roster due to an injury to veteran Don Blasingame, was patiently waiting for his pitch.

Maybe it was the fact that this kid was crouching so low at the plate, he seemed to make his 5’11” frame two feet smaller.

Whatever the case, the count was three balls and no strikes. The Red’s number two hitter had yet to swing the bat as he dug into the batter’s box, settling in, his eyes peering at the right arm of the Pirates pitcher.

Francis received the sign from his catcher and delivered the pitch.

Ball four.

Take your base.

Peter Edward Rose dropped his bat and sprinted to first base.

Of the 28,896 fans in attendance that day, no one could have imagined that the player that just drew a four pitch walk in his first plate appearance would become one of the most storied players in baseball history.

Two batters later Rose was standing at home plate, congratulating Frank Robinson after the slugger drove him home with a two-run homer.

It would take Rose another week, April 13^th to be exact, to collect the first of his 4,256 hits. He was 0 for his first 11 when he stepped to the dish to lead off the bottom of the 8^th inning. The Reds were down 7-1 to Bob Friend and the Pirates. Rose had grounded out to shortstop, was hit by a pitch, and walked. 4,481 people came out to Crosley Field that day and most likely, only a few thousand were left to witness Rose collect his first hit.

A 3 for 23 start for Rose left Reds manger Fred Hutchinson no choice but to bench Rose for a little over one week. When Rose returned to the lineup, he was there to stay. By July, the Reds had sold Don Blasingame to the Senators and Rose took advantage of the playing time. He collected 170 hits in 623 at bats, scoring 101 runs and batted .273 winning the 1963 Rookie of the Year award for the National League.

And the rest is “hits”tory.

(Coming next week is Episode 2 of the Pastime Reds Podcast where we’ll dive deeper into the debut of Pete Rose, look at 10 years of Great American Ball Park, and 40 years of Marty Brennaman.)

Oh yeah, there was the gum, too.

I would be particularly excited if I pulled a Red such as Bench or Morgan or Geronimo or Rose.

Ironic that the biggest baseball card ever is of Prince Fielder. (Kim Klement – USA TODAY Sports)

I’ve haven’t purchased a pack of baseball cards in at least four years, maybe five. I had grown a little weary of it. Maybe that’s why when I observe Twitter chatter surrounding the subject of baseball cards, I turn away. I’ll admit that every once in a great while I have yearned to purchase a pack or two simply to re-live the thrill of those days as a young lad, but never gave in to it.

In re-scrolling my Twitter timeline, I discovered something.

Topps was not including the mention of Pete Rose in its 2013 series?

Now, at that time, I was under the impression that Topps made this “plain and simple” decision, according to Topps spokesman Clay Luraschi, on their own accord. That quote is provided in a piece by Rob Harris of Chicago Side Sports as he informs us of the decision he attributed to Topps.

Like Harris, when I was young, I used these cards to gain knowledge about the players. I recall my aunt bragging to some of her friends how my brother and I could rattle off player stats. It was because of baseball cards and the intensity of which we studied them. We quizzed each other about stats. We even created our own game. And when I was growing up, the only baseball cards we could buy were Topps.

Back to Harris.

So he bought a few packs of 2013 Topps Series 1 cards and noticed that on this year’s series, there was a “Career Chase” on the back. Not only were the players stats on there, a little blurb provided some insight how close a player was to achieving a certain milestone. Harris on his discovery:

For Paul Konerko, the Career Chase line indicates that his 422 career home runs are 340 shy of Barry Bonds’ career record of 762. Konerko — who is knocking on the door of 37 years of age — has an outside chance at 500 career home runs, but he certainly won’t approach Barry Bonds’ record. The Career Chase line isn’t meant to suggest he’s closing in, but it helps put his accomplishments in perspective.

Another example, courtesy of Topps: John Danks has 57 career wins, which puts him 454 behind career leader Cy Young.

OK, I get it.

But then I flip the card Starlin Castro, whose solid start as the shortstop for the Cubs has him sitting at 529 hits, which is—as Career Chase points out—a mere 3,727 away from the all-time record of 4,256 held by…. Wait a second. Topps doesn’t say who holds the record. Every other record has a name attached, but not where the hits record is concerned.

I thought maybe it was an accident. I checked another a card. On A.J. Pierzynski’s card, I learn that he’s 2,611 hits away from the all time leader. Again, there’s no name listed.

Harris even provides an image of the back of Pierzynski’s card.

After reading Harris’ article – twice – I took a minute to collect my thoughts, then began a little internet search. I had no clue where this would all lead me.  I’m glad I did as I received an education on a matter that should not have escalated to the level in which it landed.

Well, my Googling saw this headline which caught my eye from Fox News:

“Baseball card maker Topps strips Pete Rose of all-time hit record”

Spare me the political stuff, please. I’ll not engage in that here.

That headline irked me for one simple reason: Topps cannot strip Rose of the record. That’s absurd. Nice work, Fox. Will you be pushing for Bill O’Reilly to do some color commentary for a Mets game?

Criticism of Topps for what would some deemed to be a poor decision got a little ugly. Matters not as there will be those that will still purchase their product. Due to the furor, some may now decide not to buy Topps even after reading this or any others I link within this. Even saw a tweet where one person claimed ripping up every Topps card he owned because of the Rose “omission”. Institute your boycott of Topps cards and that will not change the overriding issue here which is…

Pete Rose cannot be included in Topps baseball cards, and Topps has no control of that.

I feel you raising your eyebrow.  Here me out, and for the record, this isn’t something that just occurred. It’s old news. Like 1989 old. There has been an odd occurrence or two.

I opted for a different route after that Fox headline.  I decided to check out the Topps Twitter account – after all, that’s where we check for everything these days – to see if there was any mention of this purported “erasing” of Rose. Not shocked that there were more than a few. I thought they would all be from Reds fans, but they weren’t. Here was Topps’ general statement on Twitter:

Not our call, we have an MLB license and they are our partner, unable to put Pete in product

Key words here: “not our call”. So, it would seem on the surface that Topps is “deferring” the issue to MLB, right?

Actually, no.  Scrolling down, I observed a Topps re-tweet which led me to a brief article authored by Chris Olds of Beckett Baseball. Well, at that time it was brief. From that article, I gathered this:

“Since Pete Rose is banned from baseball,” said Matt Bourne, the MLB Vice President of Business Public Relations, on Wednesday, “he is not included in MLB-licensed products.”

Talk about plain and simple.

Within that same piece, Olds referenced how Yahoo!’s Big League Stew picked up on a story he had written for the Tuscaloosa News in 2003. I wanted to read that now. Again…

His [Rose's] rookie card, 1963 Topps No. 537, sells for about $800, up from a $600 price tag at the time of the ban, but collectors won’t find him on any officially licensed baseball cards made after 1989, a direct result of the agreement.

“Any player who is on the permanently ineligible list is prohibited from inclusion on any product officially licensed by Major League Baseball,” said Kathleen Fineout, Major League Baseball’s manager of properties. “Any player has the right to enter into licensing deals for products bearing his name or likeness as long as no trademarks of Major League Baseball are included on those products.”

Think about it. Rose hasn’t had an MLB licensed card since his ban went into effect. How many mentions of Rose have been on baseball cards since the year he was placed on the ineligible list? The Yahoo! post I noted earlier displays one example. On that day, maybe the person in charge of checking was a Rose fan.

The first part of Fineout’s statement is crystal clear; however, the second part was something a little less familiar, although I eventually would recall seeing Post Cereals produce baseball cards, but team logos were obscured. Denny’s did the same.

Then I saw this question: Why can I go to MLB.com’s shop and purchase products that display Rose’s likeness and even his autograph?

Again, players can enter into their own deals as long as no the MLB trademark does not appear. It doesn’t matter if they are on the ineligible list. Rose has an agreement with other parties to license those items. View the images of those items closely. No MLB logo, is there?

February 4, 2012; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Retired baseball player Pete Rose sits in attendance during UFC 143 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

Also, items bearing the MLB logo autographed by Rose were produced prior to his ban. Similarly, when the 2012 Topps Heritage card of Rose’s ’63 card “appeared”, some were wondering.  The card included a foil stamp to commemorate Topps’ 50th anniversary of its buy back program, a program Topps institutes for all of its cards. Therefore, this was not a new likeness of Pete.

Of note, there is one item on MLB.com’s shop “associated” with Rose which does carry the MLB logo: a “mini-mega ticket” from the night Rose broke Ty Cobb’s hit record. No mention or likeness of Rose on the product or its packaging.

After following the bread crumbs (which were easily followed), taking some time to fully digest what I had read, taking time to reflect on and gather my thoughts, this matter was cut and dried. It has to do with the license that Topps has with MLB and the stipulation that Rose cannot be included due to his ban. Doesn’t mean I have to like.

MLB grants Topps certain rights within that license. Topps must adhere to those rights. If Topps doesn’t, MLB can pull the license. Topps holds exclusive rights, but that doesn’t mean they have free rein.

You may now fling your rotten fruit and veggies at Bud.

Please do not confuse or compare this with the PED issue. (If you’re wondering, Barry Bonds is mentioned by name.) Those are, for now anyway, two separate matters. If baseball should ever ban those busted for PED use, only then could they be deemed as one issue, but only because Rose and the PED users would be on the ineligible list. Of course, MLB will make sure they have proof before arriving at that decision, if it ever occurs, and I’m sure the players union will have a say on that.

Regardless if Pete’s ever mentioned on the back of a Topps baseball card again, he will always be known as The Hit King. In Cincinnati, Rose is as relevant now as when he wore a Reds uniform as both a player and a manager. Maybe even more. He could never be erased from our minds. Not mine anyway.

And that is also plain and simple.

UPDATE: Pete Rose sent a statement to USA TODAY and Jon Saraceno has some details on that statement. Within that statement, Rose said the following:

“I am not asking for anyone to feel sorry for me. I am asking only that Topps/MLB not compound my punishment by deleting the truth of what I achieved.”

Jan 19, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; After learning of his passing fans begin a memorial at the Stan Musial statue at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, MO. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

It is now just about two weeks until the pitchers and catchers report to camp in Arizona. It is time for all of the baseball fans who are not NFL fans to come out of hibernation. Another long hot summer awaits.

The off-season can be a trying time for baseball writers. We are forced to be creative to find something that can help pull us through to Spring Training. Fellow writer Jordan Barhorst bides the time away playing Out of the Park baseball game. I use to play MVP baseball but haven’t in a while. Now I gripe at the dog and curse the TV commercials.

With the recent deaths of Stan Musial and Earl Weaver, I find myself thinking about how the game is now and how it was.

Baseball has a meaning all its own. It is universal, but not everyone’s meaning is the same. For example Baseball to a wife may mean that her husband will be watching TV for about eight months straight. To a little kid it might mean playing a game of sandlot with some friends.

What senses does the word trigger? What do you see? What do you feel? Can you hear the vrndors?

I want to take a few minutes and share with you what Baseball does mean to me.You can add your own when I am finished.

Baseball means the wonderful fragrance of freshly cut grass at the ball field.

Baseball is reading a book about Lou Gehrig called “The Iron Horse.”

Baseball means getting Al Kaline‘s autograph at DC Stadium in Washington.

Baseball is me thinking Dick Radatz was so big in the sixties (6-5, 235).

Baseball is me wondering what that path was for between the mound and home plate.

Baseball means waiting for the Sunday paper so you could see batting averages and other stats.

Baseball is the terrace at Crosley Field.

Baseball is Stan “the man” Musial hitting five homers in a doubleheader.

Baseball is southpaw Harvey Haddix pitching a perfect game for 12 innings before losing 1-0 in the 13th.

Baseball is watching the original Home Run Derby on Saturday nights on TV. Mark Scott was the host and he had two power hitters facing off each week. The winner came back until he was beaten. The first guy batted in the first inning, he played until he got three outs. An out was any pitch that was swung at and not a home run. Even if the ump called a strike on a pitch it was an out. They would rotate until the game was over.

Baseball is me watching a game in ’62 on TV and seeing a no-namer like Purnal Goldy of the Detroit Tigers hit two of his three career home runs.

Baseball is me leaving elementary school early so I could catch the World Series on TV with my Dad. They played during the daytime in the old days.

Baseball is going by Claude’s Place and picking up a pack of baseball cards for a quarter. There were five cards in there and the quintessential piece of gum. I can smell it right now. True story. I bought five packs one time and got four Eddie Kasko‘s.

Baseball is Dave Debusschere pitching for the Tigers after the basketball season. He was also a forward with the Pistons.

Baseball is Hank Aaron being referred to as a “wrist hitter”.

Baseball is Roger Maris beating Babe Ruth‘s home run record fueled by 3-packs of camels a day, no steroids.

Baseball is Aaron hitting No. 715 off Al Downing to pass Ruth on the All-time HR list. Both players had No. 44 on their uniform.

Baseball is southpaw Masanori Murakami pitching for the San Francisco giants as the first Japanese player in MLB history with no fanfare.

Baseball is thinking Pete LaCock had the coolest name in the league.

Baseball is two All-Star games in a summer (’59 – ’61).

Baseball is eight teams in the AL and eight in the NL. No playoffs. Win pennant or go home.

Baseball is Don Drysdale pitching high and tight to Frank Robinson. Low bridge!

Baseball is Pete Rose running out a base on balls.

Baseball is a starting pitcher completing the game.

Baseball is wondering exactly when Richie Allen became Dick Allen.

Baseball is Denny McLain winning 31 games in 1968, winning Cy Young award and in ’69 becoming only the second man in history (at the time) to win back-to-back CYA.

Baseball thinking how big and mean Bob Gibson looked although he was only 6-1, 189.

Baseball is listening to Waite Hoyt broadcast a Reds ballgame on the radio while he gets jacked up on Hudepohl.

Baseball is Pitcher Juan Marichal taking a bat to the head of John Roseboro in 1965

Baseball is Charlie Finley not signing Don Sutton because he didn’t have a cool nickname.

Baseball is the Green Monster in Fenway Park.

Baseball is the ivy covering the walls in Wrigley Field.

Baseball is playing a board game called Strat-O-Matic.

Baseball is Pete Rose bowling over catcher Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-star game.

Baseball is me putting a curse on Bowie Kuhn (I hope he rests in peace) and Charlie Finley (may he rest in peace)  for making All-star and World Series games to be played  under the lights.

Baseball is saying a premature goodbye to the great Roberto Clemente.

Baseball is the Houston Astros uniforms looking like they came from a beer softball league.

Baseball is Curt Schilling‘s bloody sock.

Baseball is Roger Clemens saying he doesn’t give a “rat’s ass” about the Hall of Fame.

Baseball is thinking that Sean Penn could play Khalil Greene if they made a movie about him.

Baseball is thinking that Will Smith should play Robinson Cano if they make a movie about him.

Baseball is thinking that the American Psycho, Christian Bale could play Homer Bailey.

Baseball is Lyman Bostock being at the wrong place at the right time.

Baseball is thinking how cool the Pittsburgh Pirates looked with their 18 combination color coordinated uniforms in 1979.

Baseball is me putting a curse on the Player’s Union for striking in 1981.

Baseball is the Atlanta Braves (America’s team) being the only team to have cable coverage of all their games.

Baseball is me putting a curse on Bart Giamati (wish I could take that one back) for levying a lifetime ban on Rose, preventing him from consideration to the Hall of Fame.

Baseball is me putting a curse on the Player’s Union for striking in 1994. I quit the game completely until 2006.

OK now I am bummed. It can get like that, cause all memories are not necessarily the best ones. But, you know what? There are much more Lou Gehrig’s, Stan Musial‘s and Hank Aaron’s than there are Roger Clemens and Juan Marichal’s.

What is your story? What is baseball to you?

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