Clermont County Convention and Visitors Bureau President Mark Calitri, left, interviews Pete Rose.

Clermont County Convention and Visitors Bureau President Mark Calitri, left, interviews Pete Rose.
By Mark Calitri

Sometimes in one’s life, whether by chance or fate, you might have the opportunity to meet your hero. Someone who is extraordinary, bigger than life, and has achieved the so called impossible. I had this special opportunity recently for an exclusive, all access interview with the “Hit King” Pete Rose. Our rules…there were none! I questioned Pete on topics that I’ve never heard him asked before. In this exclusive series we’ll talk with the “Hit King” on everything from why the Cincinnati area is his favorite to his thoughts on Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber, and his biggest regret.

Mark: Pete, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy travel schedule to spend a few minutes with me. I’ve got some questions for you.

Pete: Okay, fire away!

Mark: Well, you’ve traveled throughout the United States, now what makes this region of Cincinnati (Clermont County) so special to you?

Pete: Well, obviously one thing I was born here. Two, I was always a Cincinnati Reds fan growing up. Every boy wanted to be a Cincinnati Red. I’m no different than anybody else. I just happened to live the dream and be able to accomplish what I did in this town. I mean, there are a lot of good things going on in this town.

You know most of the things that I like about Cincinnati are involved in baseball. You know I’m not the type of guy that goes to plays, the Phantom of the Opera, although it’s great, I’m too macho to do that kind of stuff. There are a lot of other great things going on in Cincinnati … great restaurants and fun things to do. It’s a great place to raise a family.

Mark: Tell us about your military experience.

Pete: Well, I joined the Army in the winter of ’63 and went to Fort Knox for my basic training. Because I was a baseball player I didn’t want to miss the baseball season. In those days, you could be drafted or you could join the Reserves. What I did is six months of active duty and then I did two weeks every year for six years. When we came back here from my active duty I was at Fort Thomas. That’s where Johnny Bench and I became cooks. The reason we were cooks, and it was within the rules, on the weekends we were serving we would go at four thirty or five o’clock and that got us off at twelve o’clock. We could still play the day game if we had day baseball games. They weren’t going to change the schedule because of Johnny Bench and me.

Mark: Was there a national event that happened while you were serving?

Pete: Yes. I remember it was a Friday I believe, President Kennedy was assassinated.

Mark: Tell us more about that experience.

Pete: I was in the Army in Fort Knox. That was kind of a big deal when the leader of the free World is assassinated and you’re in the military.

Mark: You’re known as the “Hit King” with your record of 4,192 hits.

Pete: Wrong! 4,256 hits!

Mark: Sorry about that. You’re on – I’ve kept you on your toes.

Pete: Well, 4,192 was the record, but I ended up with 4,256, so you know, we don’t want people calling and say Mark, you don’t know what you’re talking about, it’s 4,256, that’s what it is, 4,256!

Mark: You’ve also got the record for the most at bats.

Pete: And I’ve got the record for the most games and I’ve got the record for the most wins.

Mark: The most outs too? Comment on that.

Pete: That’s okay, I mean, that’s okay. The guy second now is pretty good, his name is Carl Yastrzemski. I batted fourteen thousand and some times. I got four thousand and some hits. It was fun making the outs and having the opportunity to try to get base hits. You know, longevity is part of being a good person, whether you’re in business or whether you’re in sports and I played twenty-four years. I was pretty much injury free over most of my career and I was always surrounded with great players. You know I played with ten Hall of Famers. The first one being Frank Robinson and the last one being Barry Larkin. You throw in Bench, Morgan and Perez and you throw in Carlton and Mike Schmidt and you go up to Montreal and you throw in Gary Carter and Andre Dawson. You come back home as player/manager and you throw in Barry Larkin. I played for Sparky Anderson, Hall of Fame Manager. I played against a lot of Hall of Famers. Hit off of nineteen Hall of Fame pitchers. I don’t know how many Hall of Famers I played against. Pretty darn many I think.

Mark: A coach recently told me that what differentiated you from today’s players is your hustle. Now tell me about hustle.

Pete: I don’t know about that. I think what I had, one, I was aggressive; two, I had determination; and three I understood that we were playing baseball to entertain people.

I played the right way. I played the way you’re supposed to play, that’s all. Nothing good, bad or indifferent. Just go out there, two and a half hours, bust your chops, you win the game, you win the game, you lose the game, and you come back the next day and do the same thing. I was having fun. Baseball was fun to me. Baseball should be fun for kids. It should be fun for kids in college. If it’s not they shouldn’t be playing it. Football should be fun. Basketball should be fun. Hockey should be fun. Soccer should be fun. All the sports that you play; if you’re not having fun you’re wasting your time. It’s just like if you don’t have fun doing homework you’re not going to get good grades. It’s the same thing as being an athlete. It’s not rocket science. People want to make it that though.

Mark: I have and that’s probably a good place to stop for now!

Mark Calitri is the President of the Clermont County Convention and Visitors Bureau. The website is visitclermontohio.com.