August 17, 1986: The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-5 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. John Kruk hits a home run for the Padres, and Tony Gwynn goes 3-for-5 with an RBI.
For the Reds, Buddy Bell and Barry Larkin hit home runs. In the bottom of the 8th inning, Reds manager Pete Rose, 45 years old, sent himself up to bat, to pinch-hit for pitcher Ron Robinson. Against Padres reliever Goose Gossage, he struck out.
For Rose, in his major league career, it was his 3,562nd game played, his 15,890th plate appearance, his 14,053rd official at-bat, and his 9.797th out. Three days earlier, he had collected his 4,256th hit. Each of those statistics remains a major league record. And each of those would be his last.
Of those 4,256 hits: 3,215 were singles (ranking him 1st all-time), 746 were doubles (2nd, behind Tris Speaker with 792), 135 were triples (75th, but 9th among players who played all or mostly after World War II), and 160 were home runs (a total that should have been a lot higher, given the number of seasons he played and the era in which he did).
But his lifetime averages don't look nearly so gaudy: Batting average, .303; on-base percentage, .375; slugging percentage, .409; and OPS+, 118. RBIs: 1,314.
Among the 33 players with at least 3,000 hits, Rose's batting average ranks him 19th, his home runs rank him 21st (and of the 12 behind him, only 6 played all or mostly in the Lively Ball Era), and his RBIs rank him 21st. Given these stats, Rose might be the most overrated offensive player of all time.
This is not a post about condemning, or absolving, Rose for some of the things he's done. Nor is it a post suggesting that he should be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, or that his denial of eligibility for it should continue. In fact, Rose himself is almost incidental to the post.
Rather, it is a notation of an often overlooked milestone in baseball history. Not only did this turn out to be Rose's last game as a player, but it was also the last game ever for a player-manager in the sport.
Player-managers were still fairly common up until the 1950s. As late as 1948, Lou Boudreau was the manager of the Cleveland Indians, and still their starting shortstop. He led them to win the World Series, and had a season worthy of being named the Most Valuable Player of the American League. He was 31.
Harry Walker was fired as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals after the 1955 season, around his 37th birthday. When the Cards opened the 1956 season without him, it marked the 1st time ever that there were no player-managers in Major League Baseball.
And there were very few between Walker and Rose. Before Rose, the last one in the National League was Joe Torre, who retired as a player in 1977, 18 days after being named manager of the New York Mets, at 37. In 1978, at 36, Jim Fregosi of the Pittsburgh Pirates was offered the job of managing his former team, the California Angels, with the condition that he retire as a player. He did, and took them to the American League Western Division title in 1979.
That year, the Chicago White Sox named Don Kessinger as their manager. The former All-Star shortstop for the Chicago Cubs was still playing shortstop, until July 31, shortly after turning 37. On August 2, right after managing the White Sox to a sweep over the Yankees -- and mere hours before Yankee catcher Thurman Munson was killed in a plane crash -- he resigned as manager and retired as a player, making him the last player-manager in the AL.
When Torre managed the Yankees from 1996 to 2007, the Yankees sometimes had the AL Eastern Division title locked up before the last home game of the regular season. On such occasions, he let a player manage the last home game. Recipients of this honor included Paul O'Neill, Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, and Andy Pettitte. Under his successor, Joe Girardi, it was bestowed on Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Alex Rodriguez. I was at the 2006 finale, when Bernie sent himself up to pinch-hit in the bottom of the 9th, for his last regular-season at-bat, and he got a huge ovation. What he didn't get was a hit.
I don't think there will ever be another official player-manager in MLB. If there's an emergency -- say, if the incumbent manager dies, or is hospitalized, or has to step aside due to his health -- the interim manager is going to be one of his coaches, at least until an experienced manager can be brought in.
*
August 17, 1986 was a Sunday. These other Major League Baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Kansas City Royals, 5-0 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Mark Gubicza pitched a 6-hit shutout, no walks, 10 strikeouts. George Brett, Frank White and Willie Wilson hit home runs off Ron Guidry. Don Mattingly and Wayne Tolleson both went 2-for-4.
* A doubleheader was split at Shea Stadium. The New York Mets lost the opener to the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-1. Rick Aguilera had to leave the game with an injury in the 2nd inning, and John Tudor coasted to the win. The Mets won the nightcap, 9-2. Danny Heep, Tim Teufel and Lenny Dykstra hit home runs, to make a winning pitcher out of Randy Niemann.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Montreal Expos, 2-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-5 at Fenway Park in Boston. Wade Boggs went 0-for-3, but did draw 2 walks. Marty Barrett went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Bill Buckner went 1-for-4 with 3 RBIs.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-1 in a game shortened to 5 innings due to rain. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 4-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Nolan Ryan only went 5 innings for the Astros, although the losing pitcher turned out to be Larry Andersen, the winning pitcher Cliff Speck.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers, 8-7 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Ernie Whitt won the game with a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 11-6 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Cory Snyder went 3-for-4 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs. Eddie Murray went 3-for-5, and Cal Ripken went 1-for-5 with an RBI.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Ron Hassey, giving Carlton Fisk a day off, hit a home run, and he, Harold Baines, Daryl Boston and Guillén each had 3 hits. Robin Yount went 1-for-4. Paul Molitor went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
* The California Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-3 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Reggie Jackson went 1-for-2 with 2 walks.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 2-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Minnesota Twins, 11-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle.
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