The count was two balls and one strike on Sept. 11, 1985, when Eric Show of the San Diego Padres delivered a first-inning pitch to Pete Rose, the player-manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Crouching down in the batter’s box as he’d done for 23 seasons, Rose lined a single to left-center field, surpassing Ty Cobb to become Major League Baseball’s all-time leader in hits with 4,192. The sellout crowd roared, teammates mobbed Rose, fireworks went off, a red Corvette was driven onto the field as a gift from the Reds organization, and 15-year-old Pete Rose Jr. came out for a teary-eyed embrace with his dad. It was a glorious night for Rose, who retired from playing after the following season with 4,256 hits, a record that baseball experts said would surely never be broken.
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