Pete Rose, Jr.

Infobox MLB player


width = 150
name=Pete Rose Jr.
position=First Baseman
team=Long Island Ducks
number=9
bats=Right
throws=Right
debutdate=September 1
debutyear=1997
debutteam=Cincinnati Reds
formerteams=
*Erie Orioles (by|1989)
*Frederick Keys (by|1989-by|1990)
*Sarasota White Sox (by|1991)
*Columbus RedStixx (by|1992)
*Kinston Indians (by|1993)
*GCL White Sox (by|1994)
*Hickory Crawdads (by|1994)
*Prince William Cannons (by|1994)
*South Bend Silver Hawks (by|1995)
*Birmingham Barons (by|1995-by|1996)
*Chattanooga Lookouts (by|1997)
*Cincinnati Reds (by|1997)
*Indianapolis Indians (by|1997-by|1998)
*Nashville Sounds (by|1998)
*New Jersey Jackals (by|1998-by|1999)
*Reading Phillies (by|2000-by|2001)
*Chattanooga Lookouts (by|2001-by|2002)
*Winnipeg Goldeyes (by|2002)
*Joliet JackHammers (by|2003)
*Lincoln Saltdogs (by|2004)
*Long Island Ducks (by|2005)
*Bridgeport Bluefish (by|2006)
*Long Island Ducks (by|2007-present)

Peter Edward "PJ" Rose Jr. (born November 16 1969 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a professional baseball player, currently on the roster of the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The son of Major League Baseball's all-time hits leader Pete Rose, Pete Jr. played in the minor leagues most of his career except for a brief stint in 1997 for the Cincinnati Reds.

Childhood

Rose Jr. was often shown on national television during his childhood years as a bat-boy for his father's teams. He also appeared on a 1982 Fleer baseball card (#640) titled "Pete & Re-Pete; Pete Rose & son" with his father; he was twelve at the time. As a teenager, on September 11, 1985, he made an emotional on-field appearance live on ESPN to celebrate with his father after Rose Sr. broke Ty Cobb's record for most career hits. Rose Jr. graduated from Oak Hills High School.

Baseball career

Rose Jr. would later become a fixture in baseball's minor leagues. Pete Rose Jr began his pro baseball career with the Erie Orioles of the New York-Penn League in 1989. In 1990 he joined the class A Frederick Keys of the Carolina League. The next season he joined the Sarasota in 1991. In 1992 he played for the Columbus Red Stixx of the class A South Atlantic League. In 1993 he returned to the Carolina league this time playing for the Kinston Indians. Rose, Jr. was originally drafted by the Baltimore Orioles. He was largely a mediocre player during his almost two decades bouncing around almost every minor and independent league. In his early years, Rose Jr. met with limited success in matching his father's rise to baseball stardom, and was often a target of heckling in regards to his father's legal woes and ban from baseball.

Rose's best minor league season was in 1997 at Chattanooga, for the Chattanooga Lookouts, at age 27. He hit .308 in 112 games with 25 home runs, 98 RBIs, 31 doubles and 75 runs scored for the Lookouts. Later that year, Rose was called up to the Cincinnati Reds for his first and only time in the major leagues. He hit only .143 in just 11 games for the Reds, but was widely shown on popular sports highlight shows when he copied his dad's famous crouching batting stance during the first pitch of his first Major League at-bat.

Another of Rose's notable feats in the minors was, in 1998, while playing for the Indianapolis Indians of the International League, he and three teammates hit for the rare "homer cycle" in one inning; Rose opened the inning with a solo home run; Jason Williams, three at-bats later, hit a three-run home run; four batters later, Glen Murray hit a grand slam; and two hitters later, Guillermo Garcia hit a two-run shot to complete the cycle. [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/R/Rose_Pete_Jr.stm] [http://www.liducks.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=player&playerId=115]

Rose, as of 2008, is currently on the rosters of the Tigres Del Chinandega, a Nicaraguan professional baseball team [http://lnbp.net/pro-chinandega.htm] and the Long Island Ducks.

Conviction for GBL Distribution

In November 2005, Rose Jr. was indicted for distributing gamma butyrolactone (GBL) to his Lookouts teammates in the late 1990s. GBL is known to be sold under the counter at retailers as a sports performance enhancer as well as a sedative. When taken orally, GBL is converted to the "date-rape" drug GHB [gamma hydroxybutyrate] . Rose Jr. pled guilty to this charge on November 7, 2005, claiming that he distributed GBL to teammates to help them relax after games.

On May 1, 2006, Rose Jr. was convicted on this charge and was sentenced to one month in federal prison, from June 5 to July 5, 2006. [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2429314] , and house arrest for 5 more months after release from prison.

During that time, he started with the Bridgeport Bluefish on July 25, 2006 and played for them through the remainder of the 2006 season. [http://www.independent-baseball.com/pictures/july_25_2006.html]

In December 2007, Rose's name was released in Kirk Radomski's unsealed affidavit as an alleged user of performance enhancing drugs. Rose was one of only four baseball players listed in the affidavit that was not referenced in the Mitchell Report, the others were Sid Fernandez, Rick Holyfield and Ryan Schurman. [cite web |url=http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/10540927
title= Named in Grimsley affidavit, Watson denies using performance-enhancing drugs |publisher=CBS News| date=2007.12.21 |accessdate=2008-01-15]

Career statistics

Minor Leagues

*Games: 1662
*At Bats: 5912
*Hits: 1556
*Runs: 756
*Doubles: 301
*Triples: 30
*Home Runs: 128
*Runs Batted In: 835
*Batting Average: .263
*Bases on Balls: 621
*Strikeouts: 748
*Stolen Bases: 34
*Caught Stealing: 28

Major Leagues

*Games: 11
*At Bats: 14
*Runs Scored: 2
*Hits: 2
*Doubles: 0
*Triples: 0
*Home Runs: 0
*Runs Batted In: 0
*Total Bases: 2
*Bases on Balls: 2
*Strikeouts: 9
*Stolen Bases: 0
*Caught Stealing: 0
*On-base Percentage: .250
*Slugging Percentage: .143
*Batting Average: .143

ee also

* List of second generation Major League Baseball players

References

*" [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/08/04/48hours/main221888.shtm] - "Another Pete Rose Plays Ball", CBS News, 48 Hours (June 28, 2001)

External links

* [http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/pete_rose.shtml] Pete Rose Jr. profile, provided by thebaseballcube.com