7 things you didn't know about Pete Rose's career

Credit: FROM THE ARCHIVES

Credit: FROM THE ARCHIVES

Pete Rose will be inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame this weekend with a series of special events. He's known as the Hit King, but here are some things you might not have known about Rose's hitting prowess:

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He had 10 five-hit games in his career, in a span of 13 years

The first of those games came in his third season, in 1965 facing the New York Mets, which included three singles and a home run against future Hall of Famer Warren Spahn.

Rose's last five-hit performance came in game No. 3,555, just eight before he played the final game of his career. On that date, Aug. 11, 1986, he went 5-for-5 with a double and 3 RBIs against the Giants.

Rose's five-hit games:

Date Rose Team Opponent Performance
April 30, 1965 Reds New York Mets 5-for-5
June 18, 1968 Reds Atlanta Braves 5-for-5
Sept. 28, 1968 Reds San Francisco Giants 5-for-5
July 10, 1970 Reds Atlanta Braves 5-for-5
July 26, 1973 Reds Atlanta Braves 5-for-5
Aug. 1, 1975 Reds Los Angeles Dodgers 5-for-5
July 2, 1976 Reds Houston Astros 5-for-7
April 29, 1978 Reds New York Mets 5-for-6
April 28, 1982 Phillies Los Angeles Dodgers 5-for-5
Aug. 11, 1986 Reds San Francisco Giants 5-for-5

He doubled in about 1 of every 5 games during his career

Rose is second all-time in doubles, with 746 (Tris Speaker is first with 792). He had at least one double in 608 of his 3,562 career games, or in about 19 percent of the games.

In 67 of those games, he had more than one doubles, and he collected three doubles four times. One of those three-double games came against future Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins on Aug. 24, 1971. Rose went 3-for-5, scored three runs and drove in a run.

Doubles Number of games
0 2,887
1 608
2 63
3 4

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He had multi-homer performances in 0.1 percent of his games

But, it did happen. Rose smacked multiple home runs in five of his 3,562 games. One of those could be considered one of his best games, a 5-for-6, three-homer, four-RBI, four-run game against the New York Mets on April 29, 1978. That gave Rose, not known as a power hitter, one of 28 three-homer performances in Reds history. He has as many as Ted Kluszewski.

His multi-home run games:

Date Rose team  Opponent  Home runs 
 April 29, 1978 Reds  New York Mets 
 July 17, 1966  Reds Atlanta Braves 
 Aug. 30, 1966 Reds   
 Aug. 2, 1967 Reds  Atlanta Braves 
 Aug. 9, 1970 Reds  Los Angeles Dodgers 

His favorite hitting day was early in the season

Rose's best calendar date for hitting during his career (with at least 40 at-bats) was April 7. In 10 games on that date, he hit 19-of-43 (.442). Nine of those games were multi-hit performances.

His least favorite date? Aug. 23. He went 15-of-82 (.183) in 20 games.

Rose's top-performing dates (with at least 40 at-bats):

Date H-AB AVG
April 7 19-43 .442
July 6 30-72 .417
July 26 29-71 .408
Aug. 24 31-76 .408
May 9 32-79 .405
Sept. 28 31-77 .403

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He came to the plate 8 times in more than one game

Four, to be exact. In games in 1964, '67, '73 and '80, Rose was credited with eight at-bats. But in those fertile times, he didn't produce his most compelling games. His best showing in the eight at-bat outings was a 4-for-8 performance in a 16-inning game against the Mets on Aug. 20, 1973.

In that game, Tom Seaver pitched 12 of the 16 innings for the Mets, four seasons before he joined the Reds. Rose collected three of the seven hits Seaver allowed in those 12 innings.

He holds the Major League record for at-bats, with 14,053 in his career.

His longest hitting drought was seven straight games

It came in his 21st season. From May 31 to June 7 in 1983, Rose went a combined 0-for-20. He broke the streak with a pinch-hit single against Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter of the Cardinals in the nine inning of a game on June 8.

Rose also had only one six-game hitless streak, which came in June 1964, his season major-league season.

His longest career hitless streaks:

Hitless Streak Number
7 games 1
6 games 2
5 games 7
4 games 13

The best full hitting month of his career was September 1979

In 29 games that month, Rose hit .421 (51-of-121). He was hitless in just two of those 29 games, and he had 16 multi-hit games. One stretch, from Sept. 8 to Sept. 18, saw him go a combined 19-of-31 (.613) in seven games, all multi-hit performances.

He started the 1976 season by hitting .466 in April, but that wasn't a full month, with 17 games.

Rose's best-hitting months (at least 15 games):

Month Games H-AB AVG
April 1976 17 34-73 .466
Sept. 1979 29 51-121 .421
July 1973 31 52-126 .413
Sept. 1984 15 23-56 .411
April 1968 17 29-71 .408
April 1966 30 52-129 .403
June 1970 24 38-95 .400

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