Pete's Hit Party Held Amid Busy Night of Errors

Being able to reach the president of the United States by phone is no easy matter. But on the evening of August 10, 1981, President Ronald Reagan found it difficult to reach Pete Rose, the former baseball star.

Rose, playing first base for the Phillies in Veterans Stadium just after the end of a two-month strike, had just broken Stan Musial's National League record with his 3,631st hit. The president phoned Rose from California to congratulate him. But he had to try three times before reaching the player, who was being honored in a post-game ceremony.

When Reagan finally did get through, he joked to Rose, "I began thinking I would have to spend more time reaching you than it took you to break that record."

"We were going to give you five more minutes, and that was it," Rose replied with a laugh. "I was willing to give you my home phone number if you wanted it."

Among those on a hastily built, small wooden platform who spoke after the president and Rose had finished their short gabfest were Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, league President Chub Feeney and Phillies owner Ruly Carpenter, who has a home in Palm Beach.

I was in the press box, in the crowd of more than 60,000 people who turned out for the game against the St. Louis Cardinals, which took place on a typically warm summer evening.

The evening started with some confusion. In the first inning, Rose reached first base on an infield error. Several bursts of fireworks were set off prematurely behind the outfield barriers. The fireworks operator, seeing Rose stationed on first base, evidently thought the player had broken the record.

When Bill Giles, the Phillies' executive vice president, saw that the hit would be ruled an error, he phoned the fireworks operator. Giles said he told the man, "No, no!" But the operator apparently thought Giles was yelling, "Go, go!"

Rose's record-breaking hit came after three unsuccessful times at bat.

The star performer had not hit the ball out of the infield. As the game moved into the eighth inning, I was preparing to write that the slugger had failed to break the record that night. But in the eighth, he lashed a single between third base and the shortstop.

The hit came off of Mark Littell, a 6-foot, 2-inch right-hander who was a relief pitcher. Rose let Littell's first toss go past him for a ball. But then he connected with an inside fastball for the record-breaking hit.

The crowd went wild. Fireworks began blasting. Some 3,631 balloons - one for each of Rose's hits - were sent floating into the sky. And Musial, who had retired from the Cardinals 18 years earlier, left his field-level seat and went to first base to congratulate Rose.

Littell held the Phillies at bay the rest of the game, and the Cardinals went on to win, 7-3. But for Rose, it was a night to remember.