As the Cincinnati Reds road trip swung north to Montreal in May of 1985, Pete Rose was less than 50 hits from baseball immortality - surpassing Ty Cobb's record of 4,191 career hits. Now 44, Rose's sweet swing wasn't as whip-fast as it used to be, and 1985 saw his pre-season bat order from Mizuno fulfilled with 31.6 ounce bats, lighter than his previous 32 and 33 ounce orders. As the elusive record came with his grasp, the Japanese bat manufacturer added a special "PR 4192" graphic to Rose's bats to commemorate the achievement.

This offered bat displays outstanding game use and has a crack on the barrel that has been repaired. There are several ball marks with stitch impressions that are visible on the right, left and back barrel. The right and left barrel have been sanded, which is a perfect characteristic for a Rose bat during the 1985 era. The mid-to-upper handle has been taped in a spiral pattern to enhance the grip and a moderate coating of pine tar is on the handle tape. The top barrel has a small circle, where the bat was drilled and subsequently filled with cork, and then filled. Rose has signed this bat on the barrel in white paint marker, while inscribing “HIT KING” below. This bat comes with a LOA from PSA/DNA (1B24975) for the game use and has been given a very high grade of GU 9.

Included with this bat is a 17 x 14-inch X-ray of this bat showing that it has been corked. Rose has signed this X-ray in bold silver marker across the black film portion. Both the signed bat and signed X-ray come with individual LOAs from Beckett Authentication. Please note that these items were recently authenticated by Beckett Authentication. The LOAs will be pictured in this lot when they are received in our office and will be shipped to the winner.

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