October Legends
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/2/2013
This set of five lineup cards begins chronologically on 6-6-87 in the middle of Rose's third year as manager. Rose wrote the lineup out in cursive as follows: Tracy Jones, Barry Larkin, Eric Davis, Dave Parker, Buddy Bell, Nick Esasky, Bo Diaz, Dave Concepcion, and pitcher Ted Power, reserves are listed in the also eligible column on the right (It's quite possible that Rose bet on the Reds to win this game the Dowd report revealed that during the period from May 30 through July 4, Rose failed to place a bet on just three of the Reds 25 games and of those games one or more of which may have been pitched by Power). The Reds defeated the L.A. Dodgers 5-2 at Riverfront Stadium that day. Rose used pencil to write out his lineup of Barry Larkin, Dave Concepcion, Kal Daniels, Eric Davis, Tracy Jones, Bo Diaz, Nick Esasky, Chris Sabo and pitcher Ron Robinson for an exhibition game the day before Opening Day on April 3, 1988. Five days later Rose penciled in Larkin, Treadway, Daniels, Davis, O'Neil, Esasky, Sabo, McGriff and Browing, resulting in an 8-3 loss to Houston at home. On June 14, 1988 the Reds starting lineup included; Larkin, Sabo, Daniels, Davis, O'Neil, Esasky, Diaz, Treadway and pitcher Jose Rijo, Paul O'Neil and Nick Esasky both homered in the Reds 7-1 win at home against Houston. The Reds lost 5-3 to the St. Louis Cardinals at home on August 28, 1988 with a starting lineup of: Larkin, Sabo, Daniels, Davis, O'Neil, Esasky, Jody Reed, Ron Oester and pitcher Tom Browning. All five lineup cards are of course signed by Rose at the bottom and contain the Riverfront Stadium ground rules on the back. Rose claimed to have bet on the Reds throughout his time as the team's manager "I didn't bet on my team four nights a week," he said in an interview on Dan Patrick's show on ESPN radio. "I bet on my team to win every night because I love my team, I believe in my team. I did everything in my power every night to win that game," which means at least four of these lineup cards can figuratively double as betting slips. These cards are carbon copies of the original ones.