No player in the history of the game was more likely to break Ty Cobb’s career hit record than Pete Rose. While not blessed with the natural talent of Cobb, Rose forged himself into an All-Star performer through hard work and unmatched hustle. For more than a quarter of a century Rose not only excelled at bat but would play every position on the field except shortstop and catcher. Along the way he would play on 17 All-Star teams, win three World Championships, three batting crowns and be named both the National League and World Series MVP.

In 1984 Pete came back to where it all began, Cincinnati, and pulled double-duty as the Reds player-manager. This period also marked his chase to beat Ty Cobb’s hallowed record, which he did on September 11, 1985. Yet, even after breaking Ty Cobb’s career hit record, Pete Rose was unable to keep out of the action. In his final season of 1986, Rose penciled himself into 72 games, collecting the last 52 of his record-setting 4,256 career hits. Even at age 45, Pete’s bat still has some pop, hitting eight doubles and a pair of triples.

Pete’s final season game used Mizuno ATHL model bat is un-cracked and shows outstanding game use. The barrel has many ball marks and stitch impressions on the right, left and back barrel and there is the impression of a weighted batting donut present. As Rose was known to do, the finish has been removed from the right and left barrel. As was common to his bats during the mid-1980s period, the handle has been taped with five 1-inch rings of adhesive tape and the upper handle has a larger 6” ring. The Hit King has signed the barrel in silver, adding, “Best Wishes,” completing this tremendous Pete Rose gamer. This bat comes with a LOA from PSA/DNA (1B09483) for the game use and has been graded a perfect GU 10 and a LOA from Steve Grad of Beckett Authentication (A25448) for the signature.