WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE TO COME BACK TO CINCINNATI AND PLAY FOR THE REDS, it became much more than simply playing Major League baseball. I was going to be a teammate of my boyhood hero, Pete Rose, and play alongside five other Cincinnati natives—Dave Parker, Buddy Bell, Ron Oester, and Barry Larkin. Think of that! Six players on the field at Riverfront Stadium wearing Reds’ uniforms who all went to high school in Cincinnati.

It was so unusual and special to have so many local players on one team that US magazine shot a centerfold of all of us, along with Marge Schott and Schottzie, posed around her famous leather catcher’s mitt couch. That was a proud moment for Mrs. Schott. It was not the intention of General Manager Bill Bergesch to fill the roster with local players; that was a coincidence. But Mrs. Schott was parochial and she was very proud of her hometown boys.

The local guys on that team covered nearly two generations. Pete was at the end of a 24-year career, and Bell and Parker had more than 10 years in The Show. Ron Oester and I were

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