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    • Reds Hit King sees Nashville fans a day before they die
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    Reds Hit King sees Nashville fans a day before they die

    Vaseline Posted on

    Jason Shepherd appreciated being asked to take a photo of Pete Rose with some of his former Cincinnati Reds teammates Sunday after the Music City sports collectibles and autograph show in Franklin, Tennessee, near Nashville.

    Rose was surrounded in a wheelchair by Dave Concepcion, George Foster, Tony Perez and Ken Griffey Sr. They left the building together after taking the photo.

    It may have been the last photo of Rose, baseball’s all-time hits leader and one of its most controversial figures. Roos died on Monday. He was 83.

    “Johnny (Bench) was there Saturday, but some of Pete’s other teammates were there Sunday and they said, ‘Hey, let’s get together for a picture,’ and I just stood there and was asked to take the picture,” Shepherd said , who owns Shep’s Cards & Collectibles and served as master of ceremonies during the event. “It was taken right before (Rose) walked out the door.”

    Rose had shown up to every show at the Williamson County Ag Expo since it started in 2020, and Shepherd said he was in good spirits Sunday.

    “He said his back hurt, but he got to visit with all his Big Red Machine friends…they were laughing and having a good time,” Shepherd said. “Pete was great with the fans, as he always is. It was always a highlight for him to be able to talk baseball with anyone at any time.”

    Rose signed about 200 autographs and posed for more photos with fans.

    One of those fans was Sean Root, who showed up early but was still about 50th in line to meet Rose. It was the third year in a row that Root had asked Rose to sign for him and Root said he noticed a difference in Rose.

    “Going into 2021, Pete was so much more talkative. He was sitting between Reggie (Jackson) and Wade (Boggs) and Pete turned to him and said, ‘Reggie, who would you not like to face? ‘ and “Wade, how did you do against so-and-so?” Me and a friend said, ‘Oh my God, can we sit here for an hour and listen to them talk baseball?'” Root said.

    “Last year I just went over and said hello and he and I chatted for a bit. In both interactions he was very sharp, very on the ball. On Sunday he seemed a bit calmer, more distant. I had been watching “Charlie”. great documentary on HBO Max, and he was clearly not in the health he was or was in during his documentary. He was clearly going downhill.”

    Mark Austin noticed it too. Austin, who was a Cincinnati fan during the Big Red Machine years in the 1970s, had met Rose in Las Vegas a few years ago and they had a lengthy conversation.

    “Pete asked where I was from and I said Nashville and he said Larry Schmittou (former owner of Nashville Sounds),” Austin said. “We sat and talked for about 30 minutes. Sunday was different. I had a coffee table book with a friend and I was talking about getting it signed. I handed (Rose) the book and he signed it and I thanked him for being involved in his fans and he just nodded and raised his right hand.”

    When Austin sent a photo of the autograph to his friend, who had encouraged him to get the book signed, his friend said something was wrong.

    “I thought, ‘Honestly, he didn’t look good. I think something’s wrong,'” Austin said. ‘It’s just the age. My father is getting old, people I know; we are not what we used to be.”

    Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or at X @MikeOrganWriter.

    Big Red Machine teammates Dave Concepcion, George Foster, Tony Perez and Ken Griffey Sr.

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