’14 on our side’: Reds announce they’ll wear patch to honor Pete Rose in 2025
The tributes to Pete Rose are not done.
Monday, the Cincinnati Reds’ pitchers and catchers reported to Goodyear, Arizona for the start of spring training. Also Monday, the Reds announced that they’ll be honoring the late Reds legend all season long with a jersey patch.
“14 on our side all season,” the team’s caption reads, with a heart emoji.
In a video posted to the team’s Instagram page, the patch appears above the Kroger ad patch. The sleeve it’ll be worn on will depend on the player.
Rose died on Sept. 30 at the age of 83. A Cincinnati native, he played 19 seasons with the Reds and collected an MLB-record 4,256 hits in his career.
He was a legend on the field, bringing championships and excitement, and a complex man off it, following his playing career with the gambling scandal and a ban from baseball.
Rose’s legacy remains complicated to this day, but no one can dispute the impact he had on the Cincinnati Reds.
Upon news of his death, outside of Great American Ball Park and laid flowers and memorabilia on it, a memorial that grew in the days that followed.
In the days following his death, the Reds showed off some changes made around the ballpark to honor the Hit King.
Some of those changes included a No. 14 jersey design being added to the outfield padding, a banner of Rose reading “14 FOREVER” and a black remembrance band over his retired number.
He was a hometown boy, born in Cincinnati in 1941.
As a member of the Big Red Machine, he helped lead the Reds to back-to-back titles in 1975 and 1976.
He then served as the team’s manager.
To this day, Rose owns more major league records than almost any other player in history, from at-bats to singles to games played.
But the big record-breaker came on Sept. 11, 1985, when he broke Ty Cobb’s hits record.
Up until his death, Rose pushed to be reinstated after getting a lifetime ban for gambling on games while working as a manager.
Even though he never got his wish, he was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 2016, and his famous No. 14 was retired.
When the Reds take the field on Thursday, March 27, it’ll be the first time they do so since Rose’s death.