Winter weather photos
SI cover features area model
Madison vs. Waynesville
Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy is in his 36th year of covering the Cincinnati Reds, the longest tenure for any active writer covering one team. Counting spring training and postseason games, McCoy has covered more than 7,000 major-league baseball games, written close to 18,000 baseball stories and eaten enough hot dogs to give Babe Ruth indigestion.Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2009 > March > 09 > Entry
Gomes: the new Pete Rose?
If you see a lot of Pete Rose in Jonny Gomes, well, it’s there and easy to see.
It was after the 2005 season, after Gomes finished third in the American League Rookie of the Year voting.
Gomes was in Las Vegas and saw Rose signing autographs in a memorabilia store.
“I was just a pup, but I bought a picture and stood in line to get it signed by Pete,” said Gomes. “When I got to the table, I introduced myself and Pete said, ‘I know you. I like the way you play, kid. Just like me.’”
To Gomes, that was the voice of a baseball god and the words stuck.
“Writers already were throwing around things, not numbers, comparing me to Rose — my approach to the game, my aggressive slides, my aggressive play and my attitude,” Gomes said Monday before the Cincinnati Reds hit four homers and beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-4 (Chris Valaika hit the team’s fifth grand slam this spring, while Ryan Hanigan, Yonder Alonso and Daryle Ward also homered).
Gomes was 0 for 3 Monday, but is hitting .353 with two doubles and two home runs in 17 at-bats.
Gomes said Rose had him sit down at the autograph table, “And we had a 15-minute conversation and the line got longer and longer and people were getting mad. But Pete was great. We talked shop and talked about hitting.”
Rose signed a game jersey for Gomes and posed with him for a picture that he also signed.
In addition to his physical talent, it is his Pete Rose Type A personality the Reds would like to add to their mix, a guy with a clubhouse presence.
All he has to do is make the team.
“I’m too young to have remembered Rose playing, a little before my time, but listening to him was like I was a kid in a candy store listening to all his stories,” Gomes said.
“When I was coming up, it was when all this blackball stuff started against him, but now that I know the inside and out of his career I’m a big fan of Pete Rose,” Gomes added.
“You want a player like him on your team — a guy who will get on base and score a run in any way. He set the tempo as a team player,” he said.
There is a reason Gomes plays full-bore 24/7. After playing in a high school championship game for Casa Grande High School near San Francisco, he and his best friend, Adam Paul Westcott, were on their way home when their car struck a utility pole.
Westcott died and Gomes wears his name on a biceps tattoo and said, “It was like a little bird was saying, ‘You never know when you’ll play your last game and my friend went 0 for 4 and maybe he didn’t run hard on every play and I always think, ‘If he had known it was the last game he would ever play, would he have played harder.’ I don’t want anybody ever asking that question about me.”
Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment |
Comments
By dfs
March 10, 2009 5:02 PM | Link to this
What about Adam Rosales? I think he has a Pete Rose attitude. He always hustles!By Boxter
March 10, 2009 3:19 PM | Link to this
When & why have a highly paid professional athlete who plays the game the way it is supposed to be played made a hero? This is sad when you can only pick out 1 player and write a story about playing hard. And people wonder why pro athletes are a joke.By Bob From ClWater, Fl
March 10, 2009 3:01 PM | Link to this
Don’t forget he played for the amer.leg. Champ Rays, he just couldn’t break into the star filled lineup.He is a pete rose type player. Watched many games of him, playing here in the bay area. He will bring excitement to your club. Go Reds and sign Jonny.By bobs
March 10, 2009 1:36 PM | Link to this
Nobody is comparing Gomes to Rose’s playing ability, just his attitude and playing style.By Slydog
March 10, 2009 9:13 AM | Link to this
Metroscapeguy: I have been to Vegas and the Field of Dreams store in Ceasar’s Palace where Pete sits almost daily signing purchased merchandise (never seen long lines as Gomes claims, but that is not to say at times he doesn’t get a line of about 5 people). I was told by FOD that their contract prohibits Pete signing your items that you didn’t purchase, but once in awhile Pete will sneak a “freebie” autograph to a fan. Cost of the FOD jersey for Pete to sign $498.00! I would lay odds that Gomes is a 10,000 to 1 shot at best to be the next Pete Rose, but then I would wonder if I would have to deny I bet on baseball since Gomes is a player?By tb9987
March 10, 2009 8:21 AM | Link to this
Not hardly. I wish Cincinnati fans would stop comparing the (non-superstart) likes of Chris Stynes, Billy Bates, Keppinger, Freel, Rosales & now Gomes to Rose. It creates unrealistic expectations. Hustle and $1.50 will get you an Egg McMuffin. Pete was more like Manny & Arod than anyone cares to remember. Pete was a big time primadona, but he had talent and that’s what people remember. You can’t hustle to 4000+ hits. Besides, you cant believe anything Pete says anyways. Give me Manny and Arod type players any day. I’d rather win.By the rosser
March 10, 2009 2:18 AM | Link to this
For #14 to know this guy and tell him that he plays just like he did says a lot. The ingredietns of eye-catching success already appear to be there. May this spring training continue to unlock these nuggets and let’s have a fun ‘09 season. Go, Gomey! Go, Reds!!!By metroscapeGuy
March 9, 2009 7:04 PM | Link to this
How much did Gomes have to pay for that autographed jersey?By JM
March 9, 2009 6:30 PM | Link to this
Often, Hal, you post stories that other writers have published weeks ago. Like this Gomes/Rose story. Why is that?By Gary Maloy Jr.
March 9, 2009 5:20 PM | Link to this
I agree, bobs. I like both Gomes’ and Nix’es attitudes. Not so sure about Jones and Ward - both attitudinal and the baseball side of things. But it seems that Jocketty is trying to put his fingerprints on this team. Let’s hope he’s as successful as he was in St.Louis.By bobs
March 9, 2009 5:03 PM | Link to this
How can you not root for this guy to make the team?