Another Rose in Philly
It’s Been 45 Years Since Pete Rose Came to Philadelphia. His Grandson is Also Set to Arrive in the City of Brotherly Love.
Fourty-five years ago, All-Star first baseman Pete Rose landed in Philadelphia from Cincinnati with a $3.24 million contract. The result of Rose joining the Phillies was a World Series Championship in 1980 — the first ever for the oldest, continuously operating franchise in baseball history and American sports history.
The young Rose played Football at Cincinnati’s St. Xavier High School before switching to baseball as a senior. He is currently enrolled in LaSalle this semester.
In 2007, LaSalle suspended its football program, and in 2021, the baseball program also followed suit.
Other sports were shuttered, too, as cost-cutting measures were implemented over the years.
This April, it was announced that four varsity sports will return for the 2025–2026 academic season, including women’s rugby, women’s acrobatics and tumbling, and women’s triathlon. The school will also bring back baseball.
When baseball returns to Olney Avenue in 2025, another Rose will be an infielder for the team when baseball is reinstated. P.J. Rose has made the trek from Cincinnati to Philly some 45 years after his grandfather did it in 1979.
LaSalle—one of Philadelphia’s oldest colleges—was founded by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia during the American Civil War in 1863. Over its historic existence, it has existed in four locations in Philadelphia: St. Michael’s Parish in the Olde Kensington section, in Center City in the building vacated by St. Joseph’s College at 1234 Filbert Street, in the 1886 former mansion of Michael Bouvier, and finally on Olney Avenue in 1930.
The promise of LaSalle Athletics’s future has already started. John Glaser Arena will open in the fall of 2024.
On Olney Avenue, the ascent has already begun — back to athletic excellence. P.J. Rose plans to be a part of it.
PHOTO: Unsplash
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