Rose Breaks Cobb's Record: Baseball's Hit King
Pete Rose lined a single to left field off San Diego's Eric Show on September 11, 1985, breaking Ty Cobb's all-time hit record of 4,191 that had stood for 57 years. Rose was 44 years old and had been playing major league baseball for 23 seasons. He finished his career with 4,256 hits, a record that still stands. Rose's style was all hustle: he ran to first base on walks, slid headfirst into bases, and played every game as if it were his last. Four years later, in 1989, MLB Commissioner Bart Giamatti permanently banned Rose from baseball for betting on games, including games he managed for the Cincinnati Reds. Rose was excluded from the Hall of Fame ballot, and his record exists in a strange limbo: unbroken but tainted.
September 11, 1985
41 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on September 11
Three Roman legions — roughly 20,000 soldiers — walked into the Teutoburg Forest and didn't walk out. Germanic chieftain Arminius had served in the Roman army, …
Three Roman legions vanish into the Germanic woods, shattering Augustus's dream of a unified empire east of the Rhine. This catastrophic defeat compels Rome to …
Bishops of Visigothic Gaul gathered at the Council of Agde to codify forty-seven canons governing church discipline and clerical conduct. By standardizing rules…
Isaac II Angelos killed the imperial bodyguard Stephen Hagiochristophorites on September 11, 1185, triggering a popular uprising that overthrew the tyrannical E…
Before 1226, the Eucharist was kept in locked tabernacles — venerated privately, not displayed publicly in parishes. King Louis VIII of France requested the pra…
A powerful earthquake struck southern Great Britain, leveling the original St. Michael’s Church atop Glastonbury Tor and claiming multiple lives. The collapse f…
Talk to History
Have a conversation with historical figures who witnessed this era. Ask questions, explore perspectives, and bring history to life.