Red's hit king sees Nashville fans day before death

Jason Shepherd was pleased to be asked to share a photo of Pete Rose with some of his former Cincinnati Reds teammates on Sunday after the Music City sports collection and autograph show in Franklin, Tenn., near Nashville make.

Rose, in a wheelchair, was surrounded 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 taken of Rose, baseball's all-time scoring leader and one of its most controversial figures. Rose died on Monday. He was 83.

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

Rose had shown up to every show since the Williamson County Ag Expo began 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 always. It was always a highlight for him to be able to talk to anyone about baseball at any time.”

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

One of those fans was Sean Root, who showed up early but was still 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.

“In 2021, when we were there, Pete was a lot more talkative. He was sitting between Reggie (Jackson) and Wade (Boggs) and Pete looked over and said, 'Reggie, who would you most like to face?' and 'Wade, how did you do against so-and-so?' Me and a friend said, 'Oh my God, can we just sit here for the next hour and listen to them play baseball?'” Root said.

“Last year I just came over and said hello and he and I chatted for a second. In both interactions he was very sharp, very determined. On Sunday he seemed a little quieter, more distant. I had seen “Charlie,” “Hustle,” a great documentary on HBO Max, and he was obviously not in the health condition that he was in or was in during his documentary. He was obviously going downhill.”

Mark Austin noticed it too. Austin, who was a Cincinnati fan during the Big Red Machine years of 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 was talking about getting it signed. I gave (Rose) the book and he signed it and I thanked him for continuing to connect with his fans,” and he simply 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, he said something was wrong.

“I thought, ‘Honestly, he didn’t look good. I think there's something wrong,'” Austin said. “It’s just age. My father is getting old, people I know; We are no longer what we once were.”

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

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

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