Pete Rose 25 Year Anniversary - I Will Be There

The Reds are celebrating Pete Rose's 25th anniversary of hit #4192. Before the game on Sept. 11, Pete will be allowed on the field for the celebration and I'm taking the family to the game.

According to the Reds website, there will be a video tribute and the appearance by the Hit King. 

I grew up in New Jersey and my first memories of Pete Rose was seeing him in a Phillies uniform. I started to follow him then and I'm still a huge fan of his on-the-field baseball accomplishments.

I remember when he broke Ty Cobb's all-time hit record. I was in grade school at the time and that night I was probably doing homework or something while my mom was cleaning and listening to the radio. During a song, the DJ interrupted (Pete was still very popular in Philly) to give the "Ladies and Gentleman, Pete Rose just broke Ty Cobb's all-time hit record" announcement.

My mom and I immediately turned off the radio and turned on the TV. We only had the 3 major channels in our townhouse at the time and all three channels were carrying the live video from Riverfront Stadium. It's one of those memories as a kid that you'll never forget. I still have the Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Enquirer from Sept. 12 that has all the coverage.

This Saturday, 25 years later, I'm taking my family to almost the same spot where Pete broke one of baseball's biggest records for the celebration. It's a pretty big deal for me.

I don't know if it'll be one of those memories my kids will remember 25 years from now, but I know I will.

We're going to the Reds Hall of Fame before the game and I'll tweet and send some twitpics throughout the evening on twitter: @JamesRyanJ.