1983 Donruss Action All-Stars #31 Pete Rose

All good things . . .

As a 10-year-old, I didn't understand free agency, nor did I understand the possibility that Pete Rose could somehow leave the Phillies and play somewhere else. In my mind, guys like Pete, Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Tug McGraw and Garry Maddox were life-long Phillies who would never stray from the Vet. Sure, Greg Luzinski and Larry Bowa had been traded, but I could understand trades - free agency was confusing.

When I learned Pete had signed with the Montreal Expos prior to the 1984 season, my first thought was my Phillies baseball card binder. What was I supposed to do with all these Pete Rose cards now that he's an Expo? I think I wrestled with this question for a while, before ultimately deciding to break up the collection and add the cards to my doubles boxes. This was a Phillies binder after all, not an Expos binder. (It's funny the "issues" a 10-year-old wrestles with).

Many years later, I've since restored Pete's Phillies cards to several binders hosting my 1980's Phillies baseball card collection. He's been ousted from the game he loves, but he's back in my Phillies binder, secure in my no-trade pile.