3000 Hits

On this day in 1978, Pete Rose singles off Montreal's Steve Rogers for career hit 3,000. The Expos beat the Reds 4-3. 

As  it approached 0830 it didn't look like we would have enough for two teams, but then our usual late arrivals showed and by 0840 we had enough players to field three very competitive teams. I will take a lot of the credit for the great game by making up the teams, but in reality it was the manager's assignment of players to certain positions and making the line ups that resulted in one of the closest three team games in recent memory.

 

The hitting team was managed by Rich Moots. His supporting cast was Herbie O, Zelazny, Butler, Schapler, S. Hill,Wells, Ota, Mohan, Moots, Mills, and Holder. They started strong with five of their first six batters scoring, S Hill hit a homer to close out the inning. While their run production fell off sharply, they managed to hold the lead through four innings.

Curt Coffman managed the sitting team of himself, Shaffer, Constantine, M Gonzalez, J.D.,Matta, Marino, Lopez, Merritt, Barnes, and G Baker. They were the most consistent team all day and were the only team to score in every inning. Without any extra base hits they found themselves trailing by five in the fourth.

Donnie Witmer's fielding team should have been called the fielding and hitting teams as they did both to a high degree. They matched team Moots with five in the first and with two runs in the third, they found themselves trailing Team Moots by just two runs at the end of four.

In the fifth everything changed as the game tightened up considerably. Herbie scored the lone run for Team Moots, Team Coffman scored two, and Team Witmer took the lead by scoring five off back to back triples by Powell and D Hill, Behind by one in the sixth, Team Moots were unable to score. Team Coffman, however, had no problems scoring and put up five runs. Team Witmer managed only two as Giardano had a triple.

With the score 12-12-14 going into the last inning it still looked like a horse race. Team Moots was pumped as the top of their line up was due to hit. Unfortunately they went three and out and could hope for no better than a tie for second. They managed the tie for second as Team Coffman went four and out giving Team Witmer a well deserved victory.

Key Performances

 

Herbie O        3 for4
Ron Butler    4 for 4

Steve  Hill    3 for 3 with a homer

Ken Ota        3 for 3

Ray Mills       3 for 3

Donnie Witmer    3 for 4

Charlie Giordano    4 for4 with a double and triple

Fred Dampier        3 for 4 with  a homer

Kirk Coffman        3 for 4

Miguel Gonzalez    3 for 4

J.D. Davis                4 for 4

Nick Matta            3 for 4

Rich Marino            3 for 4

Submitted by Bob Zelazny