ESPN analyst gets emotional while sharing news of Pete Rose’s death
ESPN analyst Eduardo Perez became emotional while sharing the news of Pete Rose’s death on Monday.
Perez was joining ESPN’s “SportsCenter” live from Truist Park in Atlanta to talk about the Braves and New York Mets splitting their doubleheader. While talking with host Jay Harris, Perez, an MLB analyst for ESPN, shared the news that Rose had died.
Perez is the son of Hall of Famer Tony Perez, who was one of the stars of the “Big Red Machine.” Tony Perez and Pete Rose were teammates on the Cincinnati Reds from 1964-76 and won two World Series together. Their sons are very close, which explains why the news hit Eduardo so hard.
Eduardo was born in Cincinnati and played three of his 13 MLB seasons with the Reds.
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Reds’ Elly De La Cruz sets another record on the final day of 2024
Ever since Elly DE La Cruz joined the Cincinnati Reds in the summer of 2023 it was apparent that his raw talent was off the charts. The power, the speed, the arm, the athleticism – he was just a different kind of guy on the field compared to his extremely talented peers. That’s not to say he was as good as all of them – he’s still just 22-years-old – but he is and was capable of things that hardly anyone else is. Pretty much from the start of his big league career he’s been doing things every so often that put him in a “this is the only guy to ever have this many X, Y, and Z in this time frame in the history of baseball”.
On Sunday afternoon in the top of the 10th inning Elly De La Cruz doubled into the right field corner to drive in two runs to put the Reds ahead of the Cubs 2-0 in a game they’d win 15 minutes later by a score of 3-0. After the game that play was rightfully turned into a triple. And that scoring decision put Cincinnati’s shortstop in the record books once again. The triple was his 10th of the year. It gave him 36 doubles, 10 triples, and 25 home runs on the year. He also stole two bases in the game, pushing that number to 67 on the year.
In the history of Major League Baseball there have been 105 players to have 60 steals and 10 triples in a season. Joining that club on it’s own is impressive. Less than one player per season in the history of the game has been able to accomplish that feat. But only 15 players have been able to do that while also hitting 10 home runs. Now we’re into an even more impressive club. If we add in that you also needed to have 30 doubles, then that club shrinks to just nine players.
Only one player, though has ever had 20 home runs, 30 doubles, and 10 triples in a season while also stealing 60 bases. And that player is Elly De La Cruz. And he easily cleared the bar in four of those five categories, too. Given that he’s the only guy in that club, he’s also the only guy in the 35+ doubles, 10 triples, 25 home run, and 65 steal club, too.
Elly De La Cruz is a unicorn. He’s one of a kind. It feels like you’re making things up when you talk about some of the things he’s done.
The 22-year-old had a 6.4 WAR (Fangraphs) this season. That was the 9th best in baseball and the 3rd best in the National League (Shohei Ohtani – 9.1, Francisco Lindor – 7.6). Since 1947, that’s tied for the 26th most valuable season in Cincinnati Reds franchise history among position players. Since 1980 it’s trailing just the 2015 and 2010 seasons from Joey Votto, the 1987 season from Eric Davis, the 1996 season from Barry Larkin, and the 1995 season from Reggie Sanders in terms of value (tied with 2011 Joey Votto and 2013 Shin-Soo Choo).
