My Sculpture of Pete Rose
At some time after the Philadelphia (PA, USA) Phillies won the 1980 World Series, I made a series of three sculptures: Pete Rose, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, and Bobby Clark… of the Phillies, 76'ers basketball team, and Flyers hockey team respectively. The only one that survives is Pete.
It was created somewhere around 1980–85 and finalized in stone duplicates in 2003. I always hoped — and still hope to this day in 2024 — to have it made into an ‘heroic-sized’ statue, somewhere, presumably Philly or Cincinnati. Alas, things get in the way.
Along the way I showed it to Pete at an autograph signing in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania some time in the ‘90’s I suppose, and he seemed to like it but nothing came of the brief crossing of paths. My folks subsequently move to Vegas, where Pete routinely signed signatures. I stopped by to revisit the topic with him, showing it to him this time only on an iPad. He was very appreciative and in fact said he thought the pose was more representative of his body of work than the iconic scene of him catching Bob (‘Bobble’?) Boone’s bobble in those same ’80 playoffs.
I subsequently sent a casting (1) to Pete, so he has one. There are only a few others:
- (2) The president of the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame has one. At the first ever annual induction meeting of that hall, I displayed two castings I seem to recall. I told the president that I had good news and bad news: both castings were sold! But his wife bought one.
- (3) The other at the HOF meeting was bought by another attendee. I have his name somewhere.
- (4) Another was purchased by a Mr. Matt Dupps of Mason, Ohio.
- (5) … is going to a great fan of Pete, the owner of The Wellsboro House Restaurant in Wellsboro, PA. This is the last of all the current castings.
The pose was imagined from Pete’s inimitable head-first, all-out slide into home, but there was a newspaper image that captured it so perfectly that it became the model, the cover of the short-lived Philadelphia journal:
The sculpture is about 20" head-to-toe, and 12" tall. It weighs perhaps 15 pounds in a tough plaster called Drystone. The base is shaped like home plate, a design I’m very pround of, I must say. It’s named “Determination,” and the name imagined for the triumvirate with ‘The Doctor” and Bobby Clarke was Courage, Skill, and Determination.
If you could imagine contributing some money to produce an heroic-sized statue of it, perhaps just put a comment in this Medium story… no dollar amount, no person info, just an expression of interest. Maybe someday there will be a Gofundme page with an update to that effect here. It takes the better part of $100,000 to make one of those sculptures, but it’s a very straightforward process for a foundry to do it from any of the 5 castings.
If the sculpture breaks, almost any amount of breakage (short of being crushed) can be repaired. Superglue works perfectly, then use any gypsum product to fill in the cracks. Two options are available at home stores: various patching plasters, or for more structural strength if needed, Rock Hard Water Putty. Coat to match whatever finish the stone has. Various colors have been used.
Oops, looks like I labeled two of them #1, image below. This was the last one handed out, to Wellsboro. The model has some residue of mold material on it but that’s what tells you it was the artist’s casting… because I couldn’t part with it cold turkey… I had to make a bit of a mold at the last minute. (The prior mold was pitched a long time ago. I think.
More images below.
