May 5, 1978

At 37 and in his 16th season with the Cincinnati Reds, Pete Rose reaches 3,000 hits quicker than anybody in baseball history does. As predicted exactly by Reds manager Sparky Anderson before the game, Rose singles in his second and third at-bats to join 12 others in the prestigious 3,000-hit fraternity.

The switch-hitter, batting left-handed against Montreal Expos right-hander Steve Rogers, reaches safely on a high infield chopper in the third inning and then lines a hard single to left for the milestone hit in the fifth.

The game is stopped while the ball is awarded to Rose, whose teammates rush out of the dugout to congratulate him. He gets a warm hug from Tony Perez, his former teammate and now Montreal's first baseman.

"The thing I'm proudest about is that I've been the most consistent player of my generation," Rose says after the Reds' 4-3 loss. "There are a lot of players better than me, but I do the same thing day in and day out, year in and year out."