Pete Rose says, “Happy Birthday, pro baseball!”

Baseball has had a number of 100^th anniversaries. There was the one in 1939 that celebrated the fake centennial of baseball’s “invention” Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown. There was the centennial of the National League in 1976 when all the teams trotted out old-timey headwear (the ‘70s being the way it was, they weren’t exactly replicas). And then there was the centennial of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first “all-professional” baseball team. Just like in 1939, everybody got patches - you can see the one on Pete Rose’s sleeve in this photo, the negative for which is for sale. Pete is standing over a celebratory on-deck circle while a giant birthday cake hovers in the background.

Those of you who skew to the younger side will be alive when Cincinnati celebrates the centennial of this centennial. It’s only 56 years away!