Scenes from Pete Rose Night

Pete Rose yells to the Wild Things' C.J. Beatty during the first inning Tuesday night. Rose coached first base in the first inning and third base during the second inning. Photo by The Associated Press.

There were many people at Consol Energy Night on Tuesday -- some wearing Cincinnati Reds or Philadelphia Phillies T-shirts -- who were thrilled to meet, shake hands with or take a photo with Pete Rose.

It's hard to believe any of those people were were more excited about baseball's all-time hits leader being at CEP than Wild Things manager Bob Bozzuto, who after Washington's 5-2 walk-off victory over Lake Erie was quick to praise Rose for talking to his team and offering hitting advice to some of the players.

"There was a lot of goodwill today. He spent a lot of time with the players. ... The man was fabulous," Bozzuto said. "The man was into the game. He wanted to know the signs. The guys saw his enthusiasm and it was huge for them. The man was phenomenal. It was something we'll never forget. If (people) were in our shoes, they wouldn't believe what they saw.

"Any time the different sports celebrities come in (to CEP), it's nice for the fans. But this, it was awesome. He was just great."

The one drawback to the night was the torrential downpour that hit about one hour before the 7:05 scheduled start time. The rain, no doubt, kept some fans away -- people don't like spending their Tuesday nights getting soaked at a ballpark no matter who else is there -- and caused a delay of more than one hour.