BOCA RATON — Travis Goderre and Lynn White were both there in working capacity when Pete Rose’s Ballpark Cafe held its grand opening Nov. 21, 1992, at the Holiday Inn at Glades Road and Florida’s Turnpike.
“The first few weeks and months were absolutely insane,” said Goderre, who was a cook and later became kitchen supervisor at the restaurant. “Never seen anything like it. I’ve worked at a lot of restaurants and it was the craziest ever. We were just absolutely slammed all the time. People were waiting an hour for food. We couldn’t keep up.”
White, who was hired to be manager, recalled the same thing at the spot, which was designed to look like a ballpark with tons of framed photos, newspaper articles and magazine covers featuring the iconic baseball personality adorning the green-colored walls.
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“We worked our butts off there I have to say,” White said. “Pete was there every night and you know what, he saw that … and he saw how hard we worked and he appreciated it. He knew what it meant to hustle and he told us that. It meant a lot to us and I think it really bonded the workers. We really were a family.”
Rose was Major League Baseball’s all-time hit king, known for his gritty hustle, winning attitude, but also his gambling transgressions that ultimately kept him out of the Hall of Fame. He died at his home in Las Vegas on Monday at age 83.
Those who worked at the Boca Raton or the Boynton Beach restaurant, which opened in March 1997 on Congress Avenue, remember Rose as a kind-hearted, energetic and fun-loving person.
“When I started working there at age 24, I knew nothing about Pete Rose,” White said. “My now-husband jokes that I didn’t know the difference between a golf ball and a baseball, and he’s right. So I had no predetermined thoughts about Pete Rose. I just eventually knew him as a wonderful, kind and generous human being. Honestly, he really was.”
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Gederre said the packed houses weren’t for everyone.
“I don’t think the company anticipated the crowds,” he said. “We’d have people who worked for four hours and quit because they couldn’t take the pressure. We had to expand the kitchen during the first few weeks it was so jammed. And then we’d have college nights, and from 9 p.m. on it was just overflow.”
Rose, his then-wife Carol and their son Tyler had moved west of Boca Raton in early 1991 after Rose served a five-month sentence at the federal Correctional Institution Camp in Marion, Ill., for failing to report income on his tax returns.
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Rose turned a lot of his energy toward business at that time and spent the next year working with Ocean Properties refurbishing the hotel’s former Safari Club restaurant and bar into the restaurant that featured his name.
“Pete was a staple at that restaurant,” White recalled. “He’d be there every day. And as soon as he walked in that door, he had tons of people surrounding him. He never got a moment’s peace.”
Rose started doing a syndicated two-hour radio program “Talk Sports with Pete Rose” in the restaurant at 6 p.m. weekdays, and a sound-proof booth was built for Rose and his guests.
White recalled a man sobbing outside the booth during one of Rose’s radio shows.
“I went up to him and asked him if he was OK,” she said. “He said ‘I’m fine. I just can’t believe I’m here with Pete Rose. He was my hero growing up.”’
‘Pete Rose’s energy and big personality were showcased daily at the Boca Raton restaurant’
Rose was a hero to a lot of people, but to many who knew him, he was as genuine a person as he was a baseball player.
Terri Kragseth said she met Rose when she was working at Stonebridge Country Club in Boca Raton. Rose had just been released from jail and Rose had lunch every day at the club. Kragseth became great friends with Rose and his wife, and the couple often asked her to babysit their kids, Tyler and Cara.
Unbeknown to Rose, Kragseth landed a job at the restaurant in Boca and was there for the grand opening.
“I will never forget Pete walking into the room for our first day of orientation,” she said. “Everyone was starstruck. He said something that has stayed with me to this day and I use it often when talking about marketing. He said, ‘I can get people to come into the restaurant once. They will want to see or meet me. It’s up to all of you to get them to come back.’
“After his speech, he scanned the room and stopped at me. He mouthed, ‘What are you doing here?’ I just smiled.”
Kragseth said the more you got to know Rose, the stardom wore off because Pete “was just such a genuine person. The more you treated Pete like a normal human being, the more he loved you.”
Kragseth said she often traveled with the Rose family — although separately. “He never traveled with his wife and daughter on the same plane. He and Tyler always flew separately and I’d go with Carol and Cara. He did that in case the plane went down.”
She kept in touch with Rose over the years and said COVID took a big toll on Rose and his autograph signing career.
“The last time I talked to him, I texted him and told him I broke up with my boyfriend,” she said. “He called me and asked how I was doing, told me I deserved to be happy and that he loved me. He was a great friend, mentor and father figure. He helped created a bond between all of us that worked at the Ballpark Cafe. We are like family to this day.”
Pete Rose’s Ballpark Cafe joined a long list of South Florida celebrity sports eateries
Goderre and his crew served up a variety of bites, including a “ballpark hot dog” to steaks. The Charlie Hustle Chicken, a marinated and grilled chicken breast, was a popular item.
“Pete would come back into the kitchen at times and say hello,” Goderre said. “You know what he loved? The white part of the big celery stalks. He’d come back and eat those.”
At the time, South Florida became a hot spot for celebrity-owned sports bars and restaurants, including Shula’s Steak House in Miami Lakes, Dan Marino’s American Sports Bar & Grille in Coconut Grove, Bru’s Room Sports Grill and Wilt Chamberlain’s, less than a block west of Pete Rose’s Ballpark Cafe in suburban Boca Raton.
Because of the popularity, Boynton Beach-based Ocean Properties opened up a Boynton restaurant five years after the Boca one opened. Both have since closed.
Besides breaking Ty Cobb’s record for most hits, Rose holds records for the most games played, most singles, most at-bats and most seasons with 200 or more hits. He had a .304 batting average during 23 major-league seasons. His accolades and honors adorned the walls of both restaurants.
As condolences and memories of the old spot poured out Monday night and Tuesday on social media, Pete Rose the sports giant and big gambler was discussed, but so was the Pete Rose who had a big heart.
Perhaps this one from one patron sums up what Pete Rose was all about.
“I went to his Boca Raton restaurant many times,” Lauderhill resident Dennis Mack recalled. “Pete was always friendly and fun to be around. I remember one Sunday night football game (Dec. 20, 1992) between the Dolphins and the Jets when Jets Defensive Coordinator Pete Carroll did the choke sign after (Dolphins kicker) Pete Stoyanovich missed an extra point.
“Pete bet an obnoxious Jets fan $100 that the Dolphins would still win. Stoyanovich kicked a field goal (with seven seconds left) to win the game for Miami and Pete took the $100 and gave it to the bartender. Said it was a tip from a Jets fan. Classic Pete.”
James Coleman is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @JimColeman11. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Before Pete Rose death, MLB icon spent lots of time at Ballpark Cafe
