'No cliques': The untold legacy of Cincinnati's Pete Rose on the Big Red Machine and MLB

Pete Rose's legacy includes lesser-told impact on the best teams in Reds history and influence on a generation of leaders that came after him.

Rose was shunned by white veterans in a clubhouse divided by racial and cultural cliques.

The Cincinnati Reds will honor the hometown legend in a May 14 ceremony at Great American Ball Park 40 years after his death.

Pete Rose's friendship with Frank Robinson and Vada Morgan helped shape him as a player.

By the time he was a veteran, the inclusiveness, relationship-building and respect across cultural differences might have come naturally to the hometown white kid from the West Side .

"I didn’t care what color you was,” Rose said years later .

Terry Francona saw the hands-on manner of Pete Rose as a promising first -round pick for the Montreal Expositor.

Francona , the Hall of Fame -bound manager in his first year at the helm of the Reds , often talks like that about his own players and clubhouse now.

“I don’t think it matters race, color, creed, language, language if you had our uniform on, it was us”.