Editing Pete Rose (section)

====The Big Red Machine====
{{Main|The Big Red Machine}}
[[File:Rose walking onto field.jpg|thumb|Rose walks onto the field at Dodger Stadium with the Cincinnati Reds in 1976.]]

The Cincinnati Reds of the 1970s earned the nickname "the Big Red Machine" as one of the greatest teams in MLB history, including future Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and [[Tony Pérez]]. Rose was viewed as one of the club's leaders.

Rose was a significant factor in the Reds' success in 1975 and 1976 when he successfully moved from the outfield to third base. Earlier in his career, the Reds and then-manager [[Don Heffner]] tried to force Rose to third base, but Rose chafed at the move and it was soon abandoned. In the spring of 1975, manager [[Sparky Anderson]], knowing how Rose would react to being forced to move, instead asked him if he would do so for the good of the team. Rose immediately agreed. This move strengthened third base and helped to solidify the Reds for those two championship seasons, because it made room for power hitting outfielder [[George Foster (baseball)|George Foster]]. In [[1975 Cincinnati Reds season|1975]], Rose earned [[1975 World Series|World Series]] [[World Series Most Valuable Player Award|MVP]] honors in leading the Reds to their first championship since [[1940 World Series|1940]], a seven-game triumph over the [[1975 Boston Red Sox season|Boston Red Sox]]. Rose led the team with ten hits and a .370 batting average in the seven games. He was awarded the [[Hickok Belt]] as the top professional athlete of the year, as well as ''[[Sports Illustrated]]'' magazine's "[[Sportsman of the Year]]" award.

The following year, Rose was a major force in helping the Reds repeat as World Series champions. The [[1976 Cincinnati Reds season|1976 Reds]] swept the [[1976 Philadelphia Phillies season|Philadelphia Phillies]] in the best-three-of-five [[1976 National League Championship Series|NLCS]], followed by a four-game sweep of the [[1976 New York Yankees season|Yankees]] in the [[1976 World Series|World Series]]. The 1976 club remains the only team since the expansion of the playoffs in 1969 to go undefeated in the postseason, and the Reds franchise has not lost a World Series game since game six in 1975 (wins in game seven in 1975, and four-game sweeps in 1976 and [[1990 World Series|1990]]).