CINCINNATI -- Pete Rose attended his first game at the Cincinnati Reds' new ballpark Sunday, getting tickets for some of the best seats behind home plate.

Hardly anyone expected baseball's hits king, and few fans realized he was there. Rose sat inconspicuously in an aisle seat in the sixth row behind the plate, then left in the third inning of a rain-delayed game.

The Reds didn't announced his presence or show him on the videoboard.

Under his lifetime ban for gambling, Rose can go to games as a fan. He hadn't been to a Reds game since 1997, when his son, Pete Jr., made his major league debut at Cinergy Field.

Rose was in town primarily to participate in a fund-raiser for a foundation run by Bengals Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz. The foundation was holding a dinner on Sunday evening and a celebrity golf tournament Monday.

Rose got four $225 "Diamond Seat'' tickets behind home plate at Great American Ball Park. He arrived about an hour before the scheduled start and walked from the parking garage into the private club reserved for Diamond Seat ticket holders.

Rose's agent told the Reds that he wouldn't give any interviews. Rose also told a security guard at the Diamond Club's glass doors that he wasn't talking to reporters.

Rose wore a white pullover shirt with a Nike swoosh on front. He went through the line for brunch inside the club, then walked over to a display of Reds memorabilia that includes a Ken Griffey Jr. jersey and a photograph of the Big Red Machine.

He stayed in the Diamond Club while rain delayed the start of a game against the Toronto Blue Jays for 3 hours and 5 minutes, signing autographs for fans that wandered over.

"He's being very low-key,'' said Vicki Ferry of Parkersburg, W.Va., who attended the game with her husband and left the club to tour the ballpark.

Rose went to his seat a few minutes before the first pitch. His visit conformed to the guidelines of his lifetime ban -- he can't get better treatment than any other ticket-buying fan.

"He's a paying customer, just like everyone else,'' chief operating officer John Allen said.

Allen said Rose bought the tickets a couple of weeks ago. The Reds didn't publicize his appearance in any way.

Attorney Rich Federle of Wilmington, Ohio, was sitting in the Diamond Club when Rose walked in. Federle was at Riverfront Stadium on Sept. 11, 1985, when Rose got hit No. 4,192, breaking Ty Cobb's record.

Federle got Rose to autograph the back of his ticket to Sunday's game.

"He was my childhood idol,'' Federle said. "I'm very happy he's here.''

It wasn't his first time in the new ballpark. Last June, a local politician brought him to town and threw batting practice to him while the park was under construction.

Baseball wouldn't allow Rose to participate in festivities for the closing of Cinergy Field last year or the opening of Great American in March. Rose organized a celebrity softball game at Cinergy Field a day after the Reds concluded their season.

Rose has applied for reinstatement, but commissioner Bud Selig has given no indication when he might have a decision.

John Ferry didn't talk to Rose, but would have asked about reinstatement if he got some time alone with him.

"If I had the chance, I'd tell him I think he should be in the Hall of Fame but not in baseball, and I'd ask him what he thinks about that,'' Ferry said.

Although Rose is banned from going on the field or into the clubhouses, the Reds honored him in the new ballpark, along with other famous players. A large photograph of the bat and ball he used for hit No. 4,192 is on the back of the scoreboard in left field, and there are various other reminders of Rose around the ballpark.