Her on-field career began in August, 1969 when she rushed onto the field at Crosley Field, Cincinnati and kissed Reds player Pete Rose. She was prompted by a friend who "dirty-double-dared me to do it. Where I'm from, you don't turn down a dirty-double-dare... at least, not when you're a teenager." Rose reacted with "terrible language" but the next night he tracked her down "to the local nightspot where I was appearing and apologized with a bunch of roses." She obtained the nickname "the Kissing Bandit" from a Cincinnati sportswriter who announced her arrival with the headline: "Bandit steals kiss from Pete Rose."