Pete Rose: Johnny Bench would never have made it to Hall of Fame 'if I wasn't born'

Fox News ^ | June 6, 2019 | Ryan Gaydos

[Hot Tabasco]

Given the length of this thread is that statement obviously true or obviously not true?

yes it is but it all depends.........or maybe not

[dangus]

>> Rose played for I think 48 seasons, more or less. <<

I’m not sure what you meant to write, but given my ranting that Rose broke the hits record simply because he played so long, that’s kinda funny.

>> It is a fact that Rose was not a thoroughly mediocre hitter. <<

For a starting first baseman, yes he was. He had a ton of singles. It takes three singles to score a run. (I find that kind of baseball much more exciting than today’s home-run contests, even as a Yankees fan!) The ONLY thing he excelled at was hitting singles, and even so, he had a career on-base pct of .373. For comparison, Joey Votto’s is .424. Fifty one points higher! Pete Rose’s OBP is closer to that of a second-string shortstop than to Joey Votto!

And Joey Votto will probably end up with about three times as many home runs.

(Actually, the more I look at this, the more I’m ready to see Joey Votto as a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer.)

First basemen who played in 1985 with better careers than Pete Rose:
Don Mattingly
Cecil Fielder
Tony Perez
Eddie Murray
Cecil Cooper
Rod Carew
Kent Hrbek
Hal McRae
and Dave “Screw the 400 HR rule, he’s not a Hall of Famer” Kingman

Not even in the top 9. That’s mediocre.

[romanesq]

“Given what an incredibly good college player he was, and how long and hard he had to work in the minors to even make it to the show, just to be able to ride the pine, it’s hard to even get your mind around how good Johnny Bench actually was.”

They’ll never be another Johnny Bench and Big Red Machine. Hat tip to your friend’s nephew for making it to The Show. Quite a tough slog it is.

[CommerceComet]

That puts him in the top 5 players all time for all thinking persons.

Provided the "thinking people" don't understand baseball.

[treetopsandroofs]

Nice job, thanks very much for the smack-down to the bully.

[Mariner]

You’re offering nothing but an emotional reaction.

Why else would someone claim the all-time hit leader is not one of the top 5 players in baseball history.

Lifetime .303 avg. 17 time all star.

Emotion has clogged your mind.

[mac_truck]

Here is another version of Rose being Rose:

He tried that same thing with Bruce Bochy during the NLCS in 1980.

[namvolunteer]

It doesn’t matter because Pete Rose signed a contract to stay away from baseball in exchange for baseball not announcing John Dowd’s investigation.
Pete had many reasons for keeping it secret. There were also many people who wanted the results kept secret. Those people told Rose to take the deal ... or else.

[namvolunteer]

Babe Ruth
Lou Gehrig
Ted Williams
Willie Mays
Walter Johnson
Warren Spain
Bobby Bonds
Cy Young
Pete Alexander
Nolan Ryan
Ty Cobb

A singles hitter, especially the one who has the most hits lifetime, is definitely a great baseball player.
These players are better than the one who you mentioned.
Of course, he isn’t in the HoF because he voluntarily signed a contract to stay away from baseball.
Period.

[namvolunteer]

Babe Ruth
Lou Gehrig
Ted Williams
Willie Mays
Walter Johnson
Warren Spain
Bobby Bonds
Cy Young
Pete Alexander
Nolan Ryan
Ty Cobb

A singles hitter, especially the one who has the most hits lifetime, is definitely a great baseball player.
These players are better than the one who you mentioned.
Of course, he isn’t in the HoF because he voluntarily signed a contract to stay away from baseball.
Period.

[namvolunteer]

That option wasn’t available after John Dowd’s investigation. He was facing long prison sentences in trials in which he would be ratting out Mafiosi, politicians, government officials, etc.
He would be a dead man before he ever testified.

[SarahPalin2012]

You sure argue like a liberal. Of course there are others who can get a base hit -- the problem is not that they can get a hit. Obviously, it's that Rose did it so much better, therefore leading to more RBIs for hitters that came up after him.

Obviously.

But you knew that. You just wanted to act like a jock itch liberal. Congrats. you succeeded. You can get your participation plaque. Come back when you can argue reasonably using intelligence.

[MPJackal]

“Isn’t it simpler (and fairer) to just establish no betting of any nature should occur?”

Just my opinion, but there is a big difference in betting on yourself and your team, than some one throwing games for profit like Hornning (sp).

Some folks on here acting so sanctimonious that gambling is so evil. Sports in America thrive on gambling. Hell ESPN shows poker games.

He broke the rules, so yes he should have been punished, but come on. Enough is enough. Put the man in the HOF.

[CommerceComet]

Why else would someone claim the all-time hit leader is not one of the top 5 players in baseball history.

Perhaps because he's not simplistically sticking to one statistic while ignoring many far more valuable ones?

[MarvinStinson]

Two players far greater than many in the smug “hall of fame.”

[MarvinStinson]

Why all the rabid antagonism here toward Pete Rose?

[wardaddy]

They never do.

[wardaddy]

Bullshit

Pete Rose was a helluva player

How much ball did you play

[wardaddy]

Amen

Freepers live I mean live to condemn

Not one snarky keyboard ranger here could carry Pete’s jockstrap

And yes I think he was a helluva a better player than Bench

And I don’t believe for one second he ever threw a game

No way

[wardaddy]

Another amen