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

[jazusamo]

Baseball legend Pete Rose took a shot at his former teammate and Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench on Thursday during an appearance on “The Brian Kilmeade Show.”

Rose fired back after Bench refused to budge from his view that the former Cincinnati Reds star should be excluded from the Baseball Hall of Fame for gambling on the sport in 1989.

“It don't bother me but you know Johnny Bench is one guy who should thank God I was born,” Rose told host Brian Kilmeade. “Because he never would have made the Hall of Fame if I wasn't born.”

Kilmeade asked Rose to elaborate.

“Because I'm the guy he knocked in a thousand times. You got you've got guys in front of you guys right behind you and you got to be responsible for everybody else involved,” Rose said, adding that Bench couldn’t understand why he wasn’t as loved as Rose was in Cincinnati.

[coaster123]

Good luck with what? Who is “us?”

[bobby.223]

48 seasons!? Good one!

[LeoTDB69]

Johnny Bench is HOF material would have simply knocked someone else in. Rose obviously is one of the most talented MLB’ers of all time but I know little about his gambling, how long he had done it? had he thrown games? etc

Rose would probably have been in the HOF by now if he had been more humble about his failings.

[treetopsandroofs]

If I’ve had conversation with you before, I don’t remember it.

My Pete Rose POV is shared by many on this thread, and I haven’t even seriously objected to his idolization in the Hall of Fame.

I have no idea why you’ve chosen to mindlessly bully me on a baseball thread, unless I’ve somehow tangentially offended a Kamala Harris supporter or an Electoral College hater, which still doesn’t make you look like anything other than an aggressor, to which I object.

Pick on someone else.

[treetopsandroofs]

Interesting.

Perhaps he pissed of the USPS, his biggest sponsor.

[treetopsandroofs]

I remember that!

Here’s a source:

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/22/416585579/pete-rose-bet-on-baseball-games-as-a-player-espn-reports

[larryleo]

Pete Rose was Rookie of the Year, MVP and a 17-time All Star. Anybody who comes on here and says he shouldn’t be in HOF because of numbers obviously never seen him play. 4,256 hits, 2,165 runs, hardly ever missed a game and came to play everyday. Give me 9 Pete Roses and I’ll crush you every time and that’s coming from a Yankees fan. Same can be said for Jeter. Guys that knew how to play the game and came to the ballpark to win.

[morphing libertarian]

thnx

I’m not a stat or analytics guy My son is big sports fan and a math masters degree and drives me crazy.

[coaster123]

You said: “Only older baseball fans give a damn one way or another about Pete Rose”

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

[Mariner]

4,256 hits.

#1 all time, ahead of even Ty Cobb.

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

[grey_whiskers]

Was that him barreling into Ray Fosse?

[Ransomed]

I wonder what the average age is of posters to this thread. I’m guessing not under 30, ha.

Freegards

[coaster123]

You guess and derisively laugh. Where is the value?

[Ransomed]

Rose is definitely more famous for not being in, and MLB gets more buzz. I like that he mouths off too. Just think of all the conversations folks have about baseball because he isn’t in.

I dig that he isn’t in. Any other HoF and he would have been in long ago. And I have yet to run across a gambler that actually bets the same way for the same amount EVERYTIME they place any sort of odds bet. Especially sports betters, come on.

Freegards

[Ransomed]

I guess I thought I was laughing in a self deprecating way, being a poster and not being under 30. As far as value, I guess it bumped the thread if nothing else, ha.

Freegards

[USS Alaska]

Bench was pretty darned good. I bet he would have made the HOF had he been on almost any team.

I had a secretary that 'dated' Bench when he was in the 'burgh, and said he had 'YUGE' hands:)

[Luke21]

Pete was a good man and a terrific ambassador for baseball for the longest time. His gambling changed him. I met him as a player and again after he began managing the Reds. It was two different people. The first guy was terrific and fun. The second guy was a jerk.

The 1976 Reds were in a league of their own. Jack Billingham is a prince of a man and one of the finest post season pitchers ever. Tony Perez is a class act. Bench isn’t that great with the fans, but he’s the best behind the plate I ever saw. Shame to have to of the all time greats rattling this crap. That Reds team was amazing. They swept the Yankees like a windstorm.

[treetopsandroofs]

YAWN.

[dangus]

>> Pete Rose led the league in doubles repeatedly. <<

Still had a .409 slugging avg. No way in HELL do you pitch around a guy with a career .409 average without runners in scoring position. Rod Carew, yes. Pete Rose, no. Rod Carew’s batting average was 25 points higher than Rose. His best years, he bat .388, .364, .359. Rose’s best years, he bat .348, .338. and .335.

[hole_n_one]

And the scores of all ages posting here.

FYI....A survey of FReepers done by Maceman

Here are the final results of my survey regarding the generational breakdown of Freepers. You can find the two previous threads on this topic HERE (4/19/2019) and HERE (4/27/2019).

The first iteration of the survey (4/27/2019) delivered the following results:

After publishing the above chart we subsequently received additional responses from more Freepers who wanted to participate in our survey. The results of the added survey traffic yielded the following results: