Posted on 06/06/2019 11:38:11 AM PDT by 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 couldnt understand why he wasnt as loved as Rose was in Cincinnati.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Pete Rose is the Bill Clinton of baseball except, in his case, the law finally got him.
He was a great ball player but when the gambling thing happened that was it for me, he’s got no one to blame but himself.
Honestly if Roses only gambling was a standing bet on every game that his team would win.. then I could care less.
If indeed he was betting agains his team and intentionally point shaving to make sure they lost to win his bet then toss him.
To date no evidence, or even allegation, from anyone that I am aware of has been of the latter.
Of course if it is the latter hes no different in my mind that McGuire, Bonds and all the others who juiced... cheating is cheating.
I can see by the clock on the wall it’s time for a Joe Garagiola quote:
“Not only was I not the best catcher in the Major Leagues, I wasn’t even the best catcher on my street!”
(Garagiola grew up in a house that was just across the street from Yogi Berra’s house. The two were childhood friends.)
Charlie Hustler... Corked bat Pete.....Franklin Ohio.....little girls??????? General all around POS.
I wonder what Ray Fosse thinks regarding that definition.
I’ve been to Cooperstown a few times. Pete is in the HOF not as a monument but when I visited there was a board ranking the all time hit career leaders and Pete Rose was listed of course at the top. His only ban is he isn’t inducted as a plaque/monument. His historical record is acknowledged.
He does have a point about Bench’s RBI #s enhanced because his OB% was high
Ruined the career of a potentially very good catcher, Ray Fosse.
I was a kid and met Ray as his career was coming to a close. Very nice man.
> He bet on baseball, but he ALWAYS bet on the Reds to win. <
Doesn’t matter. Did he juggle the lineup so his best pitchers played the games he bet on? Did he make decisions based on his bets instead of what’s good for the team?
We’ll never know. I could forgive Rose for betting on other teams. But when you bet on your own team - a team you have control over - no forgiveness.
Only one catcher hit more home runs and Pete had nothing to do with Bench’s home runs.
Even the NFL is going all-in on sports betting.
I don't recall booing Pete Rose but I did boo Keith Hernandez and will continue to do so. Hernandez sued a reporter for libel who claimed Hernandez had been doing cocaine when, in reality he was....,um, doing cocaine. The reporter had learned that the Cardinals traded him to the Mets (for a reliever) because of his cocaine habit and when the reporter put it in print, Hernandez sued him! Total piece of rubbish. Should have been banned.
It is pretty silly to exclude the all-time hits leader from the Hall of Fame.
I have a friend whose nephew is a backup catcher in Major League Baseball.
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.
Rose will eventually be inducted into Cooperstown, IMO. I think it’ll happen ten years after he’s dead... but he’ll be inducted. His ultimate punishment is that he won’t live to see it.
“Rose has got to have a screw loose”
Probably.
He’s also one of the top 5 baseball players that ever lived.
At least.
Do you understand how RBI works? You have to have someone on base to knock them in -- this is out of the batter's control. Pete Rose was one of the best hitters in the history of baseball, so he was on base a lot. This is a perfectly logical statement by Rose, though it is debatable whether Bench would still be in the HOF or not.
Maybe you should come down to sea level as well and do a search for "RBI"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.