It goes beyond that. Cobb played in an era when all team travel was by train, all games were played during the daytime, fielding gloves were like mittens compared to the gloves of the 1960s, some stadia did not even have outfield fences, just a rope to distinguish the furthest boundaries of the outfield. Training was much different between Cobb's time and Rose's time. It blurs to the point that you can't distinguish who had an easier path to 4000 hits.
Cobb had a LIFETIME batting average of .367. That’s one of the most astonishing MLB records of all time.