Remembering Pete Rose

Photo from Bettman, Getty Images.

Around 7pm on Monday September 30, 2024, reports started flowing in that the “Hit King”, Pete Rose had passed away. Rose totaled 4,256 hits, across his 24-year career. Rose is considered by some, mostly Cincinnati fans, to be the greatest baseball player to ever play sport. Rose has become notorious for Major League Baseball’s ridiculous Hall of Fame ban, so let’s take a look at all his accolades, and why he should’ve been inducted many years ago.

Being from the west side of Cincinnati (the heart of Cincinnati) himself, Rose often said that he knew what the city yearned for. Rose once said, “All the guys born here play the same way, bust your ass and win the game.” He went on to say, “All the years I played here you motivated me. Because I was raised on the same water, and same food you guys were raised on. I know the traditions of Cincinnati baseball, I know you want to win, and you want the players to play hard.”

This certainly showed in his play, as he totaled 160 home runs, 198 stolen bases, and a .303 batting average over his career. In addition to this impressive stat line, Rose also won many awards. Including, MVP, Rookie of the Year, two Gold Gloves, three World Series Championships, including one World Series MVP, 17 All-Star Game selections, a Silver Slugger, and he was a three-time winner of the Batting Title.

Hit number 4,192, which broke Ty Cobb's record. Photo from FoxNews.

Rose was a member of the Big Red Machine, which won two World Series, and four National League Pennants. Arguably the greatest team to ever take the field, this group was known as “The Great Eight”. This eight included Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan. Dave Concepcion, Pete Rose, Ken Griffey, Cesar Geronimo, and George Foster.

The craziest part of Rose’s death is that just the day before he was at an event signing autographs and appeared to be fine. Ric Flair took to X to express this.

Now that Rose has passed away, the never-ending conversation of inducting him into the Hall of Fame will inevitably become louder. Rose was banned from this honor in 1989, because he was gambling on games, while he was the manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

At the time this ban seemed somewhat acceptable, but not ideal. However, with a league that has worshipped gambling since 2019, this is absolutely absurd. Every single ballpark you go to, there will be some type of gambling advertisement on the outfield walls, or even if you sit at home and watch a game, there is always a commercial saying what gambling app is sponsoring each team.

With all of this going on, Rob Manfred has shown why he is the worst league commissioner in all of sports history. To worship gambling, for profit of the league you run, and refuse to allow Pete Rose into the Hall of Fame, for gambling, is not only hypocritical, but also just downright absurd.

Rose will eventually find his way to Cooperstown, but it is a shame this couldn’t have happened while he was alive. RIP to the GOAT, Pete Rose