Top Five Players Who Should Be In the
Hall of Fame
#1. Pete Rose
Okay,
let’s get right to the point: what did Pete Rose do that was so bad, that Major
League Baseball not only suspended him for life but won’t allow him to be
inducted into the Hall of Fame? The answer is he gambled on the Cincinnati Reds
(the team he was managing) to win games. Yeah, let’s ban him for that. Real
smart, MLB.
Twenty-seven
years later, I still don’t see what the big deal is. It’s not like he gambled
on the Reds to lose and then manipulated his lineup and strategies so he could
collect. He had enough faith in his team that he bet on them to win. And if
anybody wants to dispute that, check out this article that was published by the
New York Daily News just last year (click here). You will find that it states there is no
evidence that Rose bet against the Reds.
When
you consider all of the players that are in the Hall and some of the things
they did during their lives, it is absolutely ridiculous and complete hypocrisy
that Major League Baseball refuses to right this wrong and allow Rose back into
baseball. But it’s the same story that it is for “Shoeless” Joe Jackson.
Baseball’s unpardonable sin, for some reason, is gambling. Absurd, really,
considering all the countless drug abusers (among others) who have been given
countless chances.
Let’s
get to Rose’s career and look at the reasons why he should be in the Hall.
First of all, he is baseball’s All-time hit leader, with a total of 4256.
That’s reason enough to get him inducted, but let’s keep going. He won the
National League’s Rookie of the Year Award in 1963, the NL’s MVP Award in 1973,
was a 17-time All-Star Game participant (at five different positions including
first, second and third base, left field and right field), won two Gold Gloves
(1969 and 1970), collected 200 or more hits in a season ten times, led the
league in hits seven times, batting average three times, runs scored four
times, and helped his team win the World Series three times (1975 and 1976 with
the Reds and 1980 with the Phillies.)
Besides
his record number of hits, his career stats include a .303 batting average,
2165 runs scored, 160 home runs, 1314 RBIs, 198 stolen bases, 746 doubles, 135
triples, and a career .987 fielding percentage. He is also MLB’s all-time
leader in games played (3562), at-bats (14,053) and singles (3215). Rose also
holds the National League’s record for hits in consecutive games at 44 (tied
with Willie Keeler) which he accomplished in 1978.
In 67 post season
games, he had a .321 batting average and was the World Series MVP in 1975 when
he hit .370.
What
happens to be Rose’s trademark is his hustle. In fact, his nickname was
“Charlie Hustle”. While he wasn’t blessed with blinding speed, it was his
willingness to give it one hundred per cent on every play that stood out more
than his talent. You have to wonder how many extra hits he got because of his
hustle, or how many more runs scored, doubles, etc.
Well,
there you have it. I could write more but I’ll stop for now. I’ll finish by
saying the Pete Rose’s exclusion from Baseball’s Hall of Fame is an injustice
and must be fixed. And no, I will never stop beating that drum. As long as I
continue to blog, you can expect me to keep my opinions strong on the matter.
Follow us on Twitter at @topofthethird
No comments:
Post a Comment