How Good Was Pete Rose, really?

Pete Rose wishes in his wildest dreams he had a peak like Boggs did.

 

Position players only, off the top of my head, Mizzou: Mays, Aaron, Clemente (all still dominant in 60s, Mantle no), Rose, Morgan, Bench, Schmidt, R. Jackson, Ripken, Brett, R. Henderson, Winfield, and now I'm starting to have to think too hard. Sure I forgot some worthy names. If you include pitchers, obviously some of these guys are out, because the 60s and 70s were dominated by pitchers.

 

off the top of my head: Mantle, Brett, Henderson, Schmidt, Carlton, Seaver, Frank Robinson, Bench, Aaron, Mays, Murray, Koufax, Gibson, Reggie Jackson, Winfield.

No way is Ripken better than Rose.

 

Ripken's 1991 was better than any season Rose ever had.

A lot of this is going to come down to how much you value longevity vs. peak, but Rose's peak is going to compare poorly to almost anyone in these discussions.

 

Pete Rose had a baseball IQ that was off the charts. He was a selfish player but he made others around him better. He competed. He did whatever had to be done to win a game. No, he wasn't the greatest player. He did amass the most hits but that was the result of longevity and productivity.
He should be in the Hall. He once thought he was bigger than the game and that was his biggest mistake.

 

Beyond the stats, Rose just made teams better.

 

The teams he was on didn't really need him to make them better.

 

Jim Rice because he was feared.

 

You're wrong. Pete took the Phillies to the 80 championship. He showed them how to win. Hell, he saved Bob Boone's ass in the ninth by catching a pop up that Boone should've caught.

 

You could say that about any single player on the Big Red Machine. I agree that Philly doesn't win in 1980 without him.

 

I wouldn't say that. Like it or not, Rose was a leader. On those Reds teams, there were great players, but he was the leader.

 

He taught them how to win? Is there a degree in that. What a load of shit. Intagibles, intagibles old cliched crap.