Pete Rose was the greatest baseball player I’ve ever seen. If I had to explain baseball to an alien from another planet, I’d show the alien a highlight reel of Pete Rose.
Rose is baseball’s all-time leader in hits, won three World Series championships, three batting titles, one Most Valuable Player Award, two Gold Gloves, and the Rookie of the Year Award. He made 17 All-Star appearances in an unequaled five positions (second baseman, left fielder, right fielder, third baseman, and first baseman).
Yankees pitcher Whitey Ford gave Rose the nickname “Charlie Hustle” after Rose sprinted to first base after drawing a walk, which he did his entire career. (Current players rarely sprint to first base under any circumstances.) Despite, or because of, the derisive manner in which Ford intended it, Rose adopted that nickname as a badge of honor. There’s another version of the story in which Ford bestowed the nickname after Rose, playing in left field, tried to climb the fence to catch a Mickey Mantle home run that was about a hundred feet over his head.
Rose was placed on baseball’s “permanently ineligible” list in 1989 by then-Commissioner Bart Giamatti, allegedly for gambling on baseball games, although MLB made no formal finding on the gambling allegations, and Rose continued to deny them for many years afterward.
Giamatti died of a heart attack eight days after announcing the Rose ban, which I’ve always viewed as a message from God.
As far as the gambling, I think every baseball player should be required to place a bet on his own team every game. You’d see a lot more players sprinting to first base, I assure you.
Rose still holds dozens of MLB and National League records, including the highest career fielding percentage for a right fielder at 99.14% and the highest National League career fielding percentage for a left fielder at 99.07%.
RIP Pete Rose