The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #54 Pete Rose

Hitting the list at #54 is baseball’s hit king, Pete Rose. Charlie Hustle’s 4,256 career hits are the most all-time and once Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Robinson Cano, and Yadier Molina retire, no active player will be within 2,000 of his total. Rose’s records are too numerous to name, but we can at least give it a try. He’s tied with Ichiro as the all-time leader with 10 200-hit seasons. He led the league in hits seven times which is tied with Tony Gwynn for the most since the dead-ball era. He finished first or second in hits 13 times which is the most in history. He has the most doubles since the dead-ball era. He’s the only player in history with 4,000 hits and 1,500 walks.  Rose reached base an unfathomable 5,929 times which will likely remain the record for as long as MLB exists. He won three batting titles and finished in the top-10 13 times. Rose was also no stranger to winning hardware. He won three World Series titles while also being named the 1975 World Series MVP. He won the 1973 NL MVP and finished in the top-10 in MVP voting 10 times.   

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Hi (hopefully) awesome reader! I welcome your comments. However, please be aware that I make all of my arguments using facts, statistics, and logic. Unfortunately, the average comment on a top-100 list goes something like this:

"UR StooPid. (Insert player) is trash. I've watched (pick a sport) for (pick a number of years) and (pick a player) is better than everyone. UR DUMB. HAHA6969."

–Some Jabroni

As cognitively stimulating as this species of comment is, it ends up being a missed opportunity to share a nuanced perspective. I reply to all comments that show even the most basic levels of thought and humility. The people who make the comments like the example above are under the assumption that the three seconds of thought that popped into their brains after reading the list is more than the 1000s of hours that I put into creating and maintaining the lists. I would be happy to defend any placement, or make an adjustment if one is warranted. If you are a jabroni, like the one above, then your comment will die in the lonely void of the unpublished comments section.

For everyone else, I look forward to your comments!

P.S. The theme of this site and the top-100 lists is that athletes from previous generations have historically been grossly overrated by sports publications in a way that is statistically improbable. Click on the "About" dropdown menu to see just how badly the average top-100 list disproportionately favors athletes from older generations when leagues were smaller, race quotas existed, and globalization wasn't a thing. Also, please consider reading "The History" section of the sport you are commenting on.

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