KC Kingdom Editorial: Should MLB Lift Ban on Pete Rose

Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

As I eventually learned, Rose was THE guy that played the game the right way, and was revered nation-wide as the player youngsters should emulate. It became clear to me that Rose was to my dad and coaches what Brett was to me. That must mean he was pretty special.

Special indeed. Rose’s career spanned 24 years–1963-1986. Think about that. He played in the league at the same time as Mickey Mantle and also George Brett.

As we all know, he still has the most hits in MLB history with 4,256. That’s 65 more than Hall of Fame inductee Ty Cobb (who was a world-class jerk on and off the field), who held the record prior to Rose, and 485 more than Hall of Fame inductee Hank Aaron, who is currently third on the all-time hits list.

To put a little more perspective on the enormity of Rose’s hits total, there are only two active MLB players nearing the 3,000 hits mark. Thirty-nine year-old Alex Rodriguez is currently 60 hits shy of 3,000, and 41 year-old Ichiro Suzuki is 156 hits away.  To catch Rose, both would have to play another five to seven years at a very high level. In other words, not happening.

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