Hit King Has Passed On

3,562 games played, 14,053 at bats, and 4,256 career hits. Those are the three biggest marks that Pete Rose left on the game of baseball. The last number will, in all likelihood, never get touched. He was and is baseball's all time hit king. Last night, Rose passed away at the age of 83. Early reports are it has something to do with heart disease. 

The numbers for Pete speak for themselves. 24 years in the big leagues, 19 years with the Reds, 5 with the Phillies and one with the Expos. We mentioned his games played, at bats and hits earlier. He had 160 home runs and 1,314 RBI's. He played in 17 all star games, only eight men in the history of the game have played in more than he did (Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle, Cal Ripken, Ted Williams, Rod Carew, and Carl Yastrzemski). He won National League MVP in 1973 and finished in top five in MVP voting on four other occasions. Oh and lets not forget his three World Series titles, in 1976, 1976 and 1980. He also won NL Rookie of the year in 1963, two gold gloves and three batting titles.

Numbers like that should put you in the baseball hall of fame.

But that's where the debate is always going to lead. It's been well documented his gambling issues after his playing days ended. That's what got him kicked out of baseball for life. But somebody tried to make the argument today, now that he's passed, he got a chance.

This is the way I see it. And you can debate it with me all day long. If your going to honor the best to ever play the game, he needs to be in there. Put an asterisk on his plaque for what he did with betting on the games. And this is where the debate going to change. But that's another debate for another time.

The fact is that one of the greatest hitters to ever step on a field has passed on.