Fact: It's Absolutely INSANE That Pete Rose Made Over 10,000 Outs In His MLB Career
Klemmer did a masterful job memorializing Pete Rose in the above blog. I highly recommend the robust look at both the player and his associated complexities. Nobody better at the company or maybe on the internet than a guy who personally witnessed most of Rose's 4,256 hits.
This blog isn't necessarily a direct follow-up but more a look at the most incredible Pete Rose statistic of them all: he made over 10,000 outs.
Ten Thousand Outs
I'll repeat myself as much as I need to.
There's some crazy shit to pick from the back of his baseball cards.
Like in 1974, age 33, Rose hit only 3 homers while still managing 106 walks.
ONE HUNDRED AND SIX WALKS AGAINST 3 HOMERUNS
Or in 1985, when Rose accumulated 501 plate appearances at age 44 - only to hit 2 homeruns BUT STILL TAKE 86 WALKS
Why is Carl yelling at me?
Because this stuff blows my mind and I have limited awareness when excited about baseball numbers.
Did you know Rose made the NL All Star team at five different positions?
He also led the league in Times On Base 9 different seasons including 4 straight years (73-76).
The gap between him and Hank Aaron (#3 all time in hits at 3,771) is bigger than the gap between Aaron and #12 on the list - Willie Mays. In fact, the gap between Mays and Rose is almost 1,000 hits. For context, that's nearly 5 more seasons of prime Ichiro than arguably the greatest player of all time in Willie Mays.
And even with all that said, none of it comes close to 10,000 outs. This is legitimately incredible:
- Pete Rose average 723 plate appearances a year.
- 10,000 outs is equivalent to 14-straight seasons of 723 plate appearances. That's 14 straight years of going 0-723 every single year.
- 14 years is how long David Ortiz played for the Red Sox. You could think of his entire time wearing a Boston uniform, getting out every single time he came to the plate, and that would still be about 1600 plate appearances short of Rose's outs.
- If Pete Rose did nothing but go 0-3 every single game, every single year… it would take 21 straight years of playing everyday and going hitless. That would be like Derek Jeter going 0-3 every game in his career.. all twenty years… every single day. That's how bad Jeter would have to be in order to catch Pete Rose in career outs.
- You might have forgotten about all the hits while following the outs. But alas that's very important to remember: Pete Rose also got 4,256 hits.
- Last bit of context on the hits = if Pete Rose hit .500 over his entire career, it would still take about 12 years for him to reach his hit milestone. So in reality, someone could hit .500 for 10+ years and still be about a thousand at-bats shy of even having a chance at the hits record.
Good guy? Bad guy?
Green jacket or gold?
Who gives a shit - Pete Rose made 10,000 outs while breaking Ty Cobb's record. That's the point and it's categorically insane to think about in context of the modern game.
Now if you'll excuse me, Go Cubs Royals