Pete Rose corked his bats.
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Dave
Staff member
I could swing for days with an aluminum bat with cork in it and never be able to hit from major league pitchers. As Mythbusters proved, corking bats hurts performance and power!! So while it may have given a psychological boost Rose actually got those hits. I don't have to like the man but I do have to respect the accomplishment. And before you start comparing this to 'roids just don't - they are not the same thing.
A rabid, snarling wolverine is a nicer man than Ty Cobb.
My problems with Pete Rose were that he sabotaged his own team in two different ways for his own enrichment. First off, he gained the hits record by benching a promising young player at the same position when he was player-manager. Rose hit .142 that year, and the team missed the playoffs. Then, after he was no longer a player, he managed his team to lose (pull hot players, misuse pitchers, etc) because he'd bet against them. In a way, those are worse than steroids.
My problems with Pete Rose were that he sabotaged his own team in two different ways for his own enrichment. First off, he gained the hits record by benching a promising young player at the same position when he was player-manager. Rose hit .142 that year, and the team missed the playoffs. Then, after he was no longer a player, he managed his team to lose (pull hot players, misuse pitchers, etc) because he'd bet against them. In a way, those are worse than steroids.
Dave
Staff member
I was under the impression he only bet them to win. Fact check time by both of us. First one there wins!
like the longer article said, the corked bat actually reduces power.
I have an issue with the Mythbusters findings. The point of corking a bat is to generate more bat speed. They did not account for that. They didn't check for how much faster the swing was after the corking than before. Does the gain in bat speed make up for the loss of power (which, BTW, was measured with the original bat speed)?
Mythbusters is not real science, just like CSI isn't real crime scene investigation. Having said that, I don't get the hate for Pete Rose.
He bet on baseball, which is the one absolutely unforgiveable sin. Even more than steroids or corked bats.
Then he lied about betting on baseball.
Then when he finally admitted to betting on baseball, there wasn't any apology, just an attempt to sell books.
Through it all there's been no contrition. No remorse. Just douchebaggery heaped upon douchebaggery.
He bet on baseball, which is the one absolutely unforgiveable sin. Even more than steroids or corked bats.
Then he lied about betting on baseball.
Then when he finally admitted to betting on baseball, there wasn't any apology, just an attempt to sell books.
Through it all there's been no contrition. No remorse. Just douchebaggery heaped upon douchebaggery.[/QUOTE]
I understand all that. I'm not saying I condone his actions, but professional sports are filled ilk worse than Rose.
C
crono1224
He bet on baseball, which is the one absolutely unforgiveable sin. Even more than steroids or corked bats.
Then he lied about betting on baseball.
Then when he finally admitted to betting on baseball, there wasn't any apology, just an attempt to sell books.
Through it all there's been no contrition. No remorse. Just douchebaggery heaped upon douchebaggery.[/QUOTE]
Didn't he bet on his own team to win, I mean seriously how is that at all a bad thing?
M
Matt²
it's been 20+ years, I'd have thought people would be over Pete Rose?!
He claims that he only bet on his own team, to win. He also claimed for the 15 years prior to his 2004 book that he hadn't bet on his team at all.
What really gets me is that Pete Rose agreed to being banned from the sport, just so that they'd stop looking into his misdeeds and wouldn't publish their findings. That's not the sort of thing you do if you've done nothing wrong.
Not a perfect source, however, this http://www.baseball1.com/bb-data/rose/ contains the Dowd Report, which was an investigation of the matter.wikipedia said:
What really gets me is that Pete Rose agreed to being banned from the sport, just so that they'd stop looking into his misdeeds and wouldn't publish their findings. That's not the sort of thing you do if you've done nothing wrong.
All as a manager, not a player. The man played some good ball for many, many years.
And Benedict Arnold was a brave and loyal patriot, until he turned traitor. Doesn't excuse it.
Also, Pete Rose's last season was sad. August 1985 when he tied Ty Cobb until his last hit, August 1986, he only put together 65 hits - roughly a 0.130 average. He hit 4,000 in April 1984, so between then and August 1986, he put together 256 hits. 256 hits over 2 1/2 seasons - roughly 1200 at bats - is a .213 average. If he had hung it up at the end of the 1985 season, he would have still taken Ty Cobb's record. The up and coming players on the Reds, which he was managing as well as playing for, instead of being benched to allow Rose to play, would have contributed on the field. It would have shown integrity and respect for the game. Rose instead padded an almost impossible record at the cost of his team, for his own ego.
Also, Pete Rose's last season was sad. August 1985 when he tied Ty Cobb until his last hit, August 1986, he only put together 65 hits - roughly a 0.130 average. He hit 4,000 in April 1984, so between then and August 1986, he put together 256 hits. 256 hits over 2 1/2 seasons - roughly 1200 at bats - is a .213 average. If he had hung it up at the end of the 1985 season, he would have still taken Ty Cobb's record. The up and coming players on the Reds, which he was managing as well as playing for, instead of being benched to allow Rose to play, would have contributed on the field. It would have shown integrity and respect for the game. Rose instead padded an almost impossible record at the cost of his team, for his own ego.
C
Chazwozel
I always thought corking helped the ball go further because the cork would transfer more kinetic energy to the ball, kinda like a rubber ball would fly further.
---------- Post added at 10:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:30 AM ----------
He bet on baseball, which is the one absolutely unforgiveable sin. Even more than steroids or corked bats.
Then he lied about betting on baseball.
Then when he finally admitted to betting on baseball, there wasn't any apology, just an attempt to sell books.
Through it all there's been no contrition. No remorse. Just douchebaggery heaped upon douchebaggery.[/QUOTE]
I understand all that. I'm not saying I condone his actions, but professional sports are filled ilk worse than Rose.[/QUOTE]
My ears are burning.
Trying to figure out who this "promising young player" was. In 1985, the year he broke the record, Pete hit .264 which was third amongst starters, his OBP was .395, the best amongst the starters...the backup first baseman was 43-yr old Tony Perez. Was it Wayne Krenchiki? Tom Foley? Wade Rowdon? I mean the only young player with promise might have been Paul O'Neill but he was only up with the club for a cup of coffee, he was in five games. Even in 1986 he had fewer at bats than Eddie Milner, Nick Esasky and Eric Davis and was strictly platooning himself. Esasky was the only one who could have played first, but he didn't much. Perez did. Rose is listed as playing in 72 of 162 games, fewer than Tony Perez and Kal Daniels, in fact 12 other players were in more games than Rose was. Plus I don't know where you got .142, Pete did not hit that ever. he hit .219 in 86, his final year. Which is crap, but certainly not .142
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