Hits and Home Run Leaders not in the Hall of Fame

by Amuary Pi Gonzalez

Just think when you were playing Little League baseball, your dream was to hit, right? everybody wanted to get on base, not with a walk, never by a hit by pitch(that hurt)we all wanted to hit, regardless what position we played, you might had a preference to catch, or to pitch, or to play shortstop or the outfield, but one common denominator is that we all wanted to hit, it was fun, it is called “cool”today.  We set scenarios in our backyards, school fields, or sandlots; “I am going got get a hit in the ninth inning and win the game” or “this is the seventh game of the World Series and here I hit a Home Run and win it”. Well, two of. arguably the most heralded hitting records in baseball are not in the Hall of Fame.

Pete Rose, a switch hitter is the all-time Major League leader in hits (4,256), games played (3,562), at-bats, (14,053), singles (3,215), and outs (10,328). He won three World Series rings, three batting titles one Most Valuable Player Award, two Gold Gloves, the Rookie of The Year Award, and also made 17 All Star appearances at an unequaled five different positions (1B, 2B, 3B, LF and RF). Pete Rose is not in the Hall of Fame.

Barry Bonds  was regarded as an exceptional hitter,, and finished his regular season career with a very high on-base percentage(.444)^. He holds many MLB hitting records, including most career home runs(762) most home runs in a single season (73, set in 2001) and most career walks. He also received eight Gold Gloves for his defense in the outfield. Among the relatively new baseball statistics, Bonds is ranked second in career Wins Above Replacement(WAR) among all major league position players by both Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference,com, behind only Babe Ruth.  Barry Bonds is not in the Hall of Fame.

Both Rose and Bonds were very similar as they are both regarded as not very nice men, one is not in the Hall because of gambling, the other one because he lacks a lot of humility and has a big question mark about the use of steroids. Of course they have the numbers to be in Cooperstown, nobody would dispute that. As we have seen what has happened, as the new Commissioner took over, common sense tells me that Barry Bonds will probably be elected before Pete Rose. You might agree or disagree, I saw both play and I have little doubt they are Hall of Fame players.

There is no rivalry between these two excellent players, they are from different times, but if there was a race between them, Pete Rose would be winning because this next June, the Cincinnati Reds are going to induct him into the Reds Hall of Fame in Cincinnati. As much as Bonds is loved in San Francisco and the Bay Area at large, to the best of my knowledge he is not in the San Francisco Giants Hall of Fame. He is currently the hitting instructor for manager Don Mattingly and the Miami Marlins. Rose has a street in Cincinnati named after him, he has a statue, Bonds none of those things in San Francisco, although I remember some fans started a campaign in San Francisco for a Barry Bonds statue. Aside from Rose induction into the Reds Hall of Fame, the team also announced his famous #14 uniform will be retired this year and a statue of Rose will be commissioned to be built at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.

Will these guys ever make it to Cooperstown? My grandfather used to say” “time heals everything”.  I don’t know if that applies to baseball.

Amuary Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish TV voice for the Angels and the Spanish radio voice for the A’s and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com