Taking Bat To Ball

“I’d walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball.” — Pete Rose

There will always be that proverbial love for the game, no matter what the game might be. In this case, I’m referring to the game of baseball. If I’m referring to sports like I might a woman, then indeed, my first love would, without a doubt, be baseball. Physically, I was built to play football, but when it comes to my favorite sport, regardless of how I was physically put together, baseball will always be my game of choice. There’s just something about baseball that sets it apart from other sports. 

I know that a few years ago, MLB decided to implement a pitch clock, but in my mind, you don’t play or watch baseball with a time limit or time frame in mind. The game takes at least nine innings. There are no clocks or timers. If it takes three hours for those nine innings to be played, then so be it. Sometimes it takes more than those nine innings to decide the outcome of a baseball game. That’s when you are welcomed to bonus baseball. Again, outs dictate when the game ends, not time. Baseball doesn’t need a clock or timer. 

Sometimes a game can hinge on a single pitch. It can all be very nerve wracking, but it can also be very exciting. As exciting as a home run can be, one also has to appreciate a pitchers’ duel, where offense comes at a premium when both pitchers are locked in and doing their damage from the mound. An offensive explosion ending in a 10-8 score can be just as exciting as a game between two star pitchers that ends 1-0.  

Some people might see baseball as boring and I can see that. People want to see the ball be put into play. People want to see those powerful home runs. Sometimes baseball can be slow, maybe a bit too methodical for some. You have to take the game pitch by pitch and let the ball land where it may. 

Pete Rose knew a thing or two about baseball. He played the game at the Major League level for nearly a quarter century and he excelled at it. He was quite the hitter, having amassed a record 4,254 hits during his career. As of this writing and after Rose’s death, that record still stands and will likely stand for several more decades, if not longer. Longevity is key and Rose was the epitome of longevity. He played for over two decades and the man played the game hard, like it’s supposed to be played. Rose is from an era long gone by today’s standards and it just shows how much the game has changed through the years. For Rose, it was never about hitting home runs and tearing the cover off the ball at every at-bat. He kept his purpose very simple at the plate. Get your pitch. Knock it into play and get on base. If you can help a base runner score, then you’ve done your job. He saw “runs batted in” as the premium statistic, being that you win a baseball game by scoring runs. You don’t always have to hit that towering home run. A well-timed and well-placed hit can plate a run just the same. Rose didn’t hit many home runs in his career. He hit 160 home runs across his 24-year career, meaning that on average, Rose hit less than 10 home runs per season. Statistically, he averaged 55 runs batted in per season. Now, being that he seemed to excel in getting on base, he averaged 90 runs scored per season. So, with his prowess with hitting the ball and getting on base, he scored more runs than he would bat in. Of course, this could also be a testament to the players around him, who complemented him well. Rose would get on base. Someone hitting behind him would knock him in and allow him to score.  It’s simple, though not always an easy task to accomplish.  Just ask the 2024 Chicago White Sox.   

Rose was a terror on the base paths. I don’t mean that he was in the habit of stealing bases, being that he averaged eight stolen bases per season. He would run the bases like a demon possessed, sometimes resorting to his trademark face-first slide just to beat an incoming throw. As long you don’t get thrown out, you’ve again done your job. 

Rose was baseball. He played the game hard and he played to win. He would get his uniform dirty and he would go all out. I’m not saying that baseball players today don’t play to win, but there was something special with how Rose did it. 

For the foreseeable future, baseball will continue to be played. Players will come and players will go. But in the end, I just don’t know if we’ll ever another player similar to the likes of one Pete Rose. 

Unless (or until) I lose my eyesight, I will continue to watch baseball for the rest of my life. Of course, in the event that blindness somehow sets in, I can always resort to listening to the game on the radio or from the sounds of a television. 

Baseball. There’s nothing quite like it and there never will be.  I have to believe that Pete Rose knew this and he always gave his all whenever he was on the diamond.