'Travesty' Pete Rose isn't in the Hall of Fame, ex-MLB star says

Pete Rose passed away on Monday at 83 years old, and the question about whether he should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame is raging. 

Six-time MLB All-Star Will Clark made his stance clear on Rose’s potential Hall of Fame induction during a recent appearance on OutKick’s "The Ricky Cobb Show."

"What I was saying about Pete is how can you not let him into the Hall of Fame? He is by far, by far the best hitter of a baseball ever. I mean you got to get 200 hits for 21 straight years, and then you're still 56 hits shy of his record," Clark said.

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Pete Rose waves to fans during the unveiling of a statue dedicated to him at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati on June 17, 2017. (IMAGN)

"He is unbelievable how good of a hitter that man was, and yet we let druggies and steroid users and everything else into this beautiful game of baseball, and we won’t let the best that ever was at hitting a baseball into the Hall of Fame. I think it’s a travesty," Clark continued.

Rose won an MVP, was a three-time World Series champion, World Series MVP, three-time batting champion and a 17-time All-Star over the course of his 24-year playing career. 

Rose not only leads MLB in all-time hits, but he also has the most games played (3,562), at-bats (14,053) and singles (3,215) recorded.

There is no question Rose’s resume is Hall of Fame worthy. He is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame because of a gambling scandal during his tenure managing the Cincinnati Reds.

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Former San Francisco Giants player Will Clark is introduced during a Wall of Fame induction ceremony before the game against the Atlanta Braves at Oracle Park. (Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports)

In 1991, upon Rose’s eligibility for being inducted into Cooperstown, Rose agreed to go on the ineligible list as he denied the allegations. He would apply for reinstatement multiple times but was denied.

Clark said he got to know Rose a little bit and recalled a story between the two from his playing days.

"When I was a rookie, he sent a limo over to pick me up to go out to dinner, and he wanted to talk about Barry Larkin and whether Barry Larkin would be able to be a major leaguer. And I told him, yeah, without a shadow of a doubt Barry Larkin would be a major leaguer. And sure enough, Pete winds up calling him up because Pete was player-manager back then, and he wound up calling him up a little bit later and the rest is history. Barry’s a Hall of Famer now," Clark said. 

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Former San Francisco Giants player Will Clark before the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Oracle Park. (Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports)

Clark may not have ended up near Rose on MLB’s all-time hit list, but he still had a great career.

Over 15 seasons in the big leagues, Clark had a career batting average of .303 with 284 career home runs and 1,205 RBIs. In addition to being named to six All-Star teams, Clark was a two-time Silver Slugger award winner and won a Gold Glove once in his career. 

Clark played for four different teams in his career: the San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles and retired in 2000 after playing for the St. Louis Cardinals.

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