Pete Rose
Pete Rose is the only player in this countdown with an asterisk that is not related to performance-enhancing drugs, but his gambling broke the rules and may have compromised the integrity of the game, which is a shame, because he was incredibly talented.
Rose first joined the Reds in 1963, and before he even played a game he had already earned the nickname "Charlie Hustle", which was given to him in spring training by an opponent who was making fun of the way he sprinted to first base after being walked. The extra hustle paid off with the Rookie of the Year award.
By his third season, he was leading the league in hits, something he would do 7 times in his career. He led the league in batting average back-to-back in 1968 and 1969, then in the 1970's became one of the stars of the Big Red Machine, which reached 4 World Series, winning twice. He was named MVP of the 1975 World Series after batting .370 in their 7-game win over the Red Sox.
Rose was also named the MVP of the regular season in 1973, when he led all players with 230 hits and a .338 average. During the next three seasons, he led the league in both runs scored and doubles each year. He also rarely missed a game, and led the league in plate appearances 6 times during the 1970's.
Rose joined the 3000 hit club in 1978, then started the first major challenge to Joe DiMaggio's hit streak a few weeks later. The streak nearly ended at 31 when Rose walked in the 8th inning, but the Reds batted through the entire lineup in the 9th, which gave rose one more chance at the plate, and he came through with a bunt single. The streak eventually reached 44, which tied the NL record and no player has reached that number since.
After 15 years with the Reds, Rose signed with the Phillies as a free agent, and that move enabled him to win a 3rd World Series ring in 1980. After his worst professional season in 1983, he was released by Philadelphia and signed by the Expos, where he recorded his 4000th hit against the Phillies, becoming the second player ever to reach that milestone, after Ty Cobb.
A few months later, he was traded back to the Reds, where he was installed as player-manager, a position he held for two and a half years, before being taken off the roster, though he retained the managerial job. It was a few years after his retirement as a player that the allegations of gambling came out, and in 1989 he was banned from baseball for life.
The betting began while he was still playing, at least as early as 1985, and for years he denied the allegations, though he accepted the lifetime ban. A year after the ban, the Hall of Fame voted to exclude people on the permanently ineligible list from the yearly ballot, which Rose did not think was going to be included in his ban. After years of denials, he finally admitted in 2004 that he had bet on games, including his own, though he denied ever betting against his team. Whatever the full truth is, he put the game in danger with his actions. Even if he didn't bet against his team, he could have been coerced into losing a game he didn't bet on in order to make up a portion of his debt.
Even with all that, the fact remains that Rose was one of the greatest players of all time. He is famously the all-time hit leader, but he is also the all-time leader in games played, plate appearances, at-bats, and singles, and he is #2 in doubles and #6 in runs. He was an MVP and a World Series MVP and a 7-time batting champ, and belongs on the list of the greatest players of all time.
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