Derek Jeter vs. Pete Rose

[White Knight]

Both have very similar hit totals through age 38, and of anyone currently in MLB with 2,500 hits or more, only one has a serious possibility of reaching 4,000 and beyond, and that is Jeter. So what do you think?

[PVNICK]

It's actually a lot closer than it might seem. Rose was a helluva lot better ball player than he seem through the lens time. Now he is, to many, degenerate lowlife, self-promoter, gambler, guy who hung around and around and around to break the all-time hit record. But in his day, from @ 1968 - 1976 he was a legitimately great ball player (.319/.395/.444 136 OPS+ 53 WAR or 5.9/season averaging 110 runs and 207 hits) It was his mid-career move to 3B to accomodate George Foster that made the Reds an all time great team. He was a three time batting champ so this was much more than a compiler.

Jeter I thing we all know is also in some parts maligned and others diefied (sorta like Rose). But he too was a legitimately great ballplayer though the mid 00s despite his deficiencies at getting to ground balls compared to his peers.

When all is said and done I think Jeter will rank higher, if only slightly than Rose. If they ranked one after the other as their respective generation's biggest winners/leaders/gamers it woudl not be inappropriate.

[Edgartohof]

Similar through the age of 38 and similar in their seasons at age 38...

Jeter is hitting .326 with a 117 OPS+ and is on pace for over 200 hits.
Pete rose hit .331 at age 38 with 208 hits and an OPS+ of 130. So while Jeter is doing good, Chalie Hustle still outplayed him. Rose also had 95 Walks that year and lead the league in OBP while stealing 20 bases.

Jeter has an outside shot at 4000, the best of anyone playing now but let's see if he can hit .325 and lead the league in hits at age 40 like Rose... then I will say he should get there.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Jeter? Please! When Jeter can do TV commercials like this then we can talk.

[pheasant]

I'll take Jeter since he's a shortstop and a better baserunner. But it's very close.

[GiambiJuice]

I'll take Jeter since he's a shortstop and a better baserunner. But it's very close.

I would take Jeter over Rose, definitely. But I wouldn't call him a better baserunner. The guy's nickname was "Charlie Hustle"!

[Honus Wagner Rules]

I would take Jeter over Rose, definitely. But I wouldn't call him a better baserunner. The guy's nickname was "Charlie Hustle"!

Charlie Hustle!

[pheasant]

I would take Jeter over Rose, definitely. But I wouldn't call him a better baserunner. The guy's nickname was "Charlie Hustle"!

Jeter is a much better base stealer. But fair enough. Rose's 746 doubles and 135 triples is huge. I can't argue with you on that one.

[Yankillaz]

Too close to call. I agree with Pheasant, the position will help Jeter in the long haul.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

This is the essence of Pete Rose as a player. To this day Rose is still my brother's favorite player.

Pete Rose sliding.jpg

[Yankillaz]

This is the essence of Pete Rose as a player. To this day Rose is still my brother's favorite player.

[ATTACH]113854[/ATTACH]

You know what HWR, to this day, Rose and Gaylord Perry remain IMO as the standard of what REALLY means to play ball. C'mon, when we played baseball in the yards we used to cheat all the time. We pushed people out of the bag like Hrbek did to Gant. We spitball. We hustled more than anybody and if the called us out, we would argue with the ump. That's baseball, try to outsmart, outhustle, outclass and outcheat everybody. We're just lost in this nowadays. Still i picked Jeter, cause i know he thinks like this.

[Ben Grimm]

Fun old-time story. My uncle, after serving in the US Navy, lived with us in a row home for a few years until he could earn enough money to eventually move out. This was about 1975. I had a report to do as I was in 4th grade, and I remember he and I at the local library (no, there was no interwebs back then) and digging thru books for information. It was a free-for-all final and my uncle talked me into going with the '64 Phillies collapse since he lived through it.

I was writing as fast as I could as he was telling me what happened while we dug through vintage magazines, microfilm (or whatever it's called) and books to verify. Pete Rose was by far his favorite player in baseball. I still to this day recall a quick dialogue we had...

Me: What if Pete Rose became a Phillie?
Him: No chance.
Me: But what if? Your favorite player would be on your favorite team!
Him: Yeah, but he'll be on the Reds until he's long retired. No chance he comes here.
Me: Okay, but what if he comes here?
Him: I'll give you $100

Suffice to say, a handful years later Pete was a Phillie. My uncle did actually give me $100, but it was a single bill - which a kid my age couldn't spend anywhere in the late '70s. So mom put it in my bank account. It felt great and we really both won since he was ecstatic seeing Rose live and help the Phils win their first ever WS.

But even today we talk about that time back when I was almost 30 years younger. That's what makes baseball great.

[BigRon]

Right now I have Rose around number 40 alltime among position players. That considers his entire career, of course. I've got Jeter at around 55-60 right now, and obviously the rest of his career will determine if he comes close to/catches Rose. Jeter has surprised me with his offense this year. If he can sustain this for another season or 2- which I still doubt- I'll have him about in line with Rose, mainly due to position played.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

I would take Jeter over Rose, definitely. But I wouldn't call him a better baserunner. The guy's nickname was "Charlie Hustle"!

Just because he played so hard doesn't mean Rose was the better base runnner. I can't say for sure who was the better base runner but I've seen more of Jeter and he's one of the best, smartest that I've seen.
A number of times I have seen him tag and advance on long fly balls that just about all other, go half way, then back to the base that they were at. One way I judge his base running skill is when thrown out, not very often, it always seems to be close, very close.

Admitted, there could be some others that I do not see that much of.

[scottmitchell74]

If they trade places and Jeter's career starts in 1963 and Rose's rookie season in 1996?

Jeter would scrape by to 3000 hits

Rose would have either: Way more hits (around 4500) or he'd get to 4189 much sooner and his rate-stats would be much, much better.

Keep the same games played Rose with a career that starts in 1996 has a great chance of a .320+ average, well over 800 doubles, well over 200 HRs and adding to that 2300 Runs, 1500 RBI. He might be even more famous.