The 'Unbreakable' Pete Rose

Let's all take a moment to thank the baseball gods for giving us Pete Rose.

The retired Cincinnati Reds player is one of the greatest ball players to ever play the game, racking up impressive stat after impressive stat and leaving some to question if his records will ever be broken.

Today, September 19, we open the SportsVault back to 1983, when Pete Rose hit the 100 hits mark for the 22nd consecutive year.

Reaching 100 hits is a big milestone in itself, but in this day and age it is far from uncommon. Nevertheless, the players who have reached 100 hits so far this season are some pretty common household names.
So far leading for the American league we have
1. Derek Jeter: 199
2. Miguel Cabrera: 189
3. Adrian Beltre: 175
4. Billy Butler and Alex Gordon: 173
5. Adam Jones: 169

And in the National League:
1. Andrew McCutchen: 182
2. Martín Prado: 174
3. Marco Scutaro: 173
4. Jose Reyes: 171
5. Ryan Braun: 170

So, its clear that reaching 100 hits is not what makes Pete Rose great. You could argue, it's his 22 year streak of reaching that milestone that makes him great, but I would go further than that.

What makes Pete Rose great is how many hits he has over his career. That's the record that's unbeatable.

In 1985 he broke Ty Cobb's hitting record. Yes, Ty Cobb, one of the greatest baseball players of all time. By the end of his career, Pete Rose had 4,256 hits to his name.

The only player of our time that's even coming close is Derek Jeter. Currently, Jeter has 3,287 hits. He's getting close, but close may not be enough. Pete rose reached his milestone at the young age of 24! Derrek Jeter is 38. Most baseball players don't play much more than 40. That means Jeter would have to accumulate almost 500 hits a season or play well into his 40s. We all know that no matter how healthy a guy may seem, the older they get the risk for career ending injury also increases. So while some may argue that Jeter has the ability to break the record, I'm afraid his age may be his Achilles heel.   Especially when you take into account that the 2012 season is almost done and Jeter has only 199 hits. In order to reach that 500 so he could break the record by his 40th birthday, Jeter would have to hit 301 more and with only 16 games left in the regular season ( there will probably be more as the Yankees are in first place in the AL east) this milestone isn't looking real likely for Jeter.

So, for now Pete Rose looks to remain unbreakable. His achievement isn't completely out of reach, but it is very hard to catch. We'll keep tipping our bats to you "Charlie Hustler."

P.S. A fun tidbit about our friend Pete Rose. His personal website offers a number of fine memorabilia products, but you could also purchase a dinner with Pete himself for the low, low price of $5000, or just slightly more than $1 a hit!

Sources:
Life.com: Unbreakable Baseball Records http://goo.gl/14iMB
Wikipedia Hitting Streak http://goo.gl/MzrHf
Baseball-almanac: Pete Rose http://goo.gl/eyX59
USA Today: 2012 Major League Baseball Leaders http://goo.gl/YZUrz
Baseball-reference: Career Leaders and Records for hits http://goo.gl/NebdX