Why the hits record is the dumbest record in all of sports.

All this talk about Barry Bonds has got me thinking about Pete Rose.

One
look at Pete Rose’s career stats, and you will be surprised about how
pedestrian they are when compared to the legend he is made out to be.
160 HRs, 149 SBs, 1314 RBI are nothing special.

That’s not to
put him down completely. His career OBP was .375 over 24 seasons.
That’s nothing to sneeze at, especially since in my opinion OBP and SLG
are the two most important baseball statistics.

Rose’s fame
centers around the hits record. In my opinion, the hits record is one
of the dumbest records of all of sports. Leading the league in hits
likely means you don’t walk enough. If Rose had a better eye and had
taken more pitches, maybe he would’ve had an OBP above .400 like Rickey
Henderson. That wouldn’t have gotten him a fancy record, but would’ve
helped his team.

From a personal perspective, Rose was a
legendary cheater and jerk. Unlike Barry Bonds, Rose broke a baseball
policy that had been clearly in place and clearly enforced since the
Black Sox scandal. And if the stories are believed, Rose was such a
jerk that he would leave supposed "friends" at the mercy of the mafia
for his personal gambling debts.

Why do I bring this up now?
Because to me, Barry Bonds was ten times more talented than Pete Rose,
while being one-tenth the cheater and one-tenth the jerk. Why do so
many that hate Bonds laud Rose?

~Joe Paradise