I'm 75 years-old, and Willie Mays was, hands down, the greatest all-around player I've ever seen, or will ever see. Willie also had charisma, and was a great showman on the baseball field. He probably drew more fans to watch a MLB game than any player not named Ruth. He had a aura about him that no player had.
This is why Rose is such a tragic figure. He has so much love for the game -he was such a great teammate. He is generous with praise for other players. His knowledge of the game is unmatched! Yet, he knowingly broke the UNBRAKABLE rule!
Man, listening to Pete Rose talking about Willie Mays is such a treat . I loved the story of Pete first meeting Mr. Mays , ‘Mr. Mays? That’s my father, I’m Willie’… Hahaha, says it all , what a great player and person.
I saw Mays play at Seals Stadium and Candlestick Park about 30 times and caught a line drive foul ball from him 8/26/63 which he signed about 30 years later. I'll never forget one day with my Dad at a game at the Stick. I asked my Dad if there ever was an inside the park grand slam. He didn't think so. Well, on the next pitch, with the bases loaded, Willie hit one to right center where there were a lot of newspapers, hot do wrappers cluttered at the fence. When the center fielder finally found the ball and threw it back to the cut off man, Willie slid into home just before the tag. WOW!!!
I;m for allowing Pete Rose into the Hall of Fame. Whyy? Because he played the game the way it is supposed to be played. I don't like watching millionaires running 45 feet and giving up on a ground ball. Pete Rose would never do that. They didn't call his _Charlie Hustle_ for nothing.
With all the legal gambling going on, cmon it’s time to let Pete in he earned his spot as a player. He knows he’s a Hall of Famer anyway, he goes to all the events 😂😂😂
I agree. Pete Rose was a Hall of Fame caliber player. End of story. Keeping him out of the Hall because of gambling is just absurd. It has nothing to do with him as a baseball player.
Thanks, Rob Dibble! Great interview, and Pete Rose ALWAYS says the best things about former players he played with and against, especially the legends.
Baseball is for kids. When I was 12, playing the sport myself and watching my favorite Red Sox play Rose in the ‘75 Series, there was nothing better. Watching a game in my house was an event and getting an entire series of baseball cards was my preoccupation outside of school. At that age, you aren’t jaded by the cynicism that has crept into the country and major league sports commentary today. There was no free agency and the announcers and sports writers were for the most part friendly. I loved watching the A’s play in the daytime Series in the early ‘70s and I saw Mays briefly at the end of his career with the Mets. There was no equal then or now.
Contrary to the image created by the media of Pete Rose as an arrogant, selfish person, he always has good things to say about other players. RIP Willie.
Pete belongs in the Hall of Fame. No questions asked, like BARRY Bonds, Roger Clemens. These guys were the pillars of the game. Even today listening to these guys dispense their knowledge of the game is hall of fame stuff. Nobody talks like this if they haven’t played on the highest level for years, not just a good year here and good year there.
Pete belongs the Hall of Shame. Evidence has come out through John Dowd that he allegedly had sexual relations with 14 year old GIRLS. Under the law in jurisdiction I believe that constitutes pedophilia. I understand it isn't the Hall of Fame of Saints but sex with underage GIRLS is degenerate.
You are mistaken.Why exaggerate? He was good enough and successful enough to not have to make him out to be something that he wasn't. He was a great ball player. He was very much a player of his era. The Big Red Machine was one of 5/6 greatest teams ever and he was central to them. Isn't that enough? I love the discourse and that is why I offer my opjinion. I would like to support my comments if you would like to hear them,.
@@user-hs8xn7le4z Lol. Not mistaken, All-time hits leader, 17x all-star, MVP, ROY, etc. etc. classifies him as one of the all-time greats. Everyone knows that, even Rob. He just misspoke.
Pete Rose took my cousin's spot at 2nd base at Cincinnati - and the rest is history. In my book, Ted Williams was THE greatest hitter to ever play, especially if you place reasonable stats in place of the years he lost due to military service, not overkill, just what one would have reasonably expected his output to be. He's at nearly 700 HR and hitting closer to .350. Of course, there are a lot of "what ifs".
@@brendanjobe6895 If I had played baseball instead of working at McDonalds for 24 years, I would have easily had 800 HRs. but I missed too much time to fast food service.
@@brendanjobe6895 I tend to agree about Williams, but now you are going off topic. My original comment about Rose stands. He's in the Top 40-50 of all lists ever created about MLB players..
As much as I dislike Pete Rose, because of how Rose damaged the game by betting on the game and then lying over and over about gambling on the game; contrast that with Pete's pure enthusiasm and love of the game, coupled with his remarkable memory of the players, he played with, especially many of the all time greats, including Willie Mays and his Cincinnati Reds as well as his Philadelphia Phillies teammates.
If a convicted felon can run for President of the United States, but Pete Rose can't be put in the Hall of Fame...something is terribly wrong with our country.
Willie led the League in homers 4 times and led the League in stolen bases 4 times!Most career putouts of any outfielder,most double plays for any outfielder of the last 80 years or so.Also had just about the highest success % of taking the extra base.
Never ever saw Pete make a mental mistake…saw him get hits on intentional walk…he is the main reason the Reds won the last game of the 1975 World Series…by hustling
Having grown up in HOUSTON for the most part, although I was not born there, I remember this: UNTIL..until after CEDENO during one incident was drinking and subsequently involved with the involuntary manslaughter-charged offseason fatal shooting in the Dominican of his mistress girlfriend- I remember he was given a parafin test to determine if he shot the gun that killed that woman, spending time in jail for 20 days until he was released- he was magnificent, and was the guy that LEO DUROCHER his ASTROS manager called a 5-tool player who was as good in the short term at that time, as MAYS was at a similar age. After the injury that CC suffered from that offseason calamity that he called “an accidental shooting” one eventually ruled as two drinkers playing around with a loaded gun- he was never the same player. CEDENO went from perennial ALL STAR and phenomenal generational wunderkind from ‘72-76, during ages 21-25, to just a solid player, and then later, all the way down to just a decent platoon bench player in his mid-30’s period. Injuries also plagued him a lot.. He retired at about age 37, something like that.. That gunplay likely cost him the HALL OF FAME. More importantly, his actions along with her’s cost a woman her life. R.I.P., Senorita.
One of this guy's favorite things about Willie Mays is "he never held a grudge against society for how he was being treated." You people are something else. Just be happy and take it is what you guys like while not doing anything to help change the situation. As long as you have your cushy life and no one can make you study history, all is good in the world. Who cares what WM had to go through as long as he had that joy and played really well. What a joke. But if you were being treated the way he was being treated you would have held more than a grudge, you would wage war, remember the Revolutionary War? Gosh the way you still treat black people, your expectations of them is well, inhumane.
🎯 People were amazed at Reggie Jackson’s blunt talk about the racism he endured as a player. White people aren’t used to hearing blunt talk about race. Makes them too uncomfortable.
@@DJ-bj8ku It's way past the time for those who don't know, American blacks lived under apartheid. I'm 75 years-old, born and raised in America, and I remember when blacks couldn't vote in elections or eat in many restaurants in our country.
little league has ruined baseball as the control of the parents make the kids think they cant go out an just play. where I grew up in a really small town we had no little league so we made our own games. the managers of little league now do not practice the kids hard enough and it is being shown on the field now
Something people never talk about is the fact most Negro Baseball Players were not happy about Jackie and Willie because the life of a Negro Leaguer was a good one - much better than Triple AAA - When the Negro Leagues shut down , it put a lot of people out of good jobs - the people who needed the jobs the most
What was bad about Rose d gambling was betting against his own team as a manager thats not a real love of the game kind of a up yours there that was the black sox world series days of 1919 when players were paid peanuts and treated lousy by the owners
REGGIE JACKSON got his nickname while playing DOUBLE-A ball in BIRMINGHAM in the same park that MAYS played in with the BLACK BARONS. Jackson’s sobriquet was also “BUCK” because it was ALSO MAYS’ BIRMINGHAM RICKWOOD originated nickname, coming before WM’s NY baseball GIANTS playing days.
