01-12-2021, 03:19 PM
(01-11-2021, 04:57 PM)BobK Wrote: My guess would also be Cobb then Honus Wagner.
But I’ll go Pete Rose since Cobb taken
Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle gave Pete Rose the "Charlie Hustle" sobriquet in spring training his rookie year. The legend is that Ford walked him and Rose ran to first, but Ford didn't actually use the Charlie Hustle term until Mantle hit a long home run in spring training, but Rose (playing outfield) sprinted to the wall after a ball that was long gone. Mantle couldn't stand Rose or his style of play and said "If I had played my career hitting singles like Pete (Rose), I'd wear a dress."
And it's true. Rose wasn't very fast, though he hustled. He stole 198 bases but was thrown out 149 times, a terrible percentage. Cobb and Rose had close to the same number of doubles, but Cobb had nearly 3x the triples that Rose did.
Audaces fortuna iuvat
