When you think of the records that Pete Rose accumulated over his Major League career, one inevitably rises to the top — the all-time mark for hits he established in 1985 to surpass Ty Cobb.
That 4192 (record-breaking number of hits) was such a big number, it inspired T-shirts, license plates, and all sorts of other memorabilia.
In the end, Charlie Hustle finished with 4256 safeties, and we’d later learn he outdistanced Cobb by more than we thought due to some record-keeping errors in the early 20th century.
But as monumental as Rose’s hit mark stands today, even in the face of all the controversy and disgrace that has followed, the fact is, it’s just one of many Pete Rose records lined up in the roll call of baseball history.
Here, then, is a rundown of the records Rose holds, broken down by overall MLB marks and National League-only marks.
Oh, and as you might expect, there have been plenty of baseball cards issued over the years commemorating Rose’s accomplishments, so I’ve included a quick discussion of most of those along the way, too.
Let’s hustle to it!
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Major League Records
These are the marks that Rose holds above all other Major Leaguers, regardless of where they played …
Most career at-bats (14,053)
Rose leads second-placer Hank Aaron by nearly 1700 at-bats, but this just isn’t the sort of record that’s sexy enough for its own card.
Most career plate appearances (15,890)
Rose has an even wider lead here (1898), but it’s an even less glamorous record than ABs — no cards that I know of.
Most career hits (4256)
Now THIS record is where it’s at when it comes to Pete Rose … it’s the big one (no, not 700 WLW). This is one that made him a hero (for awhile) and put him in the same breath (and above) with Ty Cobb.
And it’s the one that got Pete some sweet commemorative cardboard, like this 1986 Topps Record Breaker (#206):
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And the 1986 Fleer Super Star Special (#628), with even special-er gold accents:
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Let’s not forget Donruss’s cheeky “Ty Breaking” card, either:
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And then, of course, there was the embarrassment of Rose riches in the base Topps set, beyond that RB card …
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Most career singles (3215)
This one pretty much just came along for the ride with Charlie Hustle’s overall hits records, but Topps used it as a prelude to their 1986 barrage of Rose cards (above) by including him on the #6 Record Breaker card in the 1985 set:
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Most career times on base (5929)
Rose stands 330 safeties ahead of his nearest competition here — that would be Barry Bonds, making for perhaps the most disliked 1-2 on any baseball leaders list ever.
Most career outs (10,328)
With the volume of times Rose came to the plate, it’s probably not a big surprise he made more outs than anyone else in history. As with the other Pete Rose records on this list, “outs” is not close — he leads Aaron by nearly 1200.
Most career games played (3562)
Pete has the lead on Carl Yastrzemski by more than 250 games, but Yaz made all of those appearances for just one team — the Boston Red Sox.
Amazing!
Most winning games played in during career (1972)
You play in the most games in your career, chances are you’re going to rank right up there in winning games, too.
Of course, Rose himself had a lot to do with that, and his teams locked down 1972 victories over his career.
Most career hits by a switch-hitter (4256)
Since Pete was a switch-hitter, he would have owned the record for all-time hits by a switch-hitter once he set the overall record, naturally.
But he actually took down Frankie Frisch‘s mark of 2880 way back in 1977, and Topps commemorated the event with a Record Breaker card (#6) in their 1978 base set.