2006-07-31 13:34:56 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Baseball
It's hard to say what might have kept him from being the all-time hits leader. You have to appreciate that he played 20 seasons with San Diego, but upon looking at the link below, he averaged 122 games per season. Now, given his injuries the last two seasons and the part-time play of his rookie season, perhaps he averaged more than that when relatively healthy. Straight up, though, he missed (on average) 40 games per season - over 20 seasons, that's 800 total games, or the equivalent of (almost) 5 full seasons.
He had 3141 hits over 20 seasons, or an average of 157.5 hits per season. Extrapolate that rate (157.5 hits in 122 games) to 162 games, and you get just over 209 hits per *full* season. Over 20 seasons, that's 4182 hits.....*if* he plays those 3240 consecutive games.
As you can see, it would have been a tough road for him to have passed Rose's 4256 hits, especially since he played the outfield much of his career. I don't think weight is the main factor - Rose was just a freak.
2006-07-31 14:00:21 · answer #1 · answered by wheezer_april_4th_1966 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Tony Gwynn is probably the best hitter since Pete Rose, but lacked the drive that both Pete and Ty Cobb had.
2006-07-31 21:28:44 · answer #2 · answered by patoleduc68 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Gwynn played until he was 41. He would have needed to play 6-7 more years to catch Rose. His weight isn't why he wouldn't make it.
2006-07-31 20:46:20 · answer #3 · answered by danceman528 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You never know. A better body might have added 5 or 6 years to his career. That's over a thousand extra hits.
2006-07-31 20:38:46 · answer #4 · answered by ratboy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, Tony was a great hitter but I don't think he could have caught Cobb or Rose.
2006-07-31 20:37:01 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋