Interesting ESPN poll regarding Pete Rose's lifetime ban

[the 'stache]

You know, one thing that's already been mentioned brings up a fascinating question. Rose had younger players on his team that he could have played, players that you have to believe would have helped the team win at least an extra game or two in 1985. Eric Davis, who would become a superstar the next season, only played in 56 games in 1985. He only batted .247, but in the 122 at bats he got, he hit 8 home runs and stole 16 bases in 19 tries. And an .803 OPS is quite good for a 23 year old part time player. Let's assume he played full time, which, for Davis, never meant more than 500 at bats in a season. He could have had 488 at bats, no problem. At that pace, he hits 32 home runs, and steals 64 bases. Some gentle shuffling of the lineup puts Davis, a future Gold Glover, in the outfield. With him playing instead of Rose, you've improved your defense exponentially. You've added more power and a hell of a lot more speed. The Reds were a much better team with Davis, even though he wasn't yet the player he would eventually become, then they were without him.

So here's that question, and I wonder if anybody has ever thought of this. Did Rose insert himself into the lineup not to get the all-time hits record, but to weaken his team just enough to help his gambling habit? That might sound crazy at first. But is it?

Rose is the manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Unless the team owner or GM stepped in to have Rose fired, Rose was going to continue managing the team, meaning he could continue putting himself into the lineup until the cows came home. He was going to break Cobb's record eventually, and I don't think it mattered to Rose when it happened, so long as it did.

But, if Rose is betting on the game he was about to manage and play in, doesn't taking young and talented Davis out, and putting way past his prime Pete Rose in make it more likely the Reds were going to lose? That coupled with any one of a number of different lineup changes, or substitutions during the game, could have helped give the other team a better chance to win. Remember, when the White Sox threw the 1919 series, they had to bring in Christy Mathewson and a few other former players to watch the game, and see if everything was legit. Joe Jackson was his normal excellent self at the plate. But he, and many of his other teammates, made just a few errors at inopportune moments. And those errors came up big.

The Reds ended up 5.5 games behind the Dodgers. Giving Davis the number of at bats I mentioned would have raised his WAR by 3.3. Now you're 2 games back instead of 5.5. There's pressure on the Dodgers that wasn't here before.

And since we are relatively certain that Rose was betting on baseball while he was a player/manager, I wouldn't put anything by him. Rose knew the game as well as anybody in the game. He knew how to make tiny adjustments that could impact the outcome.

By the way, how good was Eric Davis? He absolutely exploded once he was allowed to play. If you ask me, his 1986 season had one of the most absolutely stupid stat lines I've ever seen. A .277 average, 97 runs score, a slash line of .378/.523/.901 at age 24...with 27 home runs and 80 stolen bases...in 415 at bats. He only played in 132 games, and he hit 27 home runs, and stole 80 bases. Forget the games played, and look at the at bats. Now, he never approached 600 at bats in a season, but he should have. And if Davis had come to the plate 600 times that season, he'd have hit about 40 home runs, and he would have stolen about 120 bases. He had as much God given ability as anybody that I've seen. It's too bad that he wasn't able to play longer. The next season, 1987, he played in only 129 games. 474 at bats. He scored 120 runs, had 37 home runs, drove in 100 runs, and stole 50 bases in 56 tries. And walked 84 times. A .991 OPS with 50 stolen bases. And a Gold Glove in center field. Eric Davis could have broken records if it weren't for the injuries he suffered when he played. He is one of the very best power and speed combinations the game has ever seen. He was insanely good as a base stealer. Not only did he steal a lot, but he was efficient. Before the 1996 season, when he turned 34, and was caught 9 times in 32 attempts, Davis was stealing at a pace pretty much unequaled in the game's history. He'd stolen 306 bases in 351 attempts, which is an eye popping 87.2% success rate. For his career, he stole 349 bases in 415 attempts. That's the 4th best all-time for players with over 300 attempts in the live ball era.