Since this guy was the worst regular first baseman in either league by a considerable margin during his last few seasons, the only reason he got to this record is that his manager kept blindly writing him into the lineup.

That manager? Why Pete Rose of course.

Rose was brought back to the Reds by owner Marg Schott, another bag of garbage, in what amounted to a publicity stunt. Whatever Rose's ability as a manager (and it didn't seem all that great) his abilities as a player for the last four years of his career were virtually non-existant at a major league level. Rose's shameless pursuit of this record, at a cost to his own team and to the detriment of a couple of player's careers, only serves to diminish him even further, if that is possible.

9/11/85 8:01 pm: Timeless....

While a wonderful achievement at the time, the record was overshadowed when Rose was unceremoniously tossed on his can for betting on the game. A forgettable asterisk in the annals of America's pasttime.

Baseball's greatest hitter breaking the greatest hitting record was something special. If you could have any player of all time, it would be hard not to select Pete. Say what you want; he was the ultimate winner!

It's hard to get excited about this one. If you look at the source of his banishment, where the info that condemned him came from, it's at least as damaging as Balco is to today's stars. The people he was hanging out with were being convicted for steroid distribution. That's why his accusor rolled on him. He was trying to get leniency on a federal distribution of steroids charge. No one wants to carry the taint of steroids back to Rose's era, but the circumstantial evidence is there if anyone bothers to look. Rose was built like a compact car by the time he broke the record. The same signs that appeared to be enough to convict Barry Bonds in the court of public opinion exist to a large extent in the case of Pete Rose.

a great moment. still remember it. Rose is on Par with Cobb. it took them the same amount of time to break the record. Rose hit for average just like Cobb did. a shame he wasted it all gambling on his own team. should've stuck to horses, Pete.

Cobb was far better than Rose, it's not even close, it took Rose so much longer to do it, but he did do it, and he was still a great player and should be in the Hall of Fame.

Big deal, it took the guy 2,700 more at-bats than Cobb to get to 4191, whoopee. Nowhere near one of the best moments.

This is just such a remarkable achievement.

Who cares about Pete Rose? The guy's an absolute scumbag. And if you think there's anything meritorious about this douchewad, you're probably one too.

Heard Rose corked his bat towards the end - that ruined it for me.

I hope Cobb was rolling in his grave. He was such a dirty player.

This is undoubtedly memorable because Rose is THE all-time hits leader. Cobb's record had stood for close to 60 years at 4,191 base knocks until Rose's career culminated when he attained the mark in '85. He went on to finish his career with 4,256 hits. It is a shame that the whole betting controversy has sullied this rare feat and overshadowed Pete's magnificence as a player.

I remember seeing this - an exciting and moving experience. I was especially glad his little boy was there to run out on the field and join him.