Kansas City Royals' George Brett Collects Career Hit 1,500

On August 29, 1982, Hall of Famer and Kansas City Royals great George Brett gets career hit 1,500.

Over his 21 major league seasons, Brett, a lifetime .305 hitter, would go on to collect 3,154 hits, consisting of 665 doubles, 137 triples and 317 home runs. He also had 1,596 RBIs, 1,583 runs scored, 1096 walks and 201 stolen bases.

Three times Brett led the league in hits, with his highest single season total coming in 1976 with 215.

Brett is also one of only four players to hit for a .300 batting average, have 300 or more home runs and have over 3,000 hits in a career. The others include three more Hall of Famers, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Stan Musial.

Brett finished his career with 13 All-Star appearances, with 13 consecutive appearances from 1976-1988. He was a three-time Silver Slugger Award winner in 1980, 1985 and 1988. He was a three time American League Batting Champion in 1976, 1980 and 1990. He was a Gold Glove winner in 1985 and that same year he won the World Series with the Royals. On the way to winning the World Series, Brett was named the ALCS MVP.

In 1980 Brett won his only MVP Award, as well the Hutch Award, which is given annually to an active Major League Baseball (MLB) player who "best exemplifies the fighting spirit and competitive desire" of Fred Hutchinson, by persevering through adversity.

In 1986 Brett won the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, which is given annually to a Major League Baseball (MLB) player who best exhibits the character and integrity of Lou Gehrig, both on the field and off it.

The Kansas City Royals retired his no. 5 jersey in 1994 and in 1999 he was inducted into Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame with 98.2 percent of the vote on the first ballot in which he appeared. It was the fourth highest percentage of the vote given to a player ever just behind Cal Ripken Jr., Nolan Ryan, and Tom Seaver.

In 2013 Brett joined the Royals in a different capacity as a hitting coach.

Major League Baseball Suspends Pete Rose For Life

On August 24, 1989, former Major League Baseball player and manager Pete Rose is suspended from baseball for life for gambling on the sport.

Rose had a long and storied career, which saw stints playing and coaching on the Cincinnati Reds, Montreal Expos and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Rose would total 4,256 hits in his career with 3,215 singles.

Rose finished his career with a .303 batting average, 4,256 hits, 746 doubles, 135 triples, 160 home runs, 1,314 RBIs, 2,165 runs scored, 198 stolen bases and 1,566 walks.

Rose has 67 more hits than Ty Cobb who is the second ranked player on the list, and nearly 500 more hits than Hank Aaron who is ranked third all-time. Rose would also earn 17 more Major League records during his career, th

e most notable behind the hits record is most career games played, 3,562, which is 254 more than Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox who played in 3,308 games between 1961 and 1983. 

Over the course of his career Rose played every single game of the season eight times, and five times led the league in games played. Rose led the league in batting average three times, with his highest single season average being .348 in 1969. He led the league in hits seven times with his highest single season hit total 230, coming in 1973. He also led the league in runs scored four times. His highest single season total of runs scored came in 1976 with 130 runs scored.

Rose would win the National League Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in 1973 and was in the top 10 in MVP voting 10 times over his career. 1973 also was a season Rose was the National League batting champion. Rose was a three time World Series Champion in 1975, 1976 with the Reds and 1980 with the Phillies.

Rose won the Rookie of the Year award in 1963, was a Gold Glove winner twice, and a Silver Slugger once.

Rose would be selected to 17 All-Star games in his 24-season career. The most famous occurrence of Rose in an All-Star game came in 1970, when Rose smashed into then Cleveland Indians catcher Ray Fosse on a play at the plate. Rose would give Fosse a separated shoulder with the incident, but scored the winning run in the process.

Rose even though the all-time hit leader in MLB, and owner of over 17 Major League records has not been elected into Cooperstown the baseball Hall of Fame because of gambling on baseball.

Reggie Jackson Is Enshrined In Cooperstown

On August 1, 1993, slugger Reggie Jackson is enshrined in Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

During his 21-season career Reggie Jackson played for the Kansas City and Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees and the California Angels.

Jackson finished his career as a 14-time All-Star, including eight consecutive appearances from 1977-1984. He was a five time World Series Champion, including three consecutive with the Oakland Athletics from 1972-1974 and back-to-back titles with the New York Yankees in 1977-1978. He was the World Series MVP in 1973 and 1977. He won the American League MVP in 1973, and was awarded the Babe Ruth award in 1977. He was also a two-time Silver Slugger Award winner in 1980 and 1982.

Jackson was in the MVP discussion 13 times, while in the top five in voting five times.

Jackson ended his playing career with a .262 batting average with 2,584 hits with 463 doubles, 49 triples, 563 home runs, 1,375 walks with 1,702 RBIs, 1,551 runs scored and 228 steals. He struck out a major league record 2,597 times.

Jackson led the league in runs scored twice, with his highest single season total coming in 1969 when he scored 123 times. He led the league in home runs four times, although his highest single season total came in 1969 with 47 when he did not lead the league. He also led the league in RBIs once with 117 in 1973, although his highest single season total came in 1969 with 118. He did not lead the league that year.

Jackson was the first major leaguer to hit one hundred home runs for three different clubs, having hit over 100 for the Athletics, Yankees, and Angels.

Jackson is also the only player in the 500 home run club that never had consecutive 30 home run seasons in a career.

Jackson, while a home run slugger, also was the all-time leader in strikeouts. Over the course of his career he led the league in strikeouts five times with his highest single season total coming in 1968 with 171.

Because of his post-season heroics with the New York Yankees where he hit three home runs in a single game during the 1977 World Series Jackson has been nicknamed “Mr. October.”

Jackson was inducted into the Cooperstown Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993 with 93.6 percent of the vote on the first ballot in which he was on.

The Oakland Athletics retired his no. 9 jersey in 2004 and the New York Yankees retired his no. 44 jersey in 1993.

MLB Investigates Pete Rose

On March 20, 1989, Major League Baseball’s Pete Rose, who was then the manager of the Cincinnati Reds, announced by the MLB will be under investigation for gambling on baseball.

Pete Rose as a manager of the Cincinnati Red in 1989.

A few months later on, May 9, 1989, Special Investigator John Dowd delivers his report to Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti. A few months after that on August 24, 1989, Pete Rose voluntarily agrees to a lifetime ban from baseball. The agreement Rose signs with Giamatti contains no formal findings, but Giamatti states he believes Rose bet on baseball. Later that same day, Rose denies the claim.

Eight years later in September, of 1997, Rose applies for reinstatement to baseball.

Seven years after his application for reinstatement, as baseball is set to announce the election of Paul Molitar and Dennis Eckersley into the Hall of Fame, Rose admits he bet on baseball.

Rose, most likely the best hitter of his time, and maybe of all time accumulated 4,256 hits in his career, which still marks first all-time. He played in 3,562, the most all-time. Rose also racked up the most at-bats for any player all-time with 14,053, singles with 3,215 and times on base with 5,929.

Pete Rose doing one of his iconic head first dives as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1975.

Some of Rose’s other accomplishments include, 1963 NL Rookie of the Year award, 1973 NL MVP, 1975 World Series MVP, two gold gloves, one silver slugger award and 17 All-Star Game nominations.

Rose, who will most likely never be elected into the Hall of Fame, has earned his place in the Hall of Fame statistically, but because of his gambling issues, their might be a chance he will never dawn the tan jacket.