Pete Rose Says Baseballs Are Juiced, Players Hit Too Many Home Runs
It's induction weekend in Cooperstown. As baseball fans gather to watch legends like Chipper Jones and Jim Thome enter the Hall of Fame, Pete Rose is keeping up his annual tradition of signing autographs down the street from the action.
Although Rose has been banished for life from Major League Baseball for betting on the sport, he still has plenty to say about the current state of the game.
Rose seems to be unhappy about the current number of home runs being hit and suggests that baseballs are doctored, according to USA Today.
"I’m going to argue with baseball until the day I die," Rose said, “that baseball is juiced. I don’t care what anybody says. They’ll say it’s not, which they have to. I saw a ball bounce behind the dugout the other day in Anaheim and it bounced into the second deck. Now, there’s something going on there.
"I saw Bryce Harper break his bat in half, and hit a 420-foot home run in New York. That just doesn’t happen. I know the ballparks are small. It just seems to me that everybody who plays baseball today is a potential home-run hitter.
"You get tired of watching the highlights on MLB and ESPN. Every hit is a home run."
Rose doesn't like fewer baseballs being put in play, saying he's "not too happy" when he watches games these days. The former Reds infielder worries that teams aren't working on the fundamentals enough.
"Too many guys just sit around waiting for that two-run, three-run home runs," Rose said. “The teams that put the ball in play go to the World Series. Houston won the World Series, they put the ball in play a lot."
A new homer-hitting record was set in 2017 with 6,105 shots. In 2016, players hit 5,610 homers. Strikeouts also increased last season. Players were whiffed 40,105 times, up from the 38,982 K's in 2016.
