Montreal Expos: Pete Rose facing new allegations of baseball misconduct

Former baseball great Pete Rose continues to make headlines, this time over allegedly corking his bats while he played for the Montreal Expos.

Well, the Hit King just seems to find ways to get himself in the news. This time it’s over allegedly corking his bats while he was a member of the Montreal Expos during the 1984 season. Pete Rose, the all-time hits leader in Major League Baseball, is no stranger to controversy.

Rose may be best known these days in baseball circles as being the man banned from professional baseball for gambling on the game while he was a player/manager for the Cincinnati Reds. This has kept him and his 4,256 lifetime hits out of Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

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Rose spent all but one of his 24-year playing career in either Cincinnati or Philadelphia. He was signed by the Montreal Expos in ’84 but traded to the Reds midway through the season.

Using the mantra he was a singles hitter and no one checks the bats of singles hitters, Rose allegedly kept a corking machine under tarps in a room in the visitor’s clubhouse.

These allegations are being made by a former Olympic Stadium groundskeeper who alleges he has first-hand knowledge of this crime against baseball.

Hitters cork their bats to increase the speed at which they swing the lighter lumber. Those who have been accused, or have been caught corking bats are usually home run hitters. Rose hit only 160 career home runs over his long career. He was 43 years old when he played in Montreal and might have been looking for a way to get the bat around quicker.

In his half-season with the Montreal Expos, Rose hit an unspectacular .259 with no home runs, though he did collect his 4,000th career hit in an Expos uniform.

The timing of this news being released is kind of strange though, and as a whole, I am not surprised by the allegations. Rose was a heck of a baseball player and for what he accomplished between the foul lines deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame. He would take liberties with what the game allowed him to get a creative advantage.

Rose would bunt late in games to keep his NL best 44-game hitting streak alive, even when the winner of the game was already decided. For as much as he was Charlie Hustle, he was Shady Chuck and it wouldn’t surprise me if he corked a bat or two.

Pete Rose, all-time hits leader, and now allegedly master of deception as well.