Everybody's favorite gamblin' ball player, Pete Rose had a few opinions on the game, while speaking at the Pete Rose Baseball Camp at Valencia High.
The LA Times reports on what Rose had to say about the recent collision of Giants catcher Buster Posey, and Florida's Scott Cousins:
"Buster Posey got hurt because his leg was underneath his other one. If he had gotten hurt from the collision, he would have been knocked out. Buster had a big disadvantage, just like Ray Fosse had a big disadvantage against me in the 1970 All-Star game. The disadvantage is this: When the catcher does not have the ball, he is at the mercy of the runner. If the catcher has the ball, the runner is at the mercy of the catcher, because if [the catcher] is going to plant himself and get ready for the collision with the ball in his hand, you're in trouble as a runner. Buster didn't have the ball. Ray Fosse was reaching out for the ball. If Buster had the ball waiting for the guy, nothing would have happened except [Cousins] would have been out."
Pete continued to give his opinion about a possible rule change,
"I'm not going to change any rule, because Cousins is a good, hard-nosed baseball player. . . . Buster is a great, young player, and you hate to see anybody get hurt, but the guy slid within the rules of the game, and you can't take that away from him.
"Your obligation as a baserunner is to try and be safe within the rules. OK? A lot of these catchers don't understand that they are blocking the plate and they don't have the ball. You're not allowed to block the plate without the ball.
"My advice to anybody while I was playing was if you don't have the ball, don't block the base when I'm coming, because there's going to be a collision."
