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| | Tuesday, December 14 Rose is Player of the Decade for 1970-79 | |||||
Pete Rose was the clear favorite when ESPN.com users cast their vote for baseball's Player of the Decade for 1970-79. Rose pulled in more than half of the 22,297 votes that were cast for this category.
The voting was conducted on ESPN.com in conjunction with the Players Choice Awards in Las Vegas on Nov. 5. ESPN.com users picked winners for the first nine decades of the century, and the players themselves will select the player of the '90s. The winner of that honor will be announced as part of the Players Choice Awards show, which will be televised on ESPN (8:30 p.m. ET).
Johnny BenchThe greatest catcher of all time according to many, Bench combined great power with a great defensive reputation. Interestingly, his best season came in 1970 when he was just 22. He hit .293 with an NL-best 45 HRs and 148 RBI to win the MVP. He won his second MVP in 1972. Bench his 290 homers in the decade and drove in 100 runs six times. Steve Carlton Carlton won 20 games four times in the '70s and two Cy Youngs (he won two more in the '80s). His 1972 season with the Phillies was one for the ages: he went 27-10 with a 1.97 ERA and 310 strikeouts. The rest of the team won just 32 games. Joe Morgan One of the most underrated players of all time, Morgan hit his peak when he won back-to-back to MVP awards in 1975-76. Not coincidentally, the Big Red Machine won the World Series both years. Morgan had good power (268 home runs) but his biggest strengths were a great eye (1,865 career walks) and great basestealing numbers (689 steals). Pete Rose Before he was the Hit King, he was Charlie Hustle. He missed just nine games the entire decade, led the league in hits four times and was NL MVP in 1973 when he hit .338. He hit over .300 nine times in the '70s and seven times scored at least 100 runs. Tom Seaver Perhaps the most amazing thing about Seaver is that in 20 years of pitching his winning pitching exceeded his team's 16 times. He won the Cy Young in 1969, 1973 and 1975 and didn't win it 1970 or '71, even though he led the league in ERA and strikeouts both years. For the decade, he won 164 games and led the league three times in ERA and five times in K's. | ALSO SEE Baseball's Players Choice Awards Player of 1900-09: Honus Wagner Player of 1910-19: Ty Cobb Player of the '20s: Babe Ruth Player of the '30s: Jimmie Foxx Player of the '40s: Ted Williams Player of the '50s: Mickey Mantle Player of the '60s: Willie Mays Player of the '80s: Mike Schmidt  | |||||
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