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Did you know Pete broke Cobb's record earlier?

Posted at 10:17 AM, Sep 11, 2015
and last updated 2015-09-11 10:17:54-04

Did you know that Ty Cobb actually had two fewer hits? That means Reds great Pete Rose actually set the all-time hit record several days before.

Joel Luckhaupt, who is the statistical analyst for Reds games on Fox Sports Ohio and a WCPO contributor, shared this story:

Cobb actually had 4,189 hits. He had one game double-counted in 1910 (which also won him a batting title over Nap Lajoie), giving him two extra hits. Pete Palmer discovered this before Rose broke the record ... but Commissioner Bowie Kuhn refused to update the record book. Even today, MLB.com lists Cobb with 4,191. In reality, Rose broke the record 30 years ago (this Tuesday) with a hit off of Reggie Patterson. But as I like to say, that doesn't change the moment that was 4,192. There's a difference between moments and records.

Reds historian Greg Rhodes, also a WCPO contributor, added this:

"By 1985, the quest for 4,192 was so overwhelming that the 4,189 figure had been forgotten, not that it ever had much traction outside the baseball history/stat community. The best measure of that is that Pete didn’t attach any significance to his hit 4,190 in Chicago. 

"He gave 4,191 to Reds hitting instructor Billy DeMars, as I recall. And he pocketed and then sold 4,192.

"But he didn’t ask for 4,190. How do I know? Because that ball is in the possession of the Reds Hall of Fame, as well as most of Pete’s other hits from that year leading up to 4,192. Thanks to Rick Stowe and the clubhouse guys, they collected all of Pete’s hit-balls, beginning a week or so after the season started (retrieving the hit-balls from the field of play), and putting them in manila envelopes with date and hit number written on the envelope. (Reds former chief operating officer) John Allen presented these to me in 2004 as we were planning to open the museum."

RELATED: 4,192 almost happened in Chicago

John Erardi has covered baseball in Cincinnati for 30 years. He is a two-time Associated Press Ohio Sports Writer of the Year and co-author of six books on the Reds, including "Big Red Dynasty" and "Crosley Field."