Pete Rose: Ortiz a 'borderline' Hall of Famer

Pete Rose isn't jumping on the David Ortiz-to-Cooperstown bandwagon just yet.

Baseball's all-time hit king may respect the retiring Boston Red Sox slugger and his remarkable career, but stopped short of calling the 40-year-old a full-fledged Hall of Famer.

"Borderline," Rose said on the FOX All-Star broadcast, according to Pat Bradley of NESN. "Because of how many hits he has. But if he plays a couple more years, he’s a cinch."

Though it's possible Rose made the comment in jest, calling Ortiz's case "borderline" is sure to draw the ire of many baseball fans, particularly those in New England. Ortiz's 2,400 career hits are well behind Rose's 4,256, but he's made up for that shortcoming with 525 homers - 19th all-time - and 618 doubles, the 11th-most in history, among other records.

He's also having perhaps his most remarkable run in 2016 as he says goodbye to baseball, coming into the All-Star break leading the league in doubles, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS, while sitting second in the AL in batting average.

Despite his Hall of Fame comment, Rose was very quick to give credit to Ortiz for what he's doing on his farewell tour, and even wondered out loud why Big Papi - who said last month that he's in too much pain to return in 2017 - is so eager to walk away from the game.

"Why would you want to quit if you're David Ortiz?" the 75-year-old said Tuesday on FOX Sports 1's "Speak For Yourself." "He owns Boston, he's having an MVP-type year, his team's within reach of Baltimore to go to the playoffs. ... Everybody tells me he's gonna retire, there's no way he's gonna retire unless he hates baseball, and I don't think a man that plays like he's playing hates baseball."