Perez, who came up to the big leagues as a third baseman before shifting to first, filling the Reds' glaring need on the right side of the infield, didn't have the eye-catching statistics, the flair for publicity, nor was he good at making himself available for commercials and endorsements.
Perez, who drove in 1,652 runs (300 more than Rose), has to be considered the most consistent RBI performer of his generation.
Perez may have concluded that the Hall of Fame was not to be for him based on past trends.
Perez, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame Sunday, left Cuba in 1960 to join the Reds' farm club at Geneva, N.Y. He returned home after his first three years in the minors.
Perez was decent his first year, but he showed his first flashes of greatness during his second year at Geneva, hitting.348 with 27 home runs and 127 RBI.
Tony and Pituka split their time between Miami, where Perez is director of international relations for the Florida Marlins, and Puerto Rico.
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