Baseball legend Pete Rose dies at age 83
Published 8:42 pm Monday, September 30, 2024
Pete Rose, the Major League Baseball legend who was banned from the game for betting on it, has died. He was 83.
Stephanie Wheatley, a spokesperson for Clark County in Nevada, confirmed to media outlets on behalf of the medical examiner that Rose died Monday. Wheatley said his cause and manner of death had not yet been determined. Rose lived in Las Vegas in his later years.
Rose is baseball’s all-time hits leader, one of its all-time greats, and one of its most beloved — and controversial — players.
The 17-time All-Star won three World Series championships. Nicknamed “Charlie Hustle” for his hard-charging style on the diamond, Rose was also the National League Rookie of the Year in 1963; the NL’s Most Valuable Player in 1973; and part of the Cincinnati Reds’ “Big Red Machine” that won back-to-back World Series in 1975 and ‘76. He won three batting titles during his 23-year career.
Rose won another championship with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980 and led that team to a second World Series appearance in 1983.
Rose had a brief stint with the Montreal Expos in 1984 before returning to Cincinnati midway through that season.
Rose’s second stint in his native Cincinnati from 1984-86 came to define his legacy as much as — and perhaps more than — the 21 seasons that preceded them.
On Sept. 11, 1985, Rose singled off San Diego’s Eric Show to break Ty Cobb’s longstanding major league record of 4,191 career hits. Rose retired after the 1986 season with 4,256 hits. It is among nearly two dozen MLB records that Rose holds.
Rose was the Reds’ player-manager from 1984-86, and continued on as manager until 1989 when reports surfaced that he had bet on baseball. Rose admitted to betting on other sports, but not baseball. A report compiled for MLB by lawyer John Dowd documented Rose’s gambling activities and alleged that Rose had bet on 52 Reds games in 1987.
On Aug. 24, 1989, Rose voluntarily accepted a permanent place on baseball’s ineligible list. Being on the list made him ineligible for induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and he spent the rest of his life making unsuccessful attempts to get reinstated.
Although he was never reinstated, Rose stayed around the edges of baseball. He was named to MLB’s All-Century Team in 1999, inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 2016, has memorabilia from his career on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame, and made some appearances with the Reds and Phillies to commemorate historic events in those franchises’ histories..
In a 2004 book, Rose admitted to betting on baseball and other sports while playing for and managing the Reds in the 1980s.
In his later years, Rose lived in Las Vegas and made his living from making paid public appearances and autograph signings.