Controversial MLB Hits Leader Pete Rose Dies at 83 | MLB

Pete Rose, the baseball leader and fallen idol who shattered his historic accomplishments and Hall of Fame dreams by betting on the game he loved and once embodied, has died. He was 83.

Stephanie Wheatley, a spokeswoman for Clark County, Nevada, confirmed on behalf of the coroner that Rose died Monday. Wheatley said a cause of death has not yet been determined.

For fans who came of age in the 1960s and ’70s, no player was more exciting than No. 14 of the Cincinnati Reds. “Charlie Hustle” was a sassy superstar with shaggy hair, a fierce nose and muscular forearms. Rose was old-fashioned, a conscious throwback to the early days of baseball. He crouched down, scowled at the plate, and ran at full speed for the first time, even after taking a step.

A 17-time All-Star, Rose played against three World Series winners. He was National League MVP in 1973 and World Series MVP two years later. He holds the major league record for games played (3,562) and plate appearances (15,890), as well as the NL record for longest hitting streak (44).

But no milestone reached his 4,256 hits, surpassing his hero Ty Cobb’s 4,191 and demonstrating his excellence, regardless of the fame that followed. Rose’s secret was consistency and longevity. In 24 seasons, all but six of which played exclusively for the Reds, Rose posted 200 or more hits ten times and over 180 four other times. He batted .303 overall, including when moving from second base to the outfield and from the moved to first base at third and led the league in hits seven times.

“Every summer three things will happen,” Rose said: “The grass will turn green, the weather will get hot and Pete Rose will get 200 hits and bat .300.”

He caught up with Cobb’s on September 8, 1985 and surpassed him three days later in Cincinnati, with Rose’s mother and teenage son Pete Jr. among those in attendance.

Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth said Rose “has reserved a prominent spot in Cooperstown.” After the game, a 2-0 Reds win in which Rose scored both runs, he received a call from President Ronald Reagan.

“Your reputation and your legacy are safe,” Reagan told him. “It will take a long time for someone to stand where you are now.”

Four years later he was gone. In March 1989, Ueberroth, soon to be succeeded by Bart Giamatti, announced that his office was conducting a “comprehensive investigation into the serious allegations” against Rose. He had reportedly relied on a network of bookmakers, friends and others in the gambling world to place bets on baseball games, including some involving the Reds. Rose denied any wrongdoing, but the investigation found that “the collected witness statements, along with the documentary evidence and telephone records, reveal extensive betting activities by Pete Rose in connection with professional baseball games and, in particular, Cincinnati Reds games during the 1985 season.” 1986 and 1987 baseball Seasons.”

Betting on baseball has been an original sin since 1920, when several members of the Chicago White Sox were expelled for throwing the 1919 World Series – against the Cincinnati Reds. Baseball Rule 21, posted in every professional clubhouse, states: “Any player, umpire, club or league official or employee who wagers any amount on a baseball game in connection with which the bettor has an obligation to perform will be declared permanently banned .” .”

Teammates had already been worried about Rose in the 1970s. He apparently never bet against his own team, but even betting on the Reds made him vulnerable to blackmail and raised questions about whether his baseball decisions were based on his own financial interests.

In August 1989, Giamatti announced at a press conference in New York that Rose had agreed to a lifetime ban from baseball, a decision that had barred him from baseball’s Hall of Fame induction in 1991. Rose tried to downplay the news, insisting that he had never bet on baseball and that he would eventually be reinstated.

But the ban remained in place and Rose never made it into the hall during her lifetime. His status has long been debated. Rose’s supporters, including Donald Trump, who tweeted in 2015, a year before he was elected president, “I can’t believe Major League Baseball just rejected @PeteRose_14 for the Hall of Fame.” He paid the price. So ridiculous – let him in!”

Meanwhile, Rose’s story changed. In his November 1989 memoir, Rose again asserted his innocence, but reversed course in 2004. He was desperate to come back and in doing so he practically ruined his chances. He would continue to spend time in casinos, insisting that he was there for his promotion and not gambling. He believed he had “messed up” and his father would have been ashamed, but he still bet on baseball, albeit legally.

“I don’t think betting is morally wrong. “I don’t even think it’s morally wrong to bet on baseball,” he wrote in Play Hungry, a memoir published in 2019. “There are legal and illegal ways, and betting on baseball the way I did was against the rules of baseball.”

His disgrace was made all the worse because no one seemed to live for baseball more than Rose. He remembered details of long-ago games and could quote the darkest statistics about players on other teams. He was as relentless in spring training as he was in the postseason when he dueled Buddy Harrelson of the New York Mets during the 1973 NL playoffs.

Rose the man was never admitted to Cooperstown, but his career was well represented. Items in the Baseball Hall include his helmet from his 1973 MVP season, the bat he used in 1978 when his hitting streak reached 44, and the cleats he wore in 1985, the day he became a hitter -King of the game was named.