Pete Rose, Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader, has passed away.
The Cincinnati Reds confirmed Rose’s passing on social media Monday night. Rose was 83 years old.
“Our hearts are deeply saddened by the news of Pete’s passing,” Reds Principal Owner and Managing Partner Bob Castellini stated in a release. “He was one of the fiercest competitors the game has ever seen, and every team he played for was better because of him. Pete was a Red through and through. No one loved the game more than Pete and no one loved Pete more than Reds Country. We must never forget what he accomplished.”
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Rose played in 24 MLB seasons spanning from 1963-86. He tallied 4,256 hits in his career.
A Cincinnati native, Rose made his Major League debut at home during a 5-2 Reds win over Pittsburgh on April 8, 1963. He tripled for his first hit three games later on April 13 against Pirates right-hander Bob Friend, who threw a complete game during a 12-4 contest that day.
Twenty-two years later on Sept. 11, 1985, Rose singled against San Diego righty Eric Show for hit No. 4,192 surpassing Ty Cobb and breaking MLB’s all-time hits record.
Rose earned 17 All-Star selections during his career. He won three World Series, two with Cincinnati in 1975-76 and one with Philadelphia in 1980.
Rose finished a career .303 hitter. He also holds MLB’s all-time records with 15,878 plate appearances, 14,053 at-bats and 3,562 games played. Rose earned World Series MVP in 1975, National League MVP in 1973, Rookie of the Year in 1963, two Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger award.
In 1984, six years after departing Cincinnati, the Reds named Rose player-manager for the final 41 games of the season. Rose held the role through 1989.
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MLB investigated Rose in 1989 for betting on baseball, and then-commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti announced that August that Rose had been banned from the game for life, keeping him from being elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. According to multiple reports, Rose initially denied betting on baseball but admitted to doing so in 2004.
Rose gambled on baseball in the 1980s. According to Hillel Italie of The Associated Press, Rose bet during the 1985-87 seasons and later acknowledged what he did was against MLB’s rules.
While Rose doesn’t have a place in Cooperstown, he does have a place in the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. Rose was inducted into Cincinnati’s hall in 2016 and his uniform No. 14 was retired by the Reds.
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