Pete Rose Dies: MLB Legend Was 83

Pete Rose, a Major League Baseball legend, has died. He was 83.

Rose died on September 30 in his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to TMZ. “The family is asking for privacy at this time,” Rose’s agent, Ryan Fiterman of Fiterman Sports, said when confirming his death.

The MLB player and manager played first and second bases as well as the outfield during his career, which spanned 24 seasons. He holds the MLB record for most career hits, with a total of 4,256, has a career batting average of .303, and was an 18-time All Star, the MVP for the 1975 World Series, and the leader of a two-championship dynasty. He hit a career-high 16 home runs in 1966.

Rose was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on April 14, 1941, and he broke into baseball in his hometown with the Cincinnati Reds in 1963. (An uncle, Buddy Bloebaum, had been working as a scout and got him a try-out.) He was given the nickname “Charlie Hustle” after sprinting to first place when he was walked during a spring training game. His first hit came at his 12th at bat on April 13, 1963, five days after his first MLB game. He batted .273, which landed him the National League Rookie of the Year honor.

In 1965, he became the league’s top hitter in the first of nine consecutive seasons (he was batting above .300). Along with future Hall-of-Famers Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Tony Pérez, he was part of a team that was a Major League Baseball powerhouse throughout most of the 1970s, with two World Series wins. He then won a third ring in 1980 with the Phillies.

Rose moved over to the Montreal Expose in 1984 and got his 4,000th career hit against the Phillies; he was the second player in history to reach that milestone. Late in the season, he was traded back to the Reds as a player and manager and broke Ty Cobb’s all-time hitting record on September 11, 1985 (with his 4,192nd hit). He finished playing in 1986 but remained at the helm of the Reds until 1989. However, it was revealed that he gambled on baseball games as both a player and manager. The MLB banned Rose from baseball.

The IRS also charged Rose with filing false tax returns, particularly for failing to declare gambling winnings and sums he had charged for autographed merchandise. He pled guilty and was sentenced to five months’ imprisonment at a federal penitentiary in Illinois, a $50,000 fine, payment of $366,041 in back taxes, and 1000 hours of community service. In 1991, after his release, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, amended its induction criteria to exclude anyone on MLB’s “permanently ineligible” list, which included Rose.

In his 2004 memoir, My Prison without Bars, Rose admitted to betting on Reds games while a player and manager for the team, but he did note he never bet against the team.

In 2004, the ESPN’s telefim Hustle, starring Tom Sizemore as Rose, was released. It chronicled his off-field battles.

Rose first married Karolyn Englehardt in 1964. The two had two children and divorced in 1980. Then, in 1984, he married Carol Woliung; they officially divorced in 2011. However, Rose was in a relationship with Kiana Kim since 2009. A TLC reality show, Pete Rose: Hits & Mrs., documented their pending nuptials and family in 2013.