Pete Rose, the baseball player disqualified for betting, has died at the age of 83

Pete Rosebaseball’s career scoring leader and fallen idol who undermined his historic accomplishments and Hall of Fame dreams by betting on the game he loved and once embodied, has died. He was 83 years old. Last weekend he appeared at an autograph show in Nashville with former teammates Tony Perez, George Foster and Dave Concepcion.

For fans who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s, no player was more exciting than the number 14 of Cincinnati Reds“Charlie Hustle,” the superstar with the shaggy hair, protruding nose and muscular forearms.

The Major League Baseballwhich had banned him in 1989, issued a short statement expressing condolences and highlighting his “greatness, grit and determination on the field of play”. Reds principal owner and managing partner Bob Castellini said in a statement that Rose was “one of the fiercest protagonists the game has ever seen” and added: “We must never forget what he accomplished.”

Record numbers

Seventeen-time All-Star, the ambidextrous hitter Rose won three World Series in his career, in 1975 and 1976 with the Reds and in 1980 with the Philadelphia Phillies. He was MVP of the National League in 1973 and MVP of the World Series two years later. He holds the Major League record for games played (3,562) and plate appearances (15,890) and the NL record for longest hitting streak (44). He was the leadoff hitter for one of baseball’s most formidable lineups with the 1975 and 1976 Reds champion teams featuring Hall of Famers Perez, Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan.

But no milestone came close to his 4,256 hits, surpassing his hero Ty Cobb’s 4,191 and symbolizing his excellence regardless of the notoriety that followed. Rose’s secret was consistency and longevity. In 24 seasons, all but six played entirely with the Reds, Rose had 200 or more hits 10 times and 180-plus four other times.

Disqualification for betting

After a brief stint with the Montreal Expos in 1984, Rose was traded back to the Reds and named player-manager, a dual role he held through the 1986 season before retiring as a player and leading the club for the final three seasons until 1989, when details of his betting on MLB games emerged. Rose denied the allegations. But just three days after taking over as MLB commissioner in April 1989, new boss Bart Giamatti asked John Dowd to investigate the matter. The following month, Dowd documented Rose’s betting activity in 1985 and 1986 and produced a daily betting report for 1987 on 52 Reds games in which he was the team’s manager. On August 24, 1989, Rose was banned from MLB for life and Giamatti announced his disqualification. Eight days later, Giamatti died of a heart attack. In 2004, Rose admitted to betting on Reds games, saying he always bet on his team to win, never on defeat. He spent five months in prison in 1990 and early 1991 for tax evasion. In 2016, his jersey, number 14, was retired by the Reds.