Pete Rose, Baseball’s All-Time Hits Leader Whose Career Ended in Disgrace, Dies at 83

Mar. 15, 2025

Pete Rose.Photo:Alamy

Alamy

Pete Rose, the Cincinnati Reds legend whose career ended when he was banned from baseball for betting on games in 1989, died at his home in Las Vegas on Monday, Sept. 30. He was 83.

A cause of death was not immediately announced. The Clark County coroner will investigate the cause of death, there are no signs of foul play, per ABC News.

Born in Cincinnati on April 14, 1941, Rose would go on to represent his hometown on the baseball field for the Cincinnati Reds beginning in 1963. That same year, he was awarded Rookie of the Year.

Rose, who was nicknamed “Charlie Hustle” during his playing career, played the Reds from 1963 to 1978, during the team’s Big Red Machine era when they dominated baseball in the 1970s. He played every position but centerfielder, catcher and pitcher.

Pete Rose in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens, New York, New York, July 24, 1978.Gary Gershoff/Getty

Gary Gershoff/Getty

Pete Rose on December 15, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada.Ethan Miller/Getty

Ethan Miller/Getty

In 1989, then-MLB commissioner Bart Giamatti banned him from baseball after the league determined he bet on baseball during his final season as Reds manager. Rose initially denied betting on the game, but in his 2004 autobiography,Pete Rose: My Story, he admitted to betting on teams, including his own.

The MLB never rescinded the lifetime ban. He applied to be reinstated multiple times, most recently in 2015, but each time, he was rejected. Rose’s career was still celebrated, as he was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 2016 and his #14 retired. In 2017, the team dedicated a statue to him outside the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.

In 1990, Rose pleaded guilty to tax evasion. He spent five months in prison and paid a $50,000 fine for cheating on his taxes, per theLos Angeles Times.He failed to report more than $354,000 in income he received from selling baseball memorabilia, autograph appearances and the aforementioned gambling.

Although his history with the league was complicated, in 1999, he was permitted to take the field as a member of MLB’s All-Century Team in a ceremony at Turner Field.

Pete Rose at the Great American Ball Park on July 14, 2015 in Cincinnati, Ohio.Elsa/Getty

Elsa/Getty

In 2003, he expressed his regrets about the gambling and denials during an interview withABC News. “I bet on baseball in 1987 and 1988,” he said. “That was my mistake, not coming clean a lot earlier.”

“I think what happens is you’re, at the time, you’re betting football and then, then what’s after football is basketball… and obviously the next thing that follows is baseball,” he continued. “It’s just a pattern that you got into.”

Rose was the subject of the July 2024 Max docuseriesCharlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose,in which he spoke with director Mark Monroe about his continued efforts to be reinstated.Monroe told PEOPLE in July, “He’s a complicated character, and those are the characters we love the best."

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Rose’s representatives did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for more information on Monday.

source: people.com