CINCINNATI — Reds legend Pete Rose has died. The Cincinnati native was 83 years old when he became Major League Baseball’s hitting king.
The 1960 Western Hills High School graduate signed a professional contract with the Reds after graduation. Rose made an immediate impact in the major leagues, batting .273 and winning the National League Rookie of the Year award.
AP Photo/G. Paul Barnett, File
A key part of the Big Red Machine and the Great Eight, Rose led Cincinnati to two World Series championships and was named National League MVP and World Series MVP.
Rose then signed with the Phillies in 1979. At the time of his contract, he was the highest-paid athlete in team sports. A year later, he won his third World Series title. He remained in Philadelphia until the 1984 season, after which he was granted release and signed a one-year contract with the Montreal Expos. In August 1984, he was traded back to Cincinnati.
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Rose returned to Cincinnati and immediately became player-manager. During his second stint with the Reds, Rose had his 4,192nd hit in 1985, breaking Ty Cobb’s record and becoming the all-time hits leader. He would finish his career with a total of 4,256 hits, 3,215 singles, and 3,562 games played.
During his playing career, Rose was selected as an All-Star 17 times and won two Gold Glove Awards. His number 14 was retired by Cincinnati and he is inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame.
“We are deeply saddened by the news of Pete’s passing,” Reds owner Bob Castellini said in a statement. “He was one of the fiercest competitors this game has ever seen, and every team he played on was better because of him. Pete was a consistent red. No one loved this game and no one loved Pete more than the Reds.” Country, we must never forget what he accomplished. ”
AP Photo/Al Berman
After retiring as a player in 1986, Rose remained with the Reds as manager. He was fired in 1989, the same year Rose was banned from baseball following accusations that he had bet on baseball games while playing and managing the Reds. Rose eventually admitted in his autobiography that he had bet on baseball games, including Cincinnati, during his time with the Reds. He claims he has never bet against the team.
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His suspension made him permanently ineligible for the Hall of Fame. He applied for reinstatement several times but was denied.
The day Pete Rose was kicked out of baseball
After receiving his suspension, Rose dealt with multiple legal issues. In 1990, he pleaded guilty to two counts of filing false income tax returns that did not show money earned from selling autographs and memorabilia and winning horse racing, and was sentenced to five months in a minimum-security concentration camp. sentenced.
Rose was also charged with statutory rape after John Dowd, the special prosecutor who led the investigation into Rose, claimed in a 2015 radio interview that Rose had sex with a minor in the 1970s. Ta. He filed a defamation suit against Dowd, but it was dismissed in 2017 after the parties reached an agreement.
Despite the drama surrounding his gambling habits, Rose returned to Cincinnati on January 1, 2022, the day sports betting became legal in Ohio, and placed his first bet at Cincinnati’s Hard Rock Sportsbook.
