Pete Rose, MLB's all-time hits king, banned for gambling, dies at 83

Pete Rose, Major League Baseball’s all-time leader who received a lifetime ban from the sport after betting on the Cincinnati Reds games he managed, died Monday at the age of 83, the Reds confirmed to USA TODAY Sports. No reason was given.

Rose, whose 4,256 goals is a record unlikely to ever be broken, was shamed from the match after an extensive 1989 investigation revealed he had placed bets on the Reds through illegal bookmakers. Rose and Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti signed an agreement in which Rose agreed to a lifetime ban from baseball in exchange for the league not making a formal decision on whether or not he had bet on baseball.

Giamatti died on September 1, 1989, just a week after Rose signed the agreement he drafted. But in the 33 years since, three successive commissioners — Fay Vincent, Bud Selig and Rob Manfred — have upheld the ban, and Rose remains ineligible for the Hall of Fame, much to the chagrin of some of his fans.

That ban took on a whiff of hypocrisy in recent years when a 2018 Supreme Court decision opened the floodgates to sports gambling, which is now legal in 38 states and the District of Columbia. MLB and other sports leagues have since embraced partnerships with both brick-and-mortar and online sportsbooks, which upset Rose supporters who saw their hero banned for betting.

Yet MLB and other sports leagues have remained steadfast in punishing players for betting on games in which they participate, as they did by banning for life infielder Tucupita Marcano and four other players who the league determined were betting on baseball. to be suspended for one year.

During his retirement, Rose lived in Las Vegas and continued to capitalize on his name and likeness, signing autographs and pursuing baseball in the ways he could, such as organizing autograph shows in conjunction with July’s induction of baseball players into the Hall of Fame from baseball in Cooperstown. New York; the most recent Hall of Fame weekend was one of the last times he was seen in public.

The ousted elder was a significant contrast to the brash and scrappy player nicknamed Charlie Hustle, who worked his way through a 24-year-old playing caretaker who took him to Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Montreal before spending his final three seasons as a player in Cincinnati closed.

He broke Ty Cobb’s record of 4,191 hits with a single off San Diego Padres pitcher Eric Show on September 11, 1985. By then, he had been named player-manager (taking that position on August 16, 1984) before ending his career. playing career in 1986.

But the grim coda to his baseball days came three years later, when, as Reds manager, an extensive investigation uncovered key evidence that he had gambled on baseball. He ultimately served five months in federal prison for tax evasion in 1990-91.

Although Rose often argued that he was worthy of returning to baseball, his pleas were often measured against the 225-page Dowd Report, commissioned by Giamatti and conducted by former Justice Department attorney John Dowd.

The report included alleged gambling slips and interviews with Rose and other witnesses. Rose later admitted to gambling on games he managed in his 2004 autobiography, “My Prison Without Bars.”

“I’m sure I should act sad, sad or guilty now that I’ve accepted that I did something wrong,” he writes. “But you see, I’m just not built that way. Sure, there’s probably some real emotion hidden somewhere deep inside. And maybe I would be a better person if I let that side of my personality shine through.

“But it just doesn’t come up that often. So let’s leave it be. …I’m sorry it happened, and I’m sorry to all the people, fans and family it hurt. Let’s move on.”

Yet his life choices haunted him well into his retirement. In 2017, an affidavit from an unidentified woman alleged that Rose had an inappropriate relationship with her in 1973, when she was 14. Rose acknowledged the relationship but claimed it began when the accuser was 16, the age of consent in Ohio.

In 2022, before a ceremony at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia honoring the 1980 champion Phillies, Rose brushed off questions about the specter of statutory rape, telling a female reporter, “It was 55 years ago, honey.” He also told reporters, “I’m going to tell you one more time: I’m here for the Philly fans, I’m here for my teammates, okay. I’m here for the Philly organization, and who cares what happens happened?” 50 years ago.”

Rose remains baseball’s career leader in games played (3,562), at-bats (15,890), at-bats (14,053) and, of course, hits (4,256). He won three batting titles – hitting a career-best .348 for the 1969 Reds – and had a career .303 average.

He was the cocky cog of the legendary Big Red Machine teams of the 1970s that reached four World Series and won championships in 1975 and ’76. He earned MVP honors in the ’75 Series, hitting .370 and reaching base 16 times as the Reds won an epic seven-game battle with the Boston Red Sox.

Rose won another championship with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980, his hair turned gray but his hitting skills remained as he hit 42 doubles at the age of 39.

But above all, he was a Red and a native of Cincinnati, returning to his hometown club in an August 1984 trade that sent Tom Lawless to the Montreal Expos.

That marked the start of Rose’s stint as player-manager, a period highlighted by him becoming the Hit King once and for all. His downfall would come three years later and his lifelong ban would follow him to death.

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

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