Pete Rose, ‘Hit King’ and All-Star Cincinnati Reds Player and Manager, Dead at 83

  

There are many names Pete Rose has been known by throughout his life and career, among them “Charlie Hustle” and “The Hit King.” But, one thing everyone can call him is “legend.” TMZ Sports first reported on Monday that Rose, the former member of the Big Red Machine of the 1970s, has died at age 83, according to his agent:

Rose, Major League Baseball’s hit king, passed away earlier today at his home in Las Vegas.

Pete’s agent, Ryan Fiterman of Fiterman Sports, confirmed the news, adding … “the family is asking for privacy at this time.”

The Clark County, Nevada, medical examiner has also confirmed his death to ABC News:

Rose was found at his home by a family member, according to the medical examiner. There were no signs of foul play.

The coroner will investigate to determine cause and manner of death.

…

The medical examiner told ABC News that Rose was not under the care of a doctor when he died, and the scene is being examined.

Rose, who grew up in Cincinnati, then went on to play most of his Major League career in the Queen City, as well as serve as a player-manager, holds the record for most hits in a single season, a scorching 4,265 over his 24-year career that saw stints in both Montreal and Philadelphia:

Rose’s pursuit of the career hits record captivated the country in 1985. Rose broke Ty Cobb’s hallowed record on Sept. 11, 1985, with a single against the San Diego Padres for his 4,192nd hit. He would play just one more season, finishing his career with 4,256 hits.

Decades later, Rose remains atop the career hits list. Only Derek Jeter (3,465), Albert Pujols (3,384) and Paul Molitor (3,319) have even come within 1,000 hits of Rose’s record in the time since it was set — and none seriously challenged the mark.

The report continued:

Rose brought a workmanlike attitude to America’s pastime and won innumerable fans for his hustle on the field. By the end of his 24-year career, 19 of which were with the Cincinnati Reds, he held the record for most career hits, as well as games played, plate appearances and at-bats. He was also a 17-time All-Star, the 1973 NL MVP and 1963 Rookie of the Year.

He also won three World Series — two with Cincinnati’s “Big Red Machine” clubs in 1975 and 1976, and a third with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980.

You can’t talk about Rose’s accomplishments without mentioning his teammates, many of whom are in the Hall of Fame, and the greats he competed against, the NYT wrote:

Teammates, opponents, sportswriters and fans marveled at his energy, his concentration, a competitive fire sustained inning to inning, game to game for 24 seasons and beyond his 45th birthday. He was nothing less than a hero in Cincinnati, where he played the bulk of his career with the Reds, a team that in the 1970s, known as the Big Red Machine, dominated the National League, going to the World Series four times and winning twice. His teammates included three Hall of Famers — Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench and Tony Perez — and he competed against several others, among them Mike Schmidt, Ferguson Jenkins and Tom Seaver, but it was Rose who was named player of the decade by The Sporting News.

It was on Sept. 11, 1985, that Rose, playing for Philadelphia, became the career hits leader, eclipsing the total of the great Ty Cobb with No. 4,192, a looping single to left-center field off Eric Show of the San Diego Padres. (Baseball researchers have concluded that Cobb’s total was actually 4,189.) But that was only Rose’s most famous record.

He also got on base more often (5,929 times), played in more big-league games (3,852) and came to bat more times (15,890) than anyone else. He had the most singles in history (3,215) and the second most doubles. (Tris Speaker had 792, Rose 746.)

Part of Pete Rose’s legacy will always be tarnished because of the cheating scandal in 1989 that led to his lifetime ban from the game he loved:

With Rose under suspicion, new MLB Commissioner Bart Giamatti commissioned an investigation led by John Dowd, a lawyer with the Department of Justice, in April 1989. By June, the damning report was released, documenting at least 52 bets on Reds games in 1987, his first season as solely a manager after serving as player/manager for three seasons. The bets totaled thousands of dollars per day, according to the Dowd Report.

Faced with few options, Rose voluntarily accepted placement on baseball’s ineligible list in August 1989. Despite this, Rose continued to deny he ever gambled on his own team for over a decade.

While promoting his 2004 autobiography, “My Prison Without Bars,” Rose finally admitted he bet on baseball. Here’s what he said, during an interview that aired Jan. 8, 2004, on ABC News:

I bet on baseball in 1987 and 1988. That was my mistake, not coming clean a lot earlier.

He added that it was false that he ever bet against the Reds, and that the then-team skipper “want[ed] to win every game.”

On the personal side, Rose is survived by his longtime partner Kiana Kim, and his four children:

Rose was married twice and was in a long-term relationship with model Kiana Kim since 2011. The two appeared in a reality TV show, “Pete Rose: Hits and Mrs.” in 2013. Rose has four children.

While we don’t yet know Rose’s cause of death, as the TMZ Sports piece linked above reported, fans may be able to take some comfort in the fact that he did what he loved to do–sharing his immense love of baseball with fans–to the end:

….[H]e was at a Fiterman Sports Group meet-and-greet with fans in Nashville on Sunday afternoon. Rose was in a wheelchair, but we’re told that’s just ’cause his back was aching. He appeared to be in good spirits.

Reds broadcasting legend Marty Brenneman was left speechless after learning of the Hit King’s death:

R.I.P, Pete.

As the details of this story are developing, RedState will keep you posted when they are updated.