MLB legend Pete Rose dead at age of 83

MLB legend Pete Rose, who was handed a lifetime ban from baseball, has died at the age of 83. 

Rose, considered to be one of the greatest – and most controversial – baseball players in MLB history, is said to have passed away Monday at his home in Las Vegas. 

The cause of death is not yet known, with the coroner expected to investigate Rose’s passing. However, the MLB all-time hit king was reportedly found by a family member, law enforcement told ABC. 

Rose’s agent, Ryan Fiterman, confirmed the news of his death, via TMZ, saying, ‘the family is asking for privacy at this time.’

Rosespent the majority of his baseball career with the Cincinnati Reds but also enjoyed stints with the Philadelphia Phillies and Montreal Expos. 

Baseball’s all-time leader in hits (4,256), singles (3,215), games played (3,562), and at-bats (14,053), the Cincinnati native won a pair of World Series with the Reds, another with the Phillies, while hitting .303 for his career. 

A 17-time All-Star, Rose was also the 1973 National League MVP, the 1963 NL Rookie of the Year, and the 1975 World Series MVP. 

He returned to Cincinnati, where he finished his career as a player-manager for the Reds, hanging up his spikes as a player for good in 1986. 

However, Rose’s career on the diamond wasn’t without controversy. In 1989, he was banned from baseball by then-MLB commissioner Bart Giamatti after the league determined he’d bet on the sport. 

He admitted to gambling on the Cincinnati Reds when he played for, and managed, the team from 1985 until 1987.

An allegation also surfaced in recent years that Rose had an improper sexual relationship with a minor in the 1970s.

In 2017, the Phillies canceled his induction onto the team’s Wall of Fame after a Cincinnati woman said in federal court that she had a sexual relationship with the married Rose that began during his first stint with the Reds in 1973, when she was 14 or 15.

Rose has never been charged with statutory rape and the statute of limitations has expired. Although he has reportedly admitted to the relationship, he has insisted that he believed she was 16 at the time of the affair, making her old enough in the state of Ohio to consent to sexual activity.

Rose enjoyed enjoyed stints with the Philadelphia Phillies  (right) and Montreal Expos (left)

The MLB hit king earned 17 All-Star Game nods and won three World Series. Pictured in 1980 

In recent years, Rose has made appearances at Reds games in Cincinnati, where he is still regarded as one of the best player’s in team history and one of the city’s favorite home-grown athletes. 

Despite his ban, which prevents him from induction into the Hall of Fame and for working in MLB, Rose pleaded with MLB to be allowed a chance multiple times. 

As recently as 2022, Rose sent a letter to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to try to get into the Hall of Fame.

He wrote to Manfred begging for forgiveness and a shot at his ‘dream’ in November, 2022. 

‘I am asking for your forgiveness. Despite my many mistakes, I am so proud of what I accomplished as a baseball player,’ Rose wrote in the 2022 letter.

‘I am the Hit King and it is my dream to be considered for the Hall of Fame. Like all of us, I believe in accountability.

‘I am 81 years old and know that I have been held accountable and that I hold myself accountable. I write now to ask for another chance.’ 

The letter came after accused steroids cheats Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro were listed on Hall of Fame committee ballot. 

He also applied for reinstatement in 2020, asking Manfred to grant him access to the Hall of Fame.

Rose was one member of the Philadelphia Phillies 1980 championship team (above) but is officially banned from baseball after admittedly gambling on the Cincinnati Reds

Rose and former commissioner Giamatti agreed to the lifetime ban in August 1989 after the investigation by lawyer John Dowd  found that he placed numerous bets on the Reds, violating one of the oldest rules in baseball.

While he is not accused of betting against the Reds, Rose’s gambling presented a number of problems for MLB, which felt the sanctity of the game was threatened.

For instance, Rose could have held back the team’s best relief pitchers when he didn’t have money on the line, while pushing them t pitch when he was betting on the Reds.

Manfred, in a 2015 denial of Rose’s reinstatement request, argued that he had ‘not presented credible evidence of a reconfigured life either by an honest acceptance by him of his wrongdoing, so clearly established in the Dowd Report, or by a rigorous, self-aware and sustained program of avoidance by him of all the circumstances that led to his permanent ineligibility.’

Rose’s death is one of several to rock Major League Baseball in 2024, including the passing of Giants legends Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda.