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MLB hits King Pete Rose dead at 83


MLB hits King Pete Rose dead at 83

Pete Rose won three World Series titles during his career, including two with the hometown Reds

Pete Rose won three World Series titles during his career, including two with the hometown Reds. (Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

Pete Rose, Major League Baseball's hitter who was later banned from baseball altogether, died Monday afternoon, the Cincinnati Reds announced.

He was 83.

Details of Rose's death are not yet known, but his death was confirmed to ABC News by the medical examiner for Clark County, Nevada.

Nicknamed “Charlie Hustle,” Rose spent 24 years in Major League Baseball, retiring as the league’s all-time hits leader, among other accomplishments. The Cincinnati native started with the Reds in 1963 and spent the first 16 seasons of his career with the organization. He won two World Series titles in 1975 and 1976, which marked the club's first championships in 35 years.

Rose then played for the Philadelphia Phillies for five years, winning his third World Series title in 1980. He then spent half a season with the Montreal Expos in 1984 before returning to Cincinnati to finish his playing career that year.

Rose finished the game with 4,256 hits, which is the most in MLB history. Along with Ty Cobb, he is one of only two players to have even surpassed the 4,000 hit mark. Rose also holds MLB records for games played (3,562), plate appearances (15,890) and at-bats (14,053). Rose won three batting titles and two Gold Glove Awards during his career and received 17 All-Star nominations. He was the league's MVP in 1973, when he had a .338 batting average with 230 hits, five home runs and 64 RBI.

“I am the winningest athlete in the history of team sports,” Rose told the Cincinnati Enquirer in 2018. “For me, my biggest record is the number of games I’ve won in which I’ve played. And that’s also a testament to all the great teammates I played with.”

Rose spent seven seasons as manager of the Reds, including the last few seasons he was still playing. In that role, he won two division titles and finished with an overall record of 412-373.

However, Rose's career ended in scandal when he was banned from the sport in 1989 for attending games – including his own team's – as manager of the Reds.

Shortly after accepting a lifetime ban from then-Commissioner Bart Giamatti, Rose was convicted of tax evasion and spent several months in prison. In a 2004 book, he admitted to betting on baseball after long denying the allegations.

This lifetime ban, constantly debated over the years as new commissioners took over the league, has kept him out of the Baseball Hall of Fame. He tried to be reinstated in a last-ditch effort in 2015, but current commissioner Rob Manfred refused. Rose said that betting on games like that was his only regret.

“There's only one thing I would change if I had to relive it all again… I would obviously change my life and stop betting on baseball,” Rose told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Still, I feel like I’m a pretty good citizen.

“You never read about me being in a bar after work, beating up my wife, or arguing with a fan, and I was as gracious to everyone as I could be.”

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