Pete Rose speaks on gambling, Hall of Fame, 2024 Cincinnati Reds
Pete Rose sat down with The Enquirer’s Gordon Wittenmyer to talk about his ban, MLB’s gambling ties and more.
Pete Rose, the Cincinnati native who became baseball’s all-time hits leader as well as one of the most divisive figures in the sport’s history, died Monday, according to a TMZ report, which his agent Ryan Fiterman confirmed. He was 83.
After reaching the pinnacle of the sport he loved, Rose was banned from baseball in 1989 for gambling while manager of his hometown Reds.
That came just four years after Rose had broken Ty Cobb’s hit record, a mark that still stands.
He is MLB’s all-time hits leader with 4,256.
The lifetime ban from the game kept the Sedamsville native out of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, even though he still holds numerous career and single-season records.
In addition to the hit title, Rose also played in more games, had more at-bats, had gotten on base more and had singled more than anyone in baseball history. He also made the most outs in MLB history.
Rose was named National League Rookie of the Year in his first year for the Reds in 1963, even though he had barely been scouted and got a tryout only because of his uncle’s connections.
Over his 24-year career, Rose was named an All-Star 17 times and was the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 1973. He won three batting titles and two Gold Gloves despite playing more than 500 games at five different positions during his career.
His 44-game hitting streak in 1978 garnered national attention as well, eventually tying a nearly 100-year-old National League record and setting the modern-day mark for the NL.
Rose also was part of three World Series-winning teams, including two with the so-called Big Red Machine here in Cincinnati in the 1970s (he was the MVP of the 1975 series). He won the other title with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980.
“I am the winningest athlete in team sport history,” Rose said in an interview with The Enquirer during the summer of 2018. “To me, my biggest record is the number of winning games I played in. And that’s also a testament to all the great teammates I played with.”
His biggest regret: Betting on baseball
In that interview, Rose expressed few regrets – except his gambling and his 15-year refusal to admit the truth until he did so in a tell-all book published in 2004.
“There’s only one thing I would change if I had to live it all over again … I would obviously turn my life around and not bet on baseball,” Rose said. “Having said that, I feel like I’ve been a pretty good citizen.
“You never read about me being in a bar after hours, beating up my wife, or getting into a fight with a fan and I was as gracious to everyone as I could be.”
He tried for reinstatement and one last shot at the hall in 2015 but was denied by now-commissioner Rob Manfred.
One of the reasons? Rose admitted to Manfred that he continued to bet on baseball even after all those years.
“Significantly, he told me that currently he bets recreationally and legally on horses and sports, including baseball,” Manfred said in a news release recalling a meeting with Rose. That meant to Manfred, that Rose had not “significantly ‘reconfigured his life.’ ”
“It is not at all clear to me that Mr. Rose has a grasp of the scope of his violations of Rule 21 (the rule that got Rose banned initially),” Manfred said in his statement at the time.
When Rose was asked why he didn’t come clean originally in 1989, despite what many considered overwhelming evidence, Rose said in the 2018 interview that he was afraid.
“I was trying to hold on as long as I could. Baseball is all I had and I was trying to support two young kids,” he said. “If I got kicked out, there was nothing to fall back on.”
Still, Rose made a living in those subsequent years, even as his name continued to cause controversy. And he remained beloved by many in his hometown.
“Free Pete” T-shirts were common sights at Cincinnati Reds games.
Rose eventually settled in Las Vegas, where he signed autographs and made personal appearances for money, even as he was in and out of tax trouble.
Rose also scored occasional endorsement and TV commentator gigs through the years, although those also came and went with different controversies.
One such controversy involved the allegation that he dated and had sex with underage girls while playing for the Reds in the 1970s. Rose said that the woman was 18 when he knew her.
Even though he lived in Las Vegas, he still considered Cincinnati his home.
“I’ve been all over the world, and to this day Cincinnati is the baseball capital of the world,” Rose said.
Rose was married twice and most recently engaged.
He is survived by his children Fawn Rose, Pete Rose Jr., Morgan Erin Rubio, Tyler Rose and Cara Rose (who acts under the name Chea Courtney).