Baseball legend dead at 83

Pete Rose was one of the best players in the history of Major League Baseball, but his off-the-field controversies, highlighted by a gambling scandal that saw him banned from the game, make his legacy a complicated and controversial one.

Rose died Monday at his home in Las Vegas, according to his agent, Ryan Fiterman, who confirmed the news to TMZ Sports . He was 83.

“The family is asking for privacy at this time, Fiterman told TMZ. The details of his passing are currently unknown.

On the field, Rose put together a playing career that was destined for Cooperstown. In 24 seasons, mostly with the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies, he won three World Series and finished with 4,256 hits, the most of anyone in MLB history. By the time the 17-time All-Star and 1973 MVP retired he held the records for games played (3,562), plate appearances (15,890), and at-bats (14,053).

Rose also managed the Reds for seven seasons, several of which he was a player-manager. He finished with a 412-373 record and two division titles in that role.

In 1989, Rose was banned from baseball in all forms, including inclusion in the Baseball Hall of Fame, when it was revealed he had bet on MLB games while he was the manager of the Reds, including some of their games.

Rose spent many years attempting to get the ban overturned but was never able to convince the league or any commissioner to do so.

Given his relationship with MLB, Rose wasn’t able to do many of the things we often see players of his caliber do after their careers ended. However, he did have a brief stint in the media world, getting hired by Fox Sports as a guest studio analyst and appearing on the MLB on Fox pregame show and other MLB pre- and post-game programming. He did have some memorable moments in that role over the next two years but was fired in 2017 amid allegations that he had a sexual relationship with an underage woman in the 1970s.

Rose made headlines in 2022 when he joined the NBC Sports Philadelphia booth for a Phillies game in an expletive-laden appearance .

Rose also made ongoing appearances at WrestleMania between 1998 and 2000 in comedic roles and was inducted into the “Celebrity Wing” of the WWE Hall of Fame class of 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 wrote in his 2004 memoir . “Having said that, I feel like I’ve been a pretty good citizen.”

[ TMZ Sports ]

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