Reflecting on the death of a legend: Ten things we loved about Pete Rose

Pete Rose, baseball's most infamous legend, died at age 83 on Monday.

Rose's exploits on the field earned him hordes of adoring fans , especially in Cincinnati, where he grew up and later starred for the Cincinnati Reds . His actions off the field harmed his legacy in many ways. Despite the fact that he's baseball's all-time hit king (his 4,256 hits surpassed the legendary Ty Cobb's 4,191), he still has not been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame because he was permanently banned from the game after he gambled on baseball games when he was a manager.

Here are 10 things we loved about the legendary Pete Rose.

Pete Rose's ferocious competitive spirit

Between the lines, Rose just couldn't turn it off. From running out walks and the easiest of grounders, to reckless dives into the bases, the man wasn't called "Charlie Hustle" for nothing.

Maybe the most famous example of Rose's relentless competitiveness came in the bottom of the 12th inning of the 1970 MLB All-Star Game at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium. With the game tied and Pete Rose on second, Cubs outfielder and first baseman Jim Hickman hit a single into center field. By the time the ball got to catcher Ray Fosse, Rose had already barreled him over. Fosse was never the same player after the collision, but Rose secured the win for the National League.

In the sixth inning of Game 7 of the 1975 World Series, Rose was on first with one out, the Reds trailing 3-0 against the Boston Red Sox. Johnny Bench hit a ground ball to the shortstop for what looked like a routine inning-ending double play. But Rose slid hard into second base and forced an errant throw to keep the inning alive. The next batter, Tony Perez, hammered a 1-0 pitch over the green monster. A few innings later, the Reds walked away 4-3 winners, in large part to Charlie's Hustle.

Pete Rose was just a kid from the Queen City

Rose was born in Cincinnati. He went to Western Hills High School and then went on to star for the hometown Cincinnati Reds , where he was a 12-time All-Star (with the Reds, 17 overall), two-time World Series champion, Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Gold Glover and Silver Slugger. Generations of Cincinnati kids fantasized about themselves following in his footsteps.

Pete Rose went from underdog to legend

Rose got cut from the varsity football team at Western Hills as a sophomore, which many believe was part of the reason why he failed his sophomore year of school. He played baseball the following summer instead of going to summer school, so he was a sophomore twice. Eventually, he starred at running back for Western Hills, despite the fact that he was small for his age (one old ESPN article said he was 140 pounds at the time).

Rose might never have played in the MLB if it wasn't for his uncle Buddy Bloebaum, who was a scout for the Reds. Instead of attending a fifth year at Western Hills, Rose played semi-pro baseball. After that, Bloebaum convinced the Reds to sign Rose. In his first season of professional baseball, 1960, Pete Rose batted .277 and led the league in errors with the Class D Geneva Red Legs. Three years later, he won National League Rookie of the Year.

Pete Rose's batting stance

According to Enquirer Cincinnati Reds beat writer Gordon Wittenmyer , when he was growing up, every kid his age could imitate Rose's iconic crouch, from both sides of the plate. Wittenmyer lived in Seattle at the time.

Pete Rose's love for the game

In 2002, Rose finally admitted to Bud Selig, who was the commissioner of baseball at the time, that he had in fact bet on the Reds while he was managing them. However, he vehemently denied ever betting against them, writing in his 2004 autobiography “Pete Rose: My Prison Without Bars,” that he would "rather die than lose a baseball game."

Pete Rose's versatility

Not only was he a switch hitter, but Rose also started more than 500 games at five different positions over his career: First base, second base, third base, left field and right field. In fact, Rose started an All-Star Game at all five positions, an unprecedented feat. For good measure, he also started 70 times in center.

Pete Rose's longevity

Rose played in the MLB from 1963 to 1986, 24 seasons. He took his first swing in a Reds' uniform when he was 22-years old, and he hung up his jersey one last time at age 45.

All those years helped him earn a few seemingly unbreakable records. He and Ty Cobb are the only two players to ever reach 4,000 hits, and no one else has more than 3,800. He also holds the record for most career games played, with 3,562. Number two on that list, Carl Yaztrzemski, is more than a season-and-a-half worth of games behind him at 3,308. He finished his career with 15,890 plate appearances, nearly 2,000 ahead of second place (Yastrzemski again with 13,992).

Rose loved to boast he played in more winning games than any player ever.

Pete Rose was unabashedly himself

Many believe that Rose would be in the Baseball Hall of Fame if he had admitted his actions quickly and apologized. But that wasn't Pete. For nearly the last 35 years, he tried to rehabilitate his image, but he could never quite get there. He just couldn't stop being the Pete Rose everyone knows, for better or for worse.

Pete Rose known for his hustle

When Rose received a base on balls, he ran full-bore to first base. A regular slide wasn't good enough for him, so he flew through the air like Superman. He would round first base so hard that his helmet flew off, so he got into the habit of putting his right hand on his head to secure the thing.

Pete Rose was, in fact, capable of remorse

In an interview with The Enquirer in 2018 , Rose said that if he could go back and do it all over again, he would never bet on baseball. He also said he regretted not admitting it for so long.

"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."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reflecting on the death of a legend: Ten things we loved about Pete Rose