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WCPO 9 Cincinnati
Cincinnati Reds legend Pete Rose dies at age 83
By Taylor Weiter,
9 hours ago
Reds legend Pete Rose has died. The Cincinnati native who became Major League Baseball's hit king was 83.
The 1960 Western Hills High School alum signed a professional contract with the Reds after graduation. Once he made it to the big leagues, Rose immediately made an impact for Cincinnati, batting .273 and winning National League Rookie of the Year.
A key part of the Big Red Machine and "The Great Eight," Rose was National League MVP and World Series MVP while helping lead Cincinnati to two World Series titles.
Rose then signed with the Phillies in 1979. At the time of the signing, he was the highest-paid athlete in team sports. One year later, he won his third World Series title. He was in Philadelphia until the 1984 season when he was granted a release and signed a one-year contract with the Montreal Expos. In August 1984, he was traded back to Cincinnati.
During his playing career, Rose was also a 17-time All-Star and received two Gold Glove Awards. His No. 14 is retired in Cincinnati and he is in the Reds Hall of Fame.
"Our hearts are deeply saddened by the news of Pete’s passing," Reds owner Bob Castellini said in a statement. "He was one of the fiercest competitors the game has ever seen, and every team he played for was better because of him. Pete was a Red through and through. No one loved the game more than Pete and no one loved Pete more than Reds Country. We must never forget what he accomplished."
After his banning, Rose dealt with multiple legal issues. In 1990, he was sentenced to five months in a minimum-security prison camp after pleading guilty to two charges of filing false income tax returns that did not show the money he made selling autographs or memorabilia, as well as earning from horseracing wins.
Rose was also accused of committing statutory rape after attorney John Dowd, the special counsel who led the investigation into Rose, claimed in a 2015 radio interview that Rose had a sexual relationship with a minor in the 1970s. He filed a defamation lawsuit against Dowd that was dismissed in 2017 after both parties reached an agreement.
Despite the drama surrounding his betting habits, Rose returned to Cincinnati on Jan. 1, 2022, the day sports betting became legal in the state of Ohio, to place the first bet at Cincinnati's Hard Rock Sportsbook.
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