Controversial baseball icon Pete Rose dies at 83

The baseball world mourns the loss of Pete Rose, the all-time Major League Baseball (MLB) leader in hits with 4,256. He was 83 years old.

The only other player in history to surpass the 4,000-hit milestone is Ty Cobb (1886-1991).

Rose's MLB career spanned three decades. He made his debut on April 8, 1963, and played his last game on August 17, 1986. He is also the all-time leader in games played (3,562), at-bats (14,053), singles (3,215) and outs (10,328).

Rose, nicknamed Charlie Hustle for his playing attitude, was a 17-time All-Star and won three World Series: 1975 and 1976 with the Cincinnati Reds, 1980 with the Philadelphia Phillies.

He became the National League Rookie of the Year (1963) and MVP (1973) and was honoured as the 1975 World Series MVP. He was the National League batting champion in 1968, 1969 and 1973 and won two Gold Gloves as an outfielder (1969 and 1970) and one Silver Slugger Award as a first baseman (1981).

Rose was named the Cincinnati Reds player-manager in 1984, replacing Vern Rapp. He is the last person to serve as an MLB player-manager.

On April 30, 1988, he was ejected after pushing an umpire and suspended for thirty days by National League president Bart Giamatti. It remains the longest suspension for an MLB manager because of an on-field incident.

Giamatti and Commissioner Peter Ueberroth questioned Rose in February 1989 amid reports that he had bet on baseball. Rose admitted to betting on football, basketball and horseracing but denied betting on baseball.

Sports Illustrated, in a cover story dated April 3, 1989, gave evidence that Rose's bets were also on baseball. New Commissioner Giamatti launched an investigation. In August 1989, Rose accepted to become permanently ineligible. MLB, in return, agreed to make no formal finding with regard to gambling.

Three Commissioners (Fay Vincent, Bud Selig and Rob Manfred) rejected Rose's petitions to be reinstated. His representatives petitioned for reinstatement to MLB and the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020. At the moment of Rose's death, neither the Commissioner nor the Hall of Fame have responded.

Commissioner Manfred denied speculation about the possibility of reinstatement as recently as the 2023 All Star Game.

Fans still voted Rose into the MLB All-Century team in 1999. The Cincinnati Reds inducted him to their Hall of Fame in 2016. The same year, they unveiled a bronze sculpture of Rose's iconic slide and retired his #14 uniform.