Pete Rose, the best hitter in baseball history, dies

Legendary baseball player Pete Rose, whose career was tainted by a sports betting scandal, has died at age 83, his agent announced Monday evening.

A versatile player and formidable hitter, Rose played 23 seasons in major league baseball between 1963 and 1986. He began his career with the Cincinnati Reds, before moving to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1979. After a brief stint with the Montreal Expos in 1984, he returned to finish his career in Cincinnati, where he was born.

He won the World Series three times and the batting championship three times. He still holds the record for most hits (4,256).

Rose also managed the Reds from 1984 to 1989, compiling a record of 412 wins and 373 losses.

Suspended for life

In March 1989, Commissioner Peter Ueberroth announced that his office was conducting a thorough investigation into serious allegations regarding Rose. Reports emerged that he relied on a network of bookmakers, friends and others in the baseball world to bet on games, including some involving the Reds.

Rose denied any wrongdoing, but the investigation revealed that The accumulation of testimony, as well as evidence and telephone records reveal extensive betting activity by Pete Rose, particularly on Cincinnati Reds games, during 1985, 1986 and 1987.

Baseball Rule 21 proclaims that any player, umpire, official or employee of a club or league who bets any amount on a baseball game in which the bettor is involved will be declared permanently ineligible to play.

In August 1989, at a press conference in New York, Commissioner Bartlett Giamatti uttered some of the saddest words in baseball history: One of baseball’s greatest players engaged in a series of acts that tainted the sport, and now he must live with the consequences of those actions.

Giamatti then announced that Rose had accepted a lifetime suspension from baseball, a decision which, enforced in 1991 by the Hall of Fame, made him ineligible for induction.

After maintaining his innocence for many years, Rose recanted his testimony in 2004.

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I don’t think betting is morally wrong. I don’t even think betting on baseball is morally wronghe wrote in ”Play Hungry”, a memoir published in 2019. There are legal ways, and there are illegal ways, and betting on baseball the way I did was against the rules of baseball.

The best hitter in major league baseball history also holds the records for at-bats (14,053) and games played (3,662).

His death was first reported by the American channel ABC News, before being confirmed by his agent Ryan Fiterman, who requested to respect the privacy of the family.

With information from The Canadian Press