Pete Rose will undoubtedly be remembered for the mark he left on Major League Baseball and the baseball community.
The former professional player, whose career spanned more than two decades, died at his Las Vegas home on September 30, his agent, Ryan Fiterman, confirmed to TMZ. The cause of Rose’s death has yet to be revealed.
Despite his controversial past that eventually led to him being banned from baseball, Rose — a three-time World Series champion and 17-time All-Star — was remembered by the League amid the news of his passing.
“Major League Baseball extends its deepest condolences to Pete Rose’s family, his friends across the game, and the fans of his hometown of Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Montreal and beyond who admired his greatness, grit and determination on the field of play,” the official MLB account wrote via X. “May he rest in peace.”
Keep reading for five things to know about Rose:
His MLB Career Spanned From 1963 to 1986
Rose made his MLB debut with the Cincinnati Reds in 1963 and played with the organization through 1978. He later played for the Philadelphia Phillies until 1984, when he had a short stint with the Montreal Expos before returning to the Reds that year. He finished out his Major League career with the team he started with, retiring at the end of 1986, but remained with the franchise as a manager until 1989.
He’s the MLB’s All-Time Hits Leader
Rose is the MLB’s all-time hits leader with a record-breaking 4,256 hits throughout his decades-long career.
WWE Appearances
Rose made multiple WWE appearances from 1998 to 2000, most notably at WrestleMania XIV, where he served as the quest ring announcer. After he proceeded to taunt the Boston crowd about the Cincinnati Reds beating the Red Sox in the 1975 World Series, Rose took a Tombstone Piledriver from WWE star Kane, which earned a roaring applause from the crowd.
He also appeared in a commercial with Kane, was a guest-host on WWE Raw and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame’s “Celebrity Wing” in 2004.
Pete Rose Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
He Was Involved in a Betting Scandal
Rose was subsequently banned from baseball in 1989 after the League hired lawyer John Dowd to investigate the Reds alum amid reports he bet on games, including some of his own.
Dowd’s findings – famously dubbed the Dowd Report – concluded that Rose bet on the sport in 1985 and 1986 when served as Reds player and manager, and again in 1987 when he was solely a manager. Rose denied the accusations for years, but later publicly admitted to betting on his team in his 2004 memoir, My Prison Without Bars.
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“For me, the thrill wasn’t about the odds. I got involved because I was rooting for my teams — no, believing in my teams. I bet the Reds to win every time. I bet the Phillies to win even though they were huge underdogs and on a losing streak,” he wrote. “It wasn’t the smart way to bet. But it was my gut feeling … and I always bet with my gut. I never — ever — bet against my teams. If I had, I’d be doubting everything I believed in. And, hell, to my way of thinking, we were going to win every night. You can’t be a competitor and think otherwise.”
He Could Sign His Name in Multiple Languages
In a video posted via his Instagram in February 2022, Rose revealed that he knew how to sign his name in three languages.
“Question. Did you know I can sign my name in Japanese, Spanish, and English?! The Trilingual King!” he wrote at the time. “I had a fun time doing this at the @autographshowoftexas with @fitermansports!”