{"id":86877,"date":"2024-09-30T20:42:17","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T00:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=86877"},"modified":"2024-09-30T20:42:17","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T00:42:17","slug":"pete-rose-passed-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/09\/30\/pete-rose-passed-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete Rose, MLB\u2019s All-Time Hit King, Has Passed Away"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rosepe01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-09-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pete Rose<\/a>, Major League Baseball\u2019s controversial all-time leader with 4,256 hits, passed away at age 83 this morning. No cause of death was given. The news was confirmed by his agent, Ryan Fiterman.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Reds are heartbroken to learn of the passing of baseball legend Pete Rose. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zOlU9NreWR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/zOlU9NreWR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Reds\/status\/1840901336931385371?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 30, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Pete Rose, Major League Baseball\u2019s All-Time Hit King, Has Passed Away<\/h2>\n<p>The back of Rose\u2019s baseball card is dominated by bold-faced print indicating when he led the National League in various offensive categories. For his 24-year career that stretched from 1963-86, he hit .303\/.375\/.409, 160 HR, 1,314 RBI, and scored 2,165 runs. He won three batting titles and led the majors in hits seven times, including an astounding 230 hits in 1973, when he was the NL Most Valuable Player, and a mind-boggling 140 hits in the 1981 strike-shortened season. All told, he exceeded 200 hits in five different seasons. Rose was the 1963 NL Rookie of the Year and a 17-time All-Star.<\/p>\n<p>The switch-hitter played for the Cincinnati Reds (1963-78, 1984-86), Philadelphia Phillies (1979-83), and Montreal Expos (1984). Rose began his career as a second baseman and played primarily at the corner outfield and infield spots. He played for three World Series winners, the Reds in 1975 and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2020\/04\/23\/reliving-history-the-1976-cincinnati-reds-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">1976<\/a>, and the Phillies in 1980. He came through when it counted. In 67 postseason games, he slashed .321\/.388\/.440.<\/p>\n<h3>Charlie Hustle<\/h3>\n<p>Beyond the numbers, he\u2019ll be known for his hustling, hard-nosed style of play, and a gambling scandal that has kept him out of the Hall of Fame. \u00a0The former was most on display at the 1970 All-Star Game played at Cincinnati\u2019s Riverfront Stadium. With the score tied, 4-4, in the bottom of the 12th inning, Rose scored from second base on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=hickmji02,hickmji01&amp;search=Jim+Hickman&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-09-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jim Hickman<\/a>\u2019s single to center field off pitcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wrighcl01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-09-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clyde Wright<\/a>, lowering his shoulder and bowling over catcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/fossera01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-09-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ray Fosse<\/a> with a jarring blow in the process. Fosse separated his shoulder. After the game, an angry Wright asked, \u201cWhy the hell did he have to do what he did?\u201d Rose defended himself, saying, \u201cDon\u2019t tell me it\u2019s an exhibition or spring training. Don\u2019t tell me to take it easy between the white lines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4Fj2B9z4Dbw?si=IhZyTV7ZwL-_2UOQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Hit No. 4,192<\/h3>\n<p>Rose broke MLB\u2019s all-time hit record on September 11, 1985, and passed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=cobbty01,cobb--000ty-&amp;search=Ty+Cobb&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-09-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ty Cobb<\/a> with his 4,192nd hit. He had returned to the Reds in the middle of the 1984 season when he was named the Reds\u2019 player\/manager. By then, he was past his prime. From 1983-86, he hit just .257. As a singles-hitting first baseman without a high batting average, frankly, only Pete Rose the manager would have been sending Pete Rose the player out there every day. Teammates criticized him for putting himself in the lineup so often. In any event, the numbers don\u2019t lie and it\u2019s not a record that deserves an asterisk.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ua5B6Zpga7c?si=X9tGx5OqXAwl9zZa\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Although Rose was through as a player in 1986, he continued to manage the Reds through 1989. As a manager, Rose\u2019s teams were 412-373. In 1989, in a development as jarring as his hit on Fosse, he was placed on baseball\u2019s ineligible list when it was discovered that he was betting on baseball games. Thus, he was barred from the Hall of Fame, putting MLB in the strange position of having its all-time leaders in hits and home runs, Rose and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bondsba01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-09-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Barry Bonds<\/a>, out of the Hall. Rose denied the charges for years before coming clean in 2004 and admitting that he bet on baseball.<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word<\/h3>\n<p>Surprisingly in hindsight, Rose was unpopular with teammates when he joined the Reds as a second baseman in 1963. He was not strong defensively, committing 22 errors and being \u201cworth\u201d -9 Defensive Runs Saved. The Reds pitchers preferred his predecessor, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/blasido01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-09-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Don Blasingame<\/a>. Of course, Rose would eventually win them over with his bat and scrappy style of play.<\/p>\n<p>The Hall of Fame continues to display several of Rose\u2019s artifacts despite Rose himself being denied induction. He remained a controversial and polarizing figure while being popular on the autograph circuit. He\u2019s the subject of a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/07\/24\/pete-rose-hbo-documentary\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">documentary<\/a> on HBO.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Frank Becerra Jr.\/The Journal News \/ USA TODAY NETWORK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pete Rose, Major League Baseball\u2019s controversial all-time leader with 4,256 hits, passed away at age 83 this morning. No cause of death was given. The news was confirmed by his agent, Ryan Fiterman. The Reds are heartbroken to learn of the passing of baseball legend Pete Rose. pic.twitter.com\/zOlU9NreWR \u2014 Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) September 30, 2024 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5010,"featured_media":86902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,1071,35,23],"tags":[329,349,346],"class_list":["post-86877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reds","category-mlb","category-news","category-phillies","tag-all-star","tag-montreal-expos","tag-pete-rose"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}