Pete Rose, Baseball’s All-Time Hits Leader Whose Career Ended in Disgrace, Dies at 83

The MLB legend, who was banned from baseball in 1989 for betting on the game, died at his Las Vegas home on Monday, Sept. 30

Pete Rose, the Cincinnati Reds legend whose career ended when he was banned from baseball for betting on games in 1989, died at his home in Las Vegas on Monday, Sept. 30. He was 83.

His death was confirmed to TMZ by his agent, Ryan Fiterman of Fiterman Sports. "The family is asking for privacy at this time," he told the outlet. The medical examiner in Clark County, Nev. also confirmed Rose's death to ESPN and ABC News, adding that Rose was found by a family member.

A cause of death was not immediately announced. The Clark County coroner will investigate the cause of death, there are no signs of foul play, per ABC News.

“Our hearts are deeply saddened by the news of Pete’s passing,” Bob Castellini, Reds principal owner and managing partner, 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.”

Born in Cincinnati on April 14, 1941, Rose would go on to represent his hometown on the baseball field for the Cincinnati Reds beginning in 1963. That same year, he was awarded Rookie of the Year.

Rose, who was nicknamed "Charlie Hustle" during his playing career, played the Reds from 1963 to 1978, during the team's Big Red Machine era when they dominated baseball in the 1970s. He played every position but centerfielder, catcher and pitcher.

Later, Rose also played for the Philadelphia Phillies and the Montreal Expos. He concluded his playing career by returning to Cincinnati, where he retired as a player in 1986. Rose continued managing the team until 1989.

During his career, Rose earned 17 All-Star Game nods and won three World Series championships - two with the Reds in 1975 and 1976, and one with the Phillies in 1980. He also won the National League MVP award in 1973 and had 4,256 hits, which remains the record for most hits by a player in MLB history.

In 1989, then-MLB commissioner Bart Giamatti banned him from baseball after the league determined he bet on baseball during his final season as Reds manager. Rose initially denied betting on the game, but in his 2004 autobiography, Pete Rose: My Story, he admitted to betting on teams, including his own.

The MLB never rescinded the lifetime ban. He applied to be reinstated multiple times, most recently in 2015, but each time, he was rejected. Rose's career was still celebrated, as he was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 2016 and his #14 retired. In 2017, the team dedicated a statue to him outside the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.

In 1990, Rose pleaded guilty to tax evasion. He spent five months in prison and paid a $50,000 fine for cheating on his taxes, per the Los Angeles Times. He failed to report more than $354,000 in income he received from selling baseball memorabilia, autograph appearances and the aforementioned gambling.

Although his history with the league was complicated, in 1999, he was permitted to take the field as a member of MLB's All-Century Team in a ceremony at Turner Field.

In 2003, he expressed his regrets about the gambling and denials during an interview with ABC News. "I bet on baseball in 1987 and 1988," he said. "That was my mistake, not coming clean a lot earlier."

"I think what happens is you're, at the time, you're betting football and then, then what's after football is basketball... and obviously the next thing that follows is baseball," he continued. "It's just a pattern that you got into."

Rose was the subject of the July 2024 Max docuseries Charlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose, in which he spoke with director Mark Monroe about his continued efforts to be reinstated. Monroe told PEOPLE in July, “He’s a complicated character, and those are the characters we love the best."

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Rose's representatives did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for more information on Monday.

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