Rose, Pete

Pete Rose, in full Peter Edward Rose, byname Charlie Hustle, (born April 14, 1941, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.), professional baseball player who in 1985 exceeded Ty Cobb’s record for career hits (4,189). During his career Rose was noted for his all-around ability and enthusiasm. He was named Player of the Decade (1970–79) by The Sporting News. At the end of his career, he became better known for the accusations of gambling that led Major League Baseball to ban him from the sport in 1989.

Rose began to play in organized youth baseball at age eight. At his father’s insistence, he became a switch hitter (batting either right- or left-handed). At age 18 he signed with the National League (NL) Cincinnati Reds and, after three seasons in the minor leagues, Rose joined the Reds’ major league roster in 1963. Rose soon established himself at the top of the Reds’ batting order and was named NL Rookie of the Year at the end of the season. He led the league in batting in 1968 and 1969, and he enjoyed his finest season in 1973, winning his third batting title while collecting a career high 230 hits; he was named the NL’s Most Valuable Player that year. Rose was an integral part of the famed “Big Red Machine,” the Reds teams that from 1970 to 1976 won five division titles, four NL pennants, and World Series championships in 1975 and 1976.

Nicknamed “Charlie Hustle,” Rose was revered for his aggressive base-running style, which included his distinctive head-first slides. During his 24 seasons in the major leagues, he played second base, left field, right field, third base, and first base, leading the league in fielding in 1970, 1974, 1976, and 1980. In 1979 he went to the Philadelphia Phillies and helped that team win the World Series in 1980. Rose began the 1984 season with the Montreal Expos, but in mid-season he was traded back to Cincinnati, where he made his record-breaking hit in 1985 as player-manager of the Reds. By the time he retired as a player in 1986, Rose had a record career total of 4,256 hits. His other records included most games played, 3,562; most times at bat, 14,053; and most seasons with 200 hits or more, 10 (equaled by Ichiro Suzuki in 2010). His lifetime batting average was .303.

Despite having retired from playing, Rose remained manager of the Reds until 1989, when he came under investigation by professional baseball’s commissioner because of reports that he had bet repeatedly on sports teams, including his own Cincinnati Reds, in the mid-1980s. Rose denied having bet on baseball, but in August 1989 Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti banned him from Major League Baseball for life as a consequence of the investigation. This ruling made Rose ineligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1990 Rose was fined $50,000 and forced to serve five months in federal prison for filing false tax returns.

His autobiography, Pete Rose: My Story (1989), was written with Roger Kahn. In his second autobiography, My Prison Without Bars (2004), he admitted to gambling on baseball.