Reds’ Icon Pete Rose Passes Away at 83

CINCINNATI, OH

Pete Rose, Major League Baseball’s all time career hit-leader, has passed away at age 83 at his home in Las Vegas.

Rose made his major league debut for the Cincinnati Reds in April og 1963, and didn’t even get his first career hit until his 12th official at bat, but there was plenty more where that came from over his 23-year career.

He spent the first 15 years of his career with the Reds, before returning for two more at the tail end in 1984, also acting as the “player-manager” for the team. The Cincinnati native was named Rookie of the Year in the National League, and went on to become a 12-time all-star with the Reds.

The three-time batting champion was named National League Most Valuable Player in 1973, while also helping lead the team to a pair of World Series in 1975 and 1976, winning the MVP of baseball’s ultimate series in the former.

During his aforementioned second stint with the Reds, Rose broke the record that most thought unimaginable. On September 11th, 1985 against the San Diego Padres, Rose singled into left-center field for his 4,192nd hit, breaking the long-standing record of hall-of-famer Ty Cobb, finishing with 4,256 for his career.

Rose continued to serve as manager for the Reds until 1989, when he was infamously banned from the Major League Baseball for gambling.

While he was never elected to the MLB hall of fame, Rose’s famed number 14 is retired by the Reds, and he does reside in the team’s hall of fame.

His name will live in baseball lore until the end of time as one of the all-time great bat-swingers, and an icon for the Reds and beyond.