Pete Rose, Major League Baseball’s all-time hit king, has died at 83

CNN —

Pete Rose, Major League Baseball’s all-time hit king and the Cincinnati Reds icon whose signature gritty hustle couldn’t outpace the gambling transgressions and obfuscation that kept him out of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, has died, according to a spokesperson for the Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner in Nevada. He was 83.

Rose was one of baseball’s greats – a winning-obsessed sparkplug who topped MLB’s all-time hit list with 4,256 over a 24-season career. He stood out for his all-in effort, sliding head-first and running even when a pitcher walked him – a style that earned him the nickname, first derisively, then admiringly, “Charlie Hustle.”


He played for three World Series champion teams – the Reds’ stacked “Big Red Machine” roster in 1975 and 1976, and the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980 – was voted to the National League’s All-Star team 17 times, and won both the National League Rookie of the Year award (1963) and the Most Valuable Player award (1973).