Pete Rose, also known as Charlie Hustle, died on October 2, 2024. Rose, MLB’s all-time hits leader who was banned from baseball in 1989 for gambling on Cincinnati Reds games while he served as manager, died at 83.
Rose died of hypertension and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Hypertension, commonly known as high blood pressure, forces the heart to work harder to pump blood due to the force of the blood pressing on the artery walls, according to the Mayo Clinic. At the same time, atherosclerosis is a heart condition where plaque buildup blocks blood flow.
As a manager, Pete Rose bet on his own team to win. He was betting for them, but betting isn’t allowed. He was a victim of zero tolerance and was banned from the game for life.
In a news release on May 13, 2025, MLB announced that Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. had “issued a policy decision regarding the status of individuals who have passed away while on the permanently ineligible list.”
He is now eligible for the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
Charlie Hustle
Pete Rose reached heights that no other player in the game achieved. He is the all-time leader in games (3,562), plate appearances (15,890), at-bats (14,053), and hits (4,256) while ranking sixth in runs (2,165).
“It’s about time. It’s about time,” former WLWT sports director George Vogel said. “If Pete would have been here, he would have enjoyed every second of this.”
Vogel calls the MLB’s decision to remove Rose from the league’s permanently ineligible list overdue.
“Even though he made many mistakes and was his own worst enemy, sometimes he deserved this for what he did on the field,” Vogel said.
Some fans strongly disagree. “Never want to see him in the Hall of Fame. He doesn’t deserve it. For all of the people who are in the Hall of Fame, they deserve to be there. He never deserves to be in the Hall of Fame,” Northern Kentucky Reds fan, Cathy Church said.
For Jeff Ruby, Rose played a major role in the opening of his first two restaurants. He holds a place in his heart for the Hit King.
“None of us are perfect. You have to look at the good in people too,” Ruby said. “Nobody gave more of an effort than Pete Rose in the game of baseball.”
The gambling scandal cost him $100 million. “You have to understand one thing, ladies and gentlemen,” Rose said at a Q&A after the premiere of episode 1 of Charlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose, “gambling cost me a hundred million [dollars]. That’s what I’d have made in baseball if I hadn’t got suspended.”
Rose will be eligible for the Hall of Fame ballot in 2027.
I hope to see Pete Rose and Joe Jackson recognized for their greatness in baseball, though flawed like the rest of us.
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