Pete Rose

Pete Rose (born April 14, 1941) is an American baseball player who played Major League Baseball from 1963 to 1986. Rose is the all-time major league leader in hits, with 4256. He was nicknamed "Charlie Hustle" for his all-out playing style.

Rose, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, broke into the major leagues in 1963 with the Cincinnati Reds. He played for them until 1978, helping lead them to two World Series titles, in 1975 and 1976. Rose then left for the Philadelphia Phillies via free agency and played there from 1979 to 1983. The Phillies won the World Series in 1980 and lost in 1983. Rose joined the Montreal Expos at the start of the 1984 season, but returned to the Reds during the season to become their player-manager. He played for the Reds until his retirement in 1986.

Rose's biggest individual accomplishments were winning the NL Rookie of the Year award in 1963, the NL MVP award in 1973 and becoming Major League Baseball's all-time career hits leader. He led the league in numerous categories during his career. Rose's final stats included 14503 at bats, 3562 games played, 2165 runs, 4256 hits, 746 doubles, 135 triples, 160 home runs, 1314 runs batted in, 1566 walks, 198 stolen bases, a .303 batting average, a .375 on-base average and a .409 slugging percentage.

One of the low points of Rose's playing career came in the 1970 Major League Baseball All-Star game. In the twelfth inning of a tie game, Rose slid into catcher Ray Fosse extremely hard. Fosse's shoulder was dislocated and his career suffered after the incident. Most observers felt that Rose had acted too aggressively for an exhibition game.

Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life by commissioner Bart Giamatti following allegations presented in a March 21, 1989 Sports Illustrated article that tied him to baseball gambling. Despite his personal accomplishments, this ban has kept him out of the Baseball Hall of Fame and made permanent on February 4, 1991 when the Hall of Fame voted to exclude players banned from baseball.

Rose was sent to jail for five months in 1990 for income tax evasion. Recently, Rose has been the talk of much discussion concerning his acceptance into the hall of fame. Even though he has been suspended, many fans believe he should be reinstated or at least placed in the hall of fame because of his tremendous achievements in his playing career.

External link

• The Dowd Report on Rose's gambling (http://www.baseball1.com/bb-data/rose/dowd/dowd_cover)