Pete Rose is dead. © Dylan Buell / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP

The baseball scene mourns a legend

US baseball legend Pete Rose has died. The former idol, whose success was overshadowed by a betting scandal, died on Monday at the age of 83 in the US state of Nevada, according to authorities.

01 October 2024

From: dpa

Rose was therefore denied induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He also made headlines in the USA for having a child out of wedlock and filing false tax returns, which earned him five months in prison.

Rose set a record with 4.256 hits. When he became the sole record holder in September 1985, the then US President Ronald Reagan called him to congratulate the then 44-year-old. In total, Rose played in the US professional league MLB for 24 years, 18 of them for the Cincinnati Reds. He was named to the All-Star team 17 times and won the championship, the so-called World Series, three times.

"I went through hell in a gas suit to play baseball," was a famous saying by Rose, who was known as a hard worker. Reds owner Bob Castellini praised him as one of the toughest competitors the game had ever seen. "We must never forget what he accomplished."

Trump for induction into Hall of Fame

The league expressed its condolences in a brief statement on the X platform. In 1989, the MLB launched an investigation into Rose over allegations that he had bet on baseball games, including those played in Cincinnati. Rose repeatedly denied the allegations but agreed to a lifetime ban. He later admitted that he was now betting legally on baseball. "I don't believe that betting is morally wrong. I don't even believe that betting on baseball is morally wrong," Rose wrote in 2019.

One of his supporters is Donald Trump, who in 2015 – before he was elected US president – ​​said he could not believe that Rose had not been inducted into the Hall of Fame. "He paid the price. So ridiculous – let him in," Trump wrote at the time.