Pete Rose Fast Facts

Here’s a look at the life of former Cincinnati Reds player and manager Pete Rose.

Personal

Birth name: Peter Edward Rose

Birth date: April 14, 1941

Birth place: Cincinnati, Ohio

Father: Harry Rose, a bank clerk and semi-pro baseball and football player

Mother: LaVerne Rose

Marriages: Carol (Woliung) Rose, (April 11, 1984-2011, divorced); Karolyn (Englehardt) Rose (January 25, 1964-1980, divorced)

Children: with Carol (Woliung) Rose: Kara and Tyler; with Karolyn (Englehardt) Rose: Pete Jr. and Fawn

Military: Ohio Army National Guard

Other Facts

He was nicknamed “Charlie Hustle” as a rookie.

His record shows him to be the only player in Major League history to play more than 500 games at five different positions, first base 939, second base 628, third base 634, left field 671, and in right field 595.

Rose holds the Major League Baseball record for the number of games played (3,562) and hits (4,256).

He was on the National League All-Star team 17 times between 1965 and 1985.

He is the first person since 1943 to be banned for life from baseball.

Timeline

July 8, 1960 – Rose begins his pro career with the minor league team Geneva Redlegs of the New York-Penn League.

1963 – Plays his first season for Cincinnati Reds. At the end of the season he’s voted National League Rookie of the Year.

1965 – Leads the league in hits with 209 and a batting average of .312. It is the first of 16 seasons in which his batting average is at least .300, the first of 10 seasons with 200 or more hits (a major league record) and the first of seven years leading the league in hits.

1968-1969 – He wins the first two of his three batting titles.

1969-1970 – Wins a Gold Glove both years for fielding excellence as an outfielder.

1973 – National League Most Valuable Player and wins the batting title.

1975 – Rose is named World Series Most Valuable Player after the Reds defeat the Boston Red Sox 4-3.

December 5, 1978-October 19, 1983 – Plays for the Philadelphia Phillies and wins the 1980 World Series, beating the Kansas City Royals 4-3.

1984 – Plays 95 games with the Montreal Expos.

August 16, 1984 – Is hired as player/manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

September 11, 1985 – At home against the San Diego Padres, Rose breaks Ty Cobb’s 57-year record of 4,191 career hits.

November 11, 1986 – Is released as a player from the Reds but continues to manage the team through the 1988-1989 season.

March 20, 1989 – An announcement from the office of the Baseball Commissioner reveals an ongoing investigation into allegations of Rose’s gambling. Details of the allegations are reported the next day in Sports Illustrated.

August 24, 1989 – With a 225-page report, witness testimony and volumes of evidence to support his findings, baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti bans Pete Rose from baseball for life for gambling, with the stipulation he may apply for reinstatement after one year.

August 1990-January 1991 – Serves five months in the Federal Prison Camp in Marion, Illinois, after pleading guilty to tax evasion.

September 23, 2002 – Plays in a celebrity softball game that he organized, to mark the closing of Cincinnati’s Cinergy Field; his first public game since banishment.

January 8, 2004 – Autobiography, “My Prison Without Bars,” is published. In the book Rose admits to betting on baseball while managing the Cincinnati Reds, after denying the charges for 14 years.

March 14, 2007 – During a radio interview with ESPN, Rose admits to betting on every Cincinnati game while he was manager.

January 13, 2013 – The reality show “Pete Rose: Hits and Mrs.,” about life with fiancée, Kiana Kim, premieres on TLC. The show is canceled after the fourth episode.

March 2015 – Rose submits a formal request to Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred seeking reinstatement.

April 18, 2015 – It is announced that Rose has been hired by Fox as a baseball analyst.

December 14, 2015 – Manfred announces that Rose’s application for reinstatement is denied.

July 7, 2016 – Files a defamation lawsuit against John Dowd, who led the investigation that led to Rose’s ban from baseball, for comments Dowd made suggesting that Rose committed statutory rape. Dowd later tells NJ Advance Media that the allegations have been “blown out of proportion.”

September 27, 2016 – Rose sends a letter to the National Baseball Hall of Fame asking that he be made eligible for inclusion, which would put his name on the ballot to be voted on by baseball writers.

July 31, 2017 – Court records reveal an unidentified woman has provided a sworn statement alleging that in the 1970s she had sex with Rose before she turned 16. The statement is part of the ongoing defamation lawsuit Rose filed against Dowd. Rose acknowledged that he had a relationship with the woman but said he believed she was 16 at the time.

December 14, 2017 – The defamation lawsuit against Dowd is dismissed.

February 5 , 2020 – Rose’s attorneys petition MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred for Rose to be reinstated. They argue that Rose’s “ongoing punishment for an act that never impacted a single play or game outcome is no longer justifiable as a proportional response to his transgressions.”