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Legendary sportscaster Jim Gray remembers MLB great Pete Rose
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Legendary sportscaster Jim Gray remembers MLB great Pete Rose

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Pete Rose captivated Major League Baseball audiences over 24 years with three different organizations while setting career records for hits, at-bats and games played.

The Clark County Coroner in Nevada confirmed to Fox News on Monday that Rose had died at the age of 83. The cause of death was not immediately known. As word of his death filtered out to the world, tributes and memories poured in.

“Charlie Hustle,” as he was known in his heyday with the Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds and Montreal Expos, was remembered as a polarizing figure in the baseball world who seemingly gave it his all, whether in the afternoon, evening or in the evening. afternoon played. exhibition games.

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Pete Rose slides

Pete Rose of the Philadelphia Phillies slides into third base during a baseball game against the New York Mets in Philadelphia on June 3, 1981. (AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy, File)

“Hungry, determined, ruthless competitor, cruel competitor with what he did to Ray Fosse at the All-Star Game in a game that might have mattered at the time,” legendary sportscaster Jim Gray told Fox News Digital when asked about the competitor to describe Rose. for the baseball fan who is more aware of today’s stars. “I think he played and he cared about the results. He cared about his personal results. He cared about his team results and he was aggressive. The fans loved him. They loved that he came to work every day and gave it his all.” .” And as far as I know, what we saw on the field was his drive to win.”

Gray recalled some of his first memories of Rose on the field when he was a host for Phillie’s pre-game shows. Rose played in Philadelphia from 1979 until midway through the 1983 season, when he was traded to the Expos.

The greatness he brought to the field would ultimately be overshadowed during his time as manager of the Reds by a gambling scandal not seen in sports since the Black Sox scandal of 1919.

Rose was questioned in February 1989 about whether he had gambled on baseball and at the time only admitted that he had bet on football, basketball and horse racing and vehemently denied that he had bet on baseball. Some of the allegations were detailed in a Sports Illustrated story that prompted attorney John M. Dowd to open an investigation and turn it over to then-Commissioner Bart Giamatti.

Dowd’s report was submitted to Giamatti in May 1989 and published in June 1989. The report claimed that Rose had bet on at least 52 Reds games in 1987.

Pete Rose in Philadelphia

Pete Rose died on September 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Rose ultimately agreed to be placed on the baseball roster voluntarily, with the option that he could request reinstatement. Gray told Fox News Digital that Rose and Giamatti wanted to figure out how to get him back into the game, but Rose’s attorney, Reuven Katz, did not want his client to admit he gambled on baseball and take the deal that was offered. including Rose who sought extensive help for addiction and rehabilitation.

According to Gray, Dowd told him that Katz told Giamatti, “Peter is a legend.” To which Giamatti replied, “No, baseball is the legend.”

THE DEATH OF PETE ROSE LEAVES THE BASEBALL WORLD IN MOURNING: ‘ABSOLUTELY HEARTBROKEN’

Rose filed for reinstatement in 1992, 1998, 2003, 2015, 2020 and 2022. However, each commissioner, Fay Vincent, Bud Selig and Rob Manfred, either never acted on it or rejected Rose’s requests outright. Because she was on the ineligible list, Rose could not be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Rose’s support seemed to be divided among the legends in the game. Ted Williams said in 2000 that he didn’t believe Rose should be in the Hall Fame.

“I feel sorry for Pete Rose, but he committed baseball’s cardinal sin. He gambled,” he told The New York Times.

Piet Rose in 2022

Former Philadelphia Phillies player Pete Rose waves to fans during an alumni day on August 7, 2022 in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Mike Schmidt admitted in 2017 that Rose wouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame, but wondered why the hitting machine never got the “same level of forgiveness” that other guys have when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs, according to the Philly Voice.

Years later, Rose admitted in an autobiography that he had bet on baseball, despite repeated denials — including one in a famous 1999 interview with Gray at Turner Field, when he was honored as part of the All-Century Team.

Furthermore, as sports gambling became more prevalent in the United States, Manfred made it clear that Rose’s recovery would be “an unacceptable risk.”

Gray, who wrote about Rose in his book “Talking to GOATs: The Moments You Remember and the Stories You Never Heard,” said he didn’t find it surprising that Rose was still ineligible, even though baseball was closely tied to gambling.

“No, I don’t think that’s strange,” Gray told Fox News Digital. “The rules were the rules and the rules were applied to him based on the circumstances at the time this happened. He signed his own ban from baseball with the opportunity to reapply and none of those applications were successful .

Pete Rose waves to the crowd

Former Cincinnati Reds player Pete Rose waves to fans after being inducted during the Reds Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on July 15, 2023 in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, file)

“So he knew the terms and he agreed to those terms. And just because times have changed and things have changed, it doesn’t in any way change the most important fundamental issue. And that goes for any active manager, player or whoever also Any official capacity involved in baseball can ever gamble on the sport. No sport can ever accept that, and if caught doing so, the punishment must be severe.”

Gray added that he still felt Rose deserved to be in the hallowed halls of Cooperstown, but with an explanation for his misdeeds.

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“Having said all that and understanding that the Hall of Famer comes with a ban on baseball and no gambling. We don’t live in the Soviet Union. And you can’t erase a man’s records. And what he did on the field is worthy of the Hall of Fame because he had more hits than anyone, and he was productive at that. And of course the plaque and the honor never came during his lifetime. If they did it posthumously, maybe that should reflect he was banned from baseball and the reason and reason why is on the plaque: because of gambling. But he should be in the Hall of Fame.

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