Major League Baseball legend and the sport’s all-time hits leader Pete Rose passed away on Monday and the cause of his death has now been revealed.
According to the Clark County Medical Examiner/Coroner’s Office in Nevada, Rose’s official cause of death has been revealed to be heart disease.
Authorities say Rose died of natural causes and had also been battling diabetes.
Rose was found dead in his Las Vegas home Monday afternoon by a family member.
He had just been seen the day before at a gathering in Nashville, Tennessee, where he seemed to be in good spirits despite being in a wheelchair due to back problems.
The cause of death of MLB legend Pete Rose has been revealed following his passing on Monday.
Outside Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio, fans laid flowers and mementos before a statue of Rose doing his trademark head slide.
Rose is known for many things. His 4,256 hits are the most of any player in major league history and he was a cult hero in his hometown of Cincinnati, the city where he played most of his career and where he managed for six seasons.
At the same time, his legacy is complicated by his off-field actions which, among other things, saw him receive a lifetime ban from the sport and be labeled “permanently ineligible” by the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Rose and former MLB Commissioner Bart Giamatti agreed to a lifetime ban in August 1989 after an investigation by attorney John Dowd found that he had placed numerous bets on the Reds, violating one of the oldest rules. of baseball.
While he is not accused of betting against the Reds, Rose’s bets presented a number of problems for MLB, which felt the sanctity of the game was threatened.
For example, Rose could have held on to the team’s best relief pitchers when he had no money on the line, while pushing them to pitch when he was betting on the Reds.
Rose has applied for reinstatement in baseball and eligibility for the Hall of Fame several times in his life, most recently in late 2022.
Manfred, in a 2015 denial of Rose’s reinstatement request, argued that he had “failed to present credible evidence of a reconfigured life, nor through an honest acceptance on his part of his wrongdoings, so clearly set forth in the Dowd Report, nor through rigorous and rigorous self-assessment.” conscious and sustained program to avoid on your part all the circumstances that led to your permanent ineligibility.’
Fans visit the Pete Rose statue outside the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati
Rose, a Cincinnati native, played for the Reds for 17 seasons before managing the team.
In addition to his gambling problems, an allegation that Rose had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a minor in the 1970s also emerged in recent years.
In 2017, the Phillies canceled his induction into the team’s Wall of Fame after a Cincinnati woman said in federal court that she had a sexual relationship with the married Rose that began during his first stint with the Reds in 1973, when She was 14 or 15 years old. .
Rose has never been charged with statutory rape and the statute of limitations has expired. Although he allegedly admitted to the relationship, he insisted that he believed she was 16 at the time of the affair, making her old enough in the state of Ohio to consent to sexual activity.