(KTLA) — Pete Rose, Major League Baseball’s all-time leader in hits and one of baseball’s most divisive figures, died Monday at his home in Las Vegas. He was 83.
Just weeks before his death, Rose spoke with the sports team at Nexstar’s KTLA on Sept. 9 to reflect on his life, career, controversies and public perception about his place among the greats in American sports. It was a candid and pragmatic conversation that, unbeknownst to those involved, would prove to be his final interview before his passing.
“There’s nothing I can change about the history of Pete Rose,” Rose said during that interview.
Rose was suspended from baseball for life for betting on games, leaving him ineligible for induction into the MLB Hall of Fame. Decades later, he still clung to the hope of one day being welcomed into that exclusive fraternity.
“I keep convincing myself or telling myself, ‘Hang in there, Pete, you’ll get a second chance,'” Rose said. “I continue to hope that someday I’ll get a second chance, and I won’t need a third.”
He also reflected on the media landscape of 2024, including major sports leagues partnering with gambling companies and advertising betting services during games.
“There’s a lot of people gambling on sports. There’s no question about it,” Rose said. “And ESPN makes a lot of money based on people betting on sports. Baseball makes a lot of money on people betting on sports … I have nothing bad to say about that. Baseball does what it does because it’s the world of baseball, and they’re king.”
He said he still enjoyed watching sports, but his problems with betting had derailed his life so significantly that he couldn’t stand to even be in the gambling “atmosphere.”
And although Rose admitted to his wrongdoing, he still questioned his lifetime ban.
“It’s been a long time, and there’s been a lot of negative things happen in the world of baseball,” Rose said. “I was absolutely 110% wrong for what I did. But to do something like I did, and that’s bet on baseball games — and now you’re punished for the rest of your life — I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to a lot of people.”
Rose will be remembered both for his scandals and his athletic excellence. In his 24 MLB seasons, spent mostly with the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies, he won three World Series titles, was named to 17 MLB All-Star teams and was crowned the 1973 National League MVP.
But the number that hangs over his head and that of the sports world entirely remains 4,256 — the number of hits that propelled him to the top of baseball’s leaderboard, whether the powers that be wish to acknowledge him or not.
