By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-10-02 17:12:01 | Updated at 2024-10-03 23:28:08
1 day ago
Tony Perez, a close friend and former teammate of Pete Rose, noticed that the MLB legend wasn't his usual self when they reunited just a day before his death.
The sport's all-time hits leader passed away on Monday at the age of 83, with the Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner in Nevada revealing he died of heart disease.
Rose was found dead in his Las Vegas home on Monday afternoon by a family member. Officials say Rose died of natural causes and that he had also been battling diabetes.
A day earlier, Rose joined Perez and other former Cincinnati Reds teammates for a signing session in Nashville but Perez told TMZ that it 'wasn't a good time' because Rose was 'not himself'.
Rose was pictured in a wheelchair and smiling while surrounded by his old teammates, with whom he won World Series titles in 1975 and 1976.
Rose seated with (from left) Dave Concepcion, George Foster, Tony Perez and Ken Griffey Sr.
Rose was signing autographs in Nashville on Sunday, a day before his death in Nevada
Perez - a three-time MLB champion - was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000 and hopes Rose will also be honored following his death.
His 4,256 hits is the most of any player in Major League Baseball history. He was also a cult hero in his hometown of Cincinnati, where he played the majority of his career and then managed for six seasons.
But Rose's legacy is complicated by his actions off the field that - among other things - saw him receive a lifetime ban from the sport. He was also branded 'permanently ineligible' from the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Rose and former MLB commissioner Bart Giamatti agreed to a lifetime ban in August 1989 after an investigation by lawyer John Dowd found that he placed numerous bets on the Reds, violating one of the oldest rules in baseball.
Pete Rose #14, Joe Morgan #8, Jonny Bench #5, Tony Perez #24, George Foster #15, Dave Concepcion #13, Ken Griffey #30, and Cesar Geronimo #20 of the Cincinnati Reds line-up during introductions before Game 1 of the 1975 World Series against the Boston Red Sox on October 11, 1975 at Fenway Park
Rose applied for reinstatement into baseball - and eligibility into the Hall of Fame - multiple times in his life, most recently in late 2022.
Only a few weeks before his passing, Rose admitted he was still hoping for forgiveness.
'There's nothing I can change about the history of Pete Rose,' he told Texas television station KLTV in an interview published on September 7.
'I keep convincing myself or telling myself, "Hang in there, Pete, you'll get a second chance."'
'This is the one country that gives you a second chance,' Rose added. 'I continue to hope that someday I'll get a second chance, and I won't need a third.'
Rose, who died at the age of 83 on Monday, was banned from baseball for life in 1989
As well as his betting scandal, in recent years Rose was also accused of having an improper sexual relationship with a minor in the 1970s.
In 2017, the Phillies canceled his induction onto 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.
However, Rose has never been charged with statutory rape and the statute of limitations has expired.
Although he has reportedly admitted to the relationship, he has 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.
