Pete Rose

Professional career

Rose made his MLB debut on April 8, 1963, against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Crosley Field, drawing a walk in his first plate appearance. After an 0-for-11 start, he collected his first hit on April 13, a triple off Bob Friend. During spring training in 1963, Whitey Ford gave Rose the derisive nickname "Charlie Hustle" after Rose sprinted to first base on a walk; Rose adopted it as a badge of honor. Mickey Mantle later recalled that Ford coined the name after Rose tried to climb the fence to catch a Mantle home run that was far over his head.

After the 1963 season, Rose entered the United States Army Reserves, serving six months of active duty at Fort Knox and six years with the 478th Engineering Battalion at Fort Thomas, Kentucky. He served as a platoon guide and later as a company cook, arranging his schedule to participate in Reds home games. In an April 23, 1964, game against the Houston Colt .45s, Rose reached first on an error in the top of the ninth of a scoreless game and scored on another error; the Colt .45s lost in the bottom of the ninth, making Ken Johnson the first pitcher to lose a complete game no-hitter.

Betting scandal, permanent banishment, and posthumous reinstatement

Rose, with his lawyer present, denied betting on baseball but admitted to betting on football, basketball, and horseracing. On March 21, 1989, Sports Illustrated published a detailed report of the allegations. Giamatti became commissioner on April 1, and three days later lawyer John M. Dowd was retained to investigate. Dowd interviewed associates and delivered a summary in May, documenting alleged gambling in 1985 and 1986 and a day-by-day account of betting on baseball in 1987.

The Dowd report alleged bets on 52 Reds games in 1987, with Rose wagering a minimum of $10,000 a day, though others claimed the amount was $2,000 a day. The report stated no evidence was found that Rose bet against the Reds, but Dowd later said he believed Rose probably did. In August 1989, Rose was declared permanently ineligible from baseball for violating Rule 21, which prohibits any bet on a game in which the bettor has a duty to perform. In 1991, the Baseball Hall of Fame voted to ban those on the permanently ineligible list from induction.

After years of denial, Rose admitted in 2004 that he had bet on baseball and on the Reds. In 2025, he was posthumously reinstated and became eligible for the Hall of Fame.

Post-baseball life

In April 1990, Pete Rose admitted in court to two counts of filing false tax returns, failing to report money from autograph sales, memorabilia, and horse racing winnings. That July, a judge gave him a five-month sentence at a minimum security prison in Marion, Illinois, plus a $50,000 fine. He left prison in January 1991 after covering $366,041 in back taxes and interest, and he also had to complete 1,000 hours of community service. In 1999, fans picked Rose as an outfielder for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

Even though he was banned from baseball, he was allowed to join the pregame introduction before Game 2 of the World Series that year. At Turner Field in Atlanta, the crowd gave him the biggest cheer of any All-Century player. During the live NBC broadcast, reporter Jim Gray pressed Rose repeatedly about whether he would confess to betting on baseball and apologize. Many viewers were angry, feeling the questions ruined the moment.

In 2002, Rose took part in a Mastercard event during the World Series that highlighted baseball’s greatest moments. Fans voted his record-breaking hit past Ty Cobb as the sixth most memorable play ever.

Personal life

Pete Rose's first marriage was to Karolyn Englehardt, whom he wed on January 25, 1964. They had two children: a daughter named Fawn, born that same year, and a son, Pete Rose Jr., born in 1969. Pete Jr. played minor league baseball and had a short stint in the majors. That marriage ended in divorce in 1980.

In 1978, a paternity suit was filed against Rose, and in a 1996 settlement, he acknowledged Morgan Erin Rubio as his daughter. Rose married his second wife, Carol J. Woliung, in 1984. She had been a Playboy Bunny and a cheerleader for the Philadelphia Eagles. They had two children: a son, Tyler, born in 1984, and a daughter, Cara, born in 1989—just two days before Rose was banned from Major League Baseball.

Rose filed for divorce from Carol in March 2011, citing irreconcilable differences. While separated, he began a relationship with Kiana Kim, a Playboy model forty years younger. In a 2009 interview, Rose mentioned that Kim was trying to shoot for Playboy. The couple appeared in a reality show on TLC called Pete Rose: Hits & Mrs., which premiered on January 14, 2013, and followed them along with Kim's two children, Cassie and Ashton.

Rose and Kim got engaged in 2011 but never married. They also appeared together in a Skechers commercial during Super Bowl XLVIII. Two of Rose's children have been in the public eye. Cara, using the stage name Chea Courtney, worked as a television actress on the soap opera Passions and on Melrose Place.

Pete Jr. spent sixteen years in the minors, had an 11-game stint with the Reds in 1997, and later became a coach. Rose's minor league roommate, David Miller, recruited Rose's grandson, Peter Edward Rose III (PJ), to play for the La Salle Explorers starting in the 2026 season, where PJ appeared in two games.