Rose, Major League Baseball's hit king, passed away earlier today at his home in Las Vegas ... where he was found by a family member.
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00:00Mojo, we're going to start today with the passing of one of the greatest baseball players
00:09that has ever stepped foot on a diamond, Pete Rose, the legendary Pete Rose passed away
00:15on Monday at his home in Las Vegas at the age of 83 years old.
00:20Now we broke the story Mojo on the TMZ Sports website.
00:24As any sports fan out there knows, Pete Rose had a very complicated legacy, but let's be
00:30real, Pete Rose was one of the greatest baseball players that we have ever seen, Mojo, 24 seasons
00:37in Major League Baseball, won three World Series, more hits than anybody ever.
00:43Guy played first base, second base, third base, the outfield Mojo, known as Charlie
00:48Hustle for his tenacious play.
00:51Nobody played harder or cared more about winning baseball games than Pete Rose.
00:57Now, from the reporting we've done Mojo, it doesn't seem like Pete Rose, who again was
01:03in his 80s, so he was not a young man, but he wasn't sick as far as we know.
01:09And as a matter of fact, on Sunday, Pete Rose was with some of his, there they are, some
01:15of his former big red machine teammates.
01:18You see right there in that picture, Dave Concepcion, you see George Foster, the Hall
01:24of Famer Tony Perez, Ken Griffey Sr., again Mojo, along with Ryan Fitterman.
01:29This was at a Fitterman Sports Group signing in Nashville, Tennessee.
01:33Pete, there he is, he's sitting down Mojo, he actually is in a wheelchair, but we were
01:38told that's just because Pete's back was bothering him, and because of that he wanted to be more
01:43comfortable so they got him in the wheelchair.
01:45But took a bunch of photos, signed a bunch of autographs for fans, and from all accounts
01:51was in good spirits, was having a great time, and was happy to be hanging out with a lot
01:56of his old buddies.
01:58Not just that Mojo, we actually got a video, and there Pete is as he got on the airplane
02:06in Nashville flying back to Vegas.
02:09This is Sunday night, and again, sadly, tragically then, on Monday, Pete Rose is found deceased
02:16in his home by one of his family members.
02:20Now, we do not yet know the cause of death.
02:22The medical examiner does have Pete's body, and they do plan to do an autopsy this week,
02:28so at some point here we will probably find out a little bit more about what happened,
02:33Mojo.
02:34I mentioned Pete's complicated legacy.
02:36Look, Pete Rose was, in 1989, banned by then Major League Baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti
02:44for life for gambling on baseball games.
02:47You know this whole story, Mojo.
02:49Pete denied it, only then, in the early 2000s, in his biography, to admit that yes, he had
02:56in fact bet on baseball.
02:57Never run his team to lose, but he bet on baseball.
03:00That's baseball's cardinal rule, and because of that, he was banned, and as we sit here
03:05right now, we know Pete Rose is not a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, so it's complicated.
03:12It's a little bit messy, Mojo, and that's why a lot of people Monday night were then
03:17looking at Major League Baseball and the Baseball Hall of Fame.
03:21Would they come out with a statement, and what would they say?
03:24Well, both did ultimately speak.
03:27It took Major League Baseball a couple of hours, but eventually, they came out with
03:30a statement, and here's what they had to say, Mojo.
03:34Major League Baseball extends its deepest condolences to Pete Rose's family, his friends
03:39across the game, and the fans of his hometown Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Montreal, and beyond,
03:46who admired his greatness, grit, and determination on the field of play.
03:51May he rest in peace.
03:53So there was MLB.
03:54Then, Mojo, you had the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, who had this to say,
04:00the Hall of Fame remembers Pete Rose, Major League Baseball's all-time hits and games
04:05played leader, who passed away on Monday.
04:08Charlie Hustle won three batting titles, earned 17 All-Star Game selections, and won three
04:14World Series championships.
04:16Now, ironically, Mojo, he was part of a Hall of Fame.
04:20It was the WWE Hall of Fame.
04:23It was Monday night.
04:24As you know, Mojo, Monday night Raw going down, and WWE actually honored the late Pete
04:31Rose.
04:32Take a look.
04:33On behalf of everybody at WWE, we want to send our heartfelt condolences to the family
04:38of baseball legend and WWE Hall of Famer Pete Rose.
04:43Pete passed away today.
04:44He was a fixture ringside for all combat sports, whether it was a championship boxing match
04:50in Vegas or here at WWE.
04:52He was a beloved part of the WWE family.
04:55WrestleMania 14 was the guest ring announcer for Kane and Undertaker, played a major role
04:59in WrestleMania 15.
05:01Pete Rose, WWE Hall of Famer, was 83.
05:09You know, Mojo, Pete had for so long fought to be in the Hall of Fame.
05:14It's, look, it's the last and a lot of times the greatest honor for an aging athlete, and
05:20he wanted that so badly, but it just seemed like the Hall of Fame wasn't going to give
05:24it to him while Pete was still here.
05:27There's no question you could put Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame twice.
05:30He was such a great baseball player.
05:32Do you think, Mojo, now that Pete has passed, that baseball will finally relent and will
05:38induct him into the Hall of Fame?
05:40Oh, man, Babcock, really hard to say.
05:42It really is a tough question, you know, because when the league bans you for life, you have
05:47to assume that they're going to keep with that precedent and not put you in the Hall
05:52of Fame.
05:53But I mean, at the end of the day, guys have been kicked out of leagues for way worse things
05:58than, than what Pete did.
05:59And I mean, goodness gracious, when you talk about everything that he accomplished in the
06:04sport, I mean, if it's me, I'm putting them in, it's that simple.
06:08Look up how many championships he's won, how many honors he's won, maybe more important
06:13than both of those.
06:15Look up the records that he's broken.
06:18It is a laundry list of all-time baseball records that he just completely shattered.
06:26I mean, is there anyone with a resume even close to similar to this?
06:29I mean, this is absolutely ridiculous.
06:32To get that many hits, I mean, you're talking about averaging over a 24-year period, which
06:37who plays 24 years professionally?
06:41You're talking about averaging nearly 180 hits a year.
06:44That's more than a hit a game.
06:46I mean, it's unheard of, and it's truly one of the more spectacular records, not just
06:51in baseball, football, basketball, I mean, you name the sport, this is a record that
06:55will never be surpassed.
06:57Nobody will ever come close to Pete Rose's record.
07:00I mean, I get it, Mojo.
07:02It's not the Hall of the Greatest Person, you know?
07:05We're not giving out sainthoods here.
07:07We're talking about great baseball players, and I don't know there were many greater than
07:11Pete Rose.
07:12That's sort of the way I look at it, Mojo, you know?
07:14Yeah, I mean, I feel the same way, and again, he didn't bet on or against his own team,
07:18right?
07:19I mean, it makes it better.
07:21I'm not saying it makes it excusable, but again, there are way worse crimes.
07:26I mean, if it's me, I'm absolutely putting him in.
07:28I mean, at least in the WWE, we put him in.
07:31I mean, this was the impact that Pete Rose had anywhere that he went.
07:36I mean, he didn't spend a ton of time with WWE, but I can tell you firsthand, these clips
07:42are everywhere.
07:44They always replay that iconic clip of Pete Rose with Kane, the fire, the look on his
07:51face.
07:52I mean, that's in like every video montage of big events ever for wrestling.
07:57I mean, then you talk about the impact he had in other avenues of life.
08:02I mean, whether it be film or television, I believe Andy Warhol actually produced a
08:08series of pieces on Pete Rose.
08:11I mean, Andy Warhol, like that is, that is the scope of what we're talking about here.
08:16When you talk about a lifetime contribution, I mean, just totally insane.
08:21So really sad to see, really curious to see what the autopsy is going to say.
08:25Cause again, he was just at a signing, mixing it up with his buddies, having a great time
08:30flying.
08:31No issues whatsoever.
08:32No one knows what happened.
08:34So hopefully he didn't go in any kind of pain or suffering.
08:37It doesn't sound like he did, but yeah, terrible loss nonetheless.