PBS News Hour

AMNA NAWAZ: Finally tonight, remembering baseball legend Pete Rose, the all-time hitting king who was later banned from the game for life.

Questions about his legacy and whether he belongs in the Hall of Fame are still hotly debated.

Jeffrey Brown has our look back at the player better known as Charlie Hustle.

ANNOUNCER: Two-one pitch from Show into left-center.

There it is.

Rose has eclipsed Cobb.

That's number 4,192.

(CHEERING) JEFFREY BROWN: September 11, 1985, Pete Rose breaks the record held by Ty Cobb for career hits.

By any measure, Rose was one of baseball's greatest ever players, especially in his years as part of the Cincinnati Reds' Big Red Machine and later with the Philadelphia Phillies, a most valuable player award in 1973, three-time World Series champion, three-time batting champion, 17 All-Star appearances.

ANNOUNCER: A fight breaks out, Pete Rose and Buddy Harrelson.

JEFFREY BROWN: He was known for a ferocious, pugnacious, nonstop style.

ANNOUNCER: And this is the way Rose plays the game, just 150 percent each and every time.

JEFFREY BROWN: Sliding headfirst into bases, running to first base after every walk.

He spoke of it with his manager, Sparky Anderson.

PETE ROSE, Former Major League Baseball Player: I have to agree with you that I am somewhat of an animal when I'm on the field, because I just like to win.

And a lot of that is instilled because of my father.

JEFFREY BROWN: The most famous or infamous incident, the 1970 All-Star game, when Rose rammed headfirst into catcher Ray Fosse, winning the game, yes, but injuring Fosse in what was essentially a meaningless showcase.

Rose's on-field exploits would become overshadowed as long-rumored concerns over his betting on sports contests, including baseball, were confirmed in a 1989 report.

And Rose, then manager of the Reds, was banished from the game by then-commissioner Bartlett Giamatti.

BARTLETT GIAMATTI, Former Commissioner, Major League Baseball: The banishment for life of Pete Rose from baseball is the sad end of a sorry episode.

One of the game's greatest players has engaged in a variety of acts which have stained the game.

PETE ROSE: Well, regardless of what the commissioner said today, I did not bet on baseball.

JEFFREY BROWN: Rose denied the charges for years to come, only admitting it publicly in a 2004 autobiography, when he also spoke to ABC's Charles Gibson.

CHARLES GIBSON, ABC News: Did you bet on baseball?

PETE ROSE: Yes, I did.

And that was my mistake, not coming clean a lot earlier.

JEFFREY BROWN: Rose fought for years to be reinstated, as the ruling kept him from any work in baseball and shut out of the Hall of Fame.

Beloved and reviled, baseball hero and shamed villain, one of the greats and the center of one of the game's greatest scandals.

Rose said this in 2015: PETE ROSE: My fans have stuck behind me, and I appreciate that.

I can't tell you the ongoing support I get everywhere I go.

And I think that's partly because of the way I played the game.

JEFFREY BROWN: Pete Rose died yesterday at his home in Clark County, Nevada.

No cause of death was given.

He was 83 years old.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Jeffrey Brown.