Star Tribune
Pete Rose, baseball’s banned hits leader, has died at age 83
NEW YORK — Pete Rose, baseball’s career hits leader and fallen idol who undermined his historic achievements and Hall of Fame dreams by gambling on the game he loved and once embodied, has died. He was 83.
Stephanie Wheatley, a spokesperson for Clark County in Nevada, confirmed on behalf of the medical examiner that Rose died Monday. Wheatley said his cause and manner of death had not yet been determined.
For fans who came of age in the 1960s and ‘70s, no player was more exciting than the Cincinnati Reds’ No. 14, ”Charlie Hustle,” the brash superstar with the shaggy hair, puggish nose and muscular forearms. At the dawn of artificial surfaces, divisional play and free agency, Rose was old school, a conscious throwback to baseball’s early days. Millions could never forget him crouched and scowling at the plate, running full speed to first even after drawing a walk, or sprinting for the next base and diving headfirst into the bag.
A 17-time All-Star, the switch-hitting Rose played on three World Series winners. He was the National League MVP in 1973 and World Series MVP two years later. He holds the major league record for games played (3,562) and plate appearances (15,890) and the NL record for the longest hitting streak (44). He was the leadoff man for one of baseball’s most formidable lineups with the Reds’ championship teams of 1975 and 1976, with teammates that included Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Tony Perez and Joe Morgan.
But no milestone approached his 4,256 hits, breaking his hero Ty Cobb’s 4,191 and signifying his excellence no matter the notoriety which followed. It was a total so extraordinary that you could average 200 hits for 20 years and still come up short. Rose’s secret was consistency, and longevity. Over 24 seasons, all but six played entirely with the Reds, Rose had 200 hits or more 10 times, and more than 180 four other times. He batted .303 overall, even while switching from second base to outfield to third to first, and he led the league in hits seven times.
”Every summer, three things are going to happen,” Rose liked to say, ”the grass is going to get green, the weather is going to get hot, and Pete Rose is going to get 200 hits and bat .300.”
Rose was Rookie of the Year in 1963, but he started off 0 for 12 with three walks and a hit by pitch before getting his first major league hit, an eighth-inning triple off Pittsburgh’s Bob Friend. It came in Cincinnati on April 13, 1963, the day before Rose’s 22nd birthday. He reached 1,000 in 1968, 2,000 just five years later and 3,000 just five years after that.
He moved into second place, ahead of Hank Aaron, with hit No. 3,772, in 1982. No. 4,000 was off the Phillies’ Jerry Koosman in 1984, exactly 21 years to the day after his first hit. He caught up with Cobb on Sept. 8, 1985, and surpassed him three days later, in Cincinnati, with Rose’s mother and teenage son, Pete Jr., among those in attendance.
Five brothers and their father were burned when a unit at a storage facility caught fire in northwestern Minnesota.
The explosion and subsequent blaze occurred about 12:30 pm. Monday north of Bagley on 370th Street, the Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office said.
Emergency responders arrived and found the man and children ages 6 to 14 with burns, the Sheriff’s Office said. The boys’ sister said the brothers were with their father at the time of the incident.
“Preliminary indications are that a propane tank had been leaking inside the metal storage unit, and when the doors were opened, the adult male lit a cigarette and an explosion ensued,” a Sheriff’s Office statement read.
Kyra Frank identified the five children as her brothers, according to an online fund-raising page she started to help the family with expenses related to the explosion. Frank identified the boys to the Star Tribune by their first names as Keegan, 6; Kaeto, 8; Braedynn, 10; Tannen, 12; and Zander, 14. She said their father, Randy Ritchie, was the man with them at the time. She said Ritchie also was in stable condition.
Frank said in the posting Monday that “all five are in critical condition and have been life-flighted to Hennepin MN for further care. … My mom is a single working parent and is now taking time off to be with her boys. She could use any and all the help given.”
Passersby helped the victims until the emergency responders took over and transferred the six to area hospitals, the Sheriff’s Office said.
In follow-up postings, Frank said all of her brothers were in a burn treatment center, but “there are still a lot of unknowns at this time but they are in stable condition. They have a long road ahead of them.”
Investigators were able to positively match Thompson with the photos and videos that witnesses had submitted of the dog being beat in Minneapolis.
Thompson contacted animal control about the missing dog and arrived to pick up Subliminal. When questioned if he hit his dog, Thompson initially denied it but ultimately admitted that he hit his dogs for discipline. A veterinarian report concluded that Subliminal had, “decreased musculature of right hindlimb” along with bloody scabs on his chin.
Thompson has a lengthy criminal history in Minnesota, including felony convictions for domestic abuse, assault, making terroristic threats and fleeing police. He also has 39 misdemeanor convictions for driving after his license was revoked to go along with two misdemeanor convictions for DWI.
He is due in court Nov. 20 to be arraigned on the charges of cruelty to animals.
BILLINGS, Mont. — Three-term incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester of Montana faces perhaps his toughest reelection challenge yet on Tuesday, with control of the Senate on the line in a state that has veered sharply rightward since the 68-year-old grain farmer’s first election.
Republicans have pinned their hopes on Tim Sheehy, a former U.S. Navy SEAL and founder of an aerial firefighting company. Sheehy, 38, had early backing from party leaders including former President Donald Trump, clearing the political newcomer’s path to win the June primary.
It is the first time Tester is sharing the same ballot as Trump, who twice won in Montana by wide margins.
Long lines were seen at Montana polling places as a winter storm brought snow to some parts of the state.
A Sheehy victory would seal Republican Party dominance across the five-state Northern Plains region: Tester entered office as one of six Democratic senators in the largely rural swath of American heartland that also includes Wyoming, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. He is now the only one.
The lawmaker also is the sole remaining Democrat to hold statewide office in Montana.
The candidates and their allies shattered political spending records and barraged voters with almost $300 million in ads on TV, radio, their phones and in their mailboxes. Total spending is expected to reach about $500 for each active registered voter in Montana.
”This is the toughest race since Tester got in,” said political analyst Jeremy Johnson, ”and Tim Sheehy is a real formidable candidate.”
