US baseball legend Pete Rose, whose career ended in disgrace after he was banned for life for gambling, has died.

The Cincinnati Reds slugger died Monday at the age of 83, Stephanie Wheatley, a spokeswoman for Clark County in Nevada, confirmed on behalf of the coroner.

Rose held the record for most career hits, 4,256, over a 24-year career.

In September 1985, in Cincinnati with his mother and teenage son Pete Jr., who later played briefly for the Reds, he reached the milestone, surpassing his hero Ty Cobb’s 4,191.

As more than 47,000 spectators cheered, the game was stopped, and as he was presented with the ball and first-base bag as a souvenir, Rose wept openly on the shoulder of first-base coach and former teammate Tommy Helms.

Rose scored 200 or more goals in ten seasons and over 180 four other times, leading the league seven times.

He won two World Series titles, 1975 and 1976, and a number of minor awards in the game he celebrated as both a player and a manager.

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Nicknamed “Charlie Hustle,” the brash Rose was famous for his shaggy hair and energetic approach that had him running and jumping to bases even when he didn’t have to.

But just four years after his record-breaking moment, he was banned from the sport for betting on baseball games, including some involving the Reds.

Rose denied any wrongdoing, but a league investigation found he was guilty of “extensive betting activity during the 1985, 1986 and 1987 baseball seasons” and handed him a lifetime ban.

Betting on baseball has been an original sin since 1920, when several members of the Chicago White Sox were expelled for throwing the 1919 World Series.

He reportedly never bet against his own team, but even betting on the Reds made him vulnerable to blackmail and raised questions about whether a particular managerial decision was based on his own financial interests.

The ban stood and Rose never made it into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Major League Baseball issued a brief statement expressing its condolences and highlighting his “greatness, courage and determination on the field.”

Bob Castellini, principal owner and managing partner of the Reds, said in a statement that Rose was “one of the fiercest competitors the game has ever seen,” adding: “We must never forget what he accomplished.”

Rose’s longtime teammate Johnny Bench, who was also part of the “Big Red Machine,” as the Reds’ dominant team of the 1970s was known, said he felt a “deep sense of loss” after Rose’s death.