default-cbs-image

Baseball's all-time hit king, Pete Rose, won't be working for Fox Sports as a baseball analyst moving forward, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Rose had been part of Fox's studio team, notably offering pregame and postgame analysis for the postseason the past few years and was set to return for the 2017 playoffs, but things have changed of late. 

Rose was accused of statutory rape on a radio show John Dowd, who was the special counsel to the commissioner of baseball back during the investigation into Rose's gambling on baseball. That investigation led to Rose's permanent ban from baseball and is in part what has kept him out of the Hall of Fame to this day. 

In light of Dowd's accusations, Rose filed a defamation lawsuit. Court documents last month revealed that during the course of the lawsuit Rose filed, a woman testified that in the 1970s she had a sexual relationship with Rose that started before she turned 16 in Ohio -- where the age of consent is 16. At the time, Rose was 34 years old and married with two children. Dowd has alleged that Rose committed statutory rape in Florida, where the age of consent is 18, during spring training. 

Court documents showed that Rose acknowledged the sexual relationship with this woman (listed only as "Jane Doe" for the purposes of her privacy) but said that he thought she was 16. 

Amid the allegations, the Phillies cancelled their scheduled Pete Rose Wall of Fame ceremony for Aug. 12. Some, such as Bill Reiter of CBS Sports, called for Fox to terminate Rose

Rose won't face charges stemming from this, as the statute of limitations has passed since this happened back in the '70s. 

Regardless, a place of business still has the right to fire an employee for allegations such as these and it appears Fox has done as much with Rose.