Pete Rose wasn't himself the day before his death: ex-teammate Tony Perez

Pete Rose's longtime teammate Tony Perez said the MLB hit king was “not him at all” the day before his death Monday at age 83.

Perez, who played alongside Rose for 16 seasons with the Reds, saw his friend during an autograph signing in Tennessee on Sunday.

“It's really hard when it happens,” Perez told TMZ Sports about Rose's death. “We just sit there on Sunday and have fun, but not a good time because he was in a wheelchair and he wasn't feeling too well. He wasn't even particularly good-looking. We can see that he is a little pale and wasn't himself at all. He wasn't the guy I last saw before Sunday.

“He wasn't a talker, he didn't say much. He said, “Hello,” and that was it, but we didn't interact like we used to, and he used to see me and go… and say a lot of stuff and go at me, “You're getting old, Man. “You ugly” or whatever. Dave Concepcion and (Ken) Griffey Sr. were there and George Foster from the Cincinnati Reds and we really didn't have a great time with him because of the way he looked and how he reacted that day.”

Perez, a Hall of Famer who played with Rose on the Reds from 1964 to 1976 and then from 1984 to 1986, said he last saw Rose six months before her appearance Sunday.

The two appeared alongside other “Big Red Machine” teammates from the 1975 and 1976 championship teams at the Music City Sports Collectables and Autograph Show in Franklin, Tennessee.

Rose sat in a wheelchair and took a photo of the five ex-teammates, which the show posted on its Facebook page.

Perez said Rose was in much better health when he last saw him.

“I know he had health problems, he had problems with his heart, but he never went to the doctor and never took medication. He doesn’t want to do it,” Rose said. “I guess he just thought he was playing an out-of-inning ball game … but he wasn't and he didn't help himself and that's exactly what happened.”

According to Clark County Coroner Melanie Rose, Rose died of natural causes at his home in Las Vegas from high blood pressure and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

He hit an MLB-record 4,256 hits in his career, including 19 seasons with the Reds, although he is not in the Hall of Fame because he played baseball.

“He was the guy who led us. He led us to everything,” said Perez, who played first and third base for the Reds. “You see him play and you have to play the way he plays. If you don't throw the ball out or run the bases like you're supposed to, you're going to look bad because Pete was a machine, he never stopped and kept us going. You have to play as hard as him.”

He added: “Everyone knows Pete as a player, but I know that as a person he was a great guy, a great teammate, a great human being, one of my best friends and I love him. I love him.”