Charles Peterson -- a longtime amateur scout for the St. Louis Cardinals -- died Sunday after a weeks-long battle with COVID-19 ... the team announced.
He was only 46-years-old.
The baseball scout had been hospitalized with coronavirus on Aug. 17 ... and had been placed on a ventilator shortly after he was admitted, his family and friends said over the weekend.
They added in a statement on a GoFundMe page Sunday they were devastated over his passing.
"It is with a heavy and broken heart I share that our beloved Charles ‘Pete’ has lost his battle with COVID-19," the statement read.