Charlie Hustle
The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball
1 of 1 copy available
A captivating chronicle of the incredible story of one of America’s most iconic, charismatic, and still polarizing figures—baseball immortal Pete Rose—and an exquisite cultural history of baseball and America in the second half of the twentieth century • "Comprehensive, compulsively readable and wholly terrific."—The Wall Street Journal
"Long before the inquiry into Ohtani's ties to betting, there was Pete Rose....Charlie Hustle chronicles one of the most polarizing figures in sports."—NPR, All Things Considered
“Baseball biography at its best. With Charlie Hustle, Pete Rose finally gets the book he deserves, and baseball fans get the book we’ve been craving, a hard-hitting, beautifully-written tale that will stand for years to come as the definitive account of one of the most fascinating figures in American sports history.”—Jonathan Eig, New York Times bestselling author of King: A Life
Pete Rose is a legend. A baseball god. He compiled more hits than anyone in the history of baseball, a record he set decades ago that still stands today. He was a working-class white guy from Cincinnati who made it; less talented than tough, and rough around the edges. He was everything that America wanted and needed him to be, the American dream personified, until he wasn’t.
In the 1980s, Pete Rose came to be at the center of one of the biggest scandals in baseball history. He kept secrets, ran with bookies, took on massive gambling debts, and he was magnificently, publicly cast out for betting on baseball and lying about it. The revelations that followed ruined him, changed life in Cincinnati, and forever altered the game.
Charlie Hustle tells the full story of one of America’s most epic tragedies—the rise and fall of Pete Rose. Drawing on firsthand interviews with Rose himself and with his associates, as well as on investigators' reports, FBI and court records, archives, a mountain of press coverage, Keith O’Brien chronicles how Rose fell so far from being America’s “great white hope.” It is Pete Rose as we've never seen him before.
This is no ordinary sport biography, but cultural history at its finest. What O’Brien shows is that while Pete Rose didn’t change, America and baseball did. This is the story of that change.
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
March 26, 2024 -
Formats
-
OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593795972
- File size: 425962 KB
- Duration: 14:47:25
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
Starred review from January 29, 2024
Sports biographies don’t get much better than this enthralling and tragic account of the career of Pete Rose, Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader. Sportswriter O’Brien (Paradise Falls) describes how Rose was pressed from an early age by his father (whose own dreams of a pro baseball career were never realized) to excel at sports. Despite being small for his age, Rose had an exceptional drive and passion that helped him excel on the citywide team he played with in his teens. After a few years in the minor leagues, Rose earned a spot on the Cincinnati Reds in 1963 and was named the National League’s Rookie of the Year. The portrait that emerges is empathetic yet balanced, with breathless recaps of Rose’s first championship season in 1975 and 44-game hitting streak in 1978 tempered by troubling discussions of his yearslong affair with an underage high schooler when he was in his 30s and the gambling addiction that left him barred from induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame (in 2004, Rose confirmed allegations that he bet on the Reds while playing for and managing the team in the 1980s). O’Brien movingly depicts Rose as an everyman who willed his own greatness only to succumb to his baser impulses, and the rich research draws on extensive interviews with players, federal investigators, and Rose himself. Definitive and elegantly told, this is a home run. Agent: Richard Abate, 3 Arts Entertainment. -
Ellen Adair handles this biography of Pete Rose beautifully, with clear enunciation and pronunciation, letting the rich and troubled life of baseball's all-time hits leader stand for what it is. Rose was a homegrown Cincinnati guy who went on to star for the Reds. But his off-field pursuits--gambling, an extramarital affair, and a lack of solid friendships--mar his legacy. Adair carries the narration of this fascinating, well-researched audiobook with a consistent tone and no imitations of quotes. She and the author both lay out Rose's life, one of the most polarizing in baseball history, and one that has kept the star out of the Hall of Fame. M.B. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine -
May 31, 2024
Sportswriter O'Brien (Paradise Falls) takes listeners through the exhilarating highs and tragic lows of baseball legend Pete Rose's memorable career. O'Brien's comprehensive and balanced account, drawn from interviews with Rose, his fellow players, and federal investigators, presents listeners with little-known facts about Rose's life inside and outside baseball. On the field, this tough kid from Cincinnati's West Side became a baseball legend through hard work and drive, excelling at the game despite never being the greatest athlete. Interwoven into the story of Rose's baseball career are details about his family, his associates, and his attraction to gambling, which led him to bet on everything from horses to football and, eventually, to his fateful decision to bet on the MLB team he played for and managed. O'Brien provides an engaging reading of his author's note, while Ellen Adair offers the primary, rich, and clear narration, adding excitement with her enthusiastic and lively delivery. VERDICT A fascinating but ultimately tragic account of the rise and fall of an athlete who could not abandon his self-destructive habits or take responsibility for his actions. Those who followed Pete Rose back in the day will want to check this out.--Scott DiMarco
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
-