Pete Rose: A Biography

by David M. Jordan

Pete Rose is baseball's Hit King, the Major Leagues' all-time leader in career hits. But some fans consider his off-the-field actions a black mark on the sport. Major League Baseball's investigations into Rose's gambling led to his lifetime banishment from the game--which, in turn, has barred him from otherwise--certain induction into the Hall of Fame. Rose brought to the sport an unparalleled drive to succeed. Now, people from every part of society debate the nature of his legacy. Baseball author David Jordan presents an even-handed look at Rose's life, career, and post-baseball life, and lets the reader decide for him- or herself.

It has been said that hitting a baseball is the hardest thing in professional sports. "Baseball's All-Time Greatest HitterS" presents biographies on Greenwood's selection for the 12 best hitters in Major League history, written by some of today's best baseball authors. These books present straightforward stories in accessible language for the high school researcher and the general reader alike. Each volume includes a timeline, bibliography, and index. In addition, each volume includes a Making of a Legend chapter that analyses the evolution of the player's fame and (in some cases) infamy.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2004

About the author

A longtime Philadelphia baseball fan, David M. Jordan is a retired attorney and the author of nine books on the Civil War, political events, and baseball.

Reviews

[Rafael Triginelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rated this book 4 stars because I really enjoyed the points of view that it provides and how the author presents it all but I thought that it had some problems with the pacing that the story progresses. The book starts really slowly focusing on Pete's early life inside and outside the baseball diamond and it talks a lot about his background, which for me made the book boring and a struggle to read at the beginning. Once the book hits the point where Pete is already in the MLB playing for the Cincinnati Reds, which for most people, including me, would be the most interesting part, the pacing of the book changed completely and in my view it started to progress way too fast. Besides that, it is a great book that highlights both sides of the controversy person that Pete Rose was, not trying to make him look either good or bad, just presenting both sides, which is something that really allows the reader to understand his complexity.

As expected, the book is focused around Pete Rose, a Major league Baseball player that played from 1963 to 1986 and was a manager from 1984 to 1989, before getting banned from baseball. He is considered one of the best baseball players of all time, even being the player who holds the record for most career hits in the Major League Baseball, with 4250. Apart from that, Pete is also viewed as one of the most controversy people to ever play professional baseball, with such big issues that constantly make people overview his career and focus only on his "dark side". The book shows his scandals off the field including his gambling problems, going to jail for tax evasion, getting banned from the Baseball Hall of Fame being one of the best players of all time, problems as a father and a husband and problems with friendships but it also shows his great achievements, perseverance, obsession to win, hustle and it focus a lot on his relationships with teammates and coaches, highlighting a lot of the good side of those.

For me the theme of this biography is to separate the person from the player and to draw a line that shows until how far a great ballplayer can go on controversies off the field while still maintaining a good image with fans, and what does it take for a player to have its off the field problems shadow his in-field performances. The book does not fail to present Rose's career downfall and numerous problems, such as when the author said "Now the gambling became more of a necessity, more compulsive, and he found more chances to bet than just horses. Football, basketball, jai alai, dogs, even baseball, any kind of sporting event, along with the horses-all of these represented opportunities for Pete Rose to gamble" (Jordan 142) and "At different times he owed bookies, some of whom had ties to the mob, "hundreds of thousands of dollars." Rose needed lots of cash" (Jordan 142). Out of all the problems that Pete had on his personal life, his gambling addiction was most likely the worst one, he was caught betting in Major League Baseball while he was managing the Cincinnati Reds in 1989, which led at time commissioner Bart Giamatti to ban Pete Rose from baseball for life, making him unable to keep managing the Reds and led to his removal from the Baseball Hall of Fame. Despite everything the book also shows how great his efforts to get to the level that he got and how much Pete was a disciplined baseball player. The book perfectly allows the reader to look at Pete Rose from both sides of the coin, which really helps to understand his complicated history.

[Wil Szep]

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