Alex Levine’s Reviews > Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball > Status Update

One of the interesting, unexpected takeaways of this book is how much German immigration/heritage there was in the Cincinnati region, including Rose/his wife as children/grandchildren of German immigrants, as well as coaches and scouts in the Red’s organization.

1969 was the first year polls found football to be more popular nationally than baseball: 31% chose football, 28% baseball. The previous two Super Bowls by this time had also outperformed the World Series in tv ratings. This spurred a major reexamination within the baseball world.

By 1963, “a baseball locker room, though still mostly white and by no means progressive, was more integrated than most of America. And as a result, a young white ball player like Pete was exposed to different cultures in a way an average person was not.”

Apparently a team member then brought the name to Boston (voila, Red Sox). The Cincinnati Red Stockings were founded in 1869, were essentially undefeated and extremely popular, and their first president said he’d rather run the team than “be president Ulysses S. Grant in Washington).

Interesting that Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford gave Pete Rose the nickname “Charlie Hustle” during a spring training game against the Yankees before his first major league season in 1963, as an insult for how hard he ran/his effort (and specifically for hustling hard enough to get on base with a bunt).