Pete Rose: An American Dilemma Author: Kostya Kennedy | Language: English | ISBN:
B00HDSQR68 | Format: PDF
Pete Rose: An American Dilemma Description
Pete Rose played baseball with a singular and headfirst abandon that endeared him to fans and peers, even as it riled others--a figure at once magnetic, beloved and polarizing. Rose has more base hits than anyone in history, yet he is not in the Hall of Fame. Twenty-five years ago he was banished from the game for gambling, then ruled ineligible for Cooperstown. Today, the question "Does Pete Rose belong in the Hall of Fame?" has evolved into perhaps the most provocative in sports, a layered, slippery and ever-relevant moral conundrum.
How do we evaluate the Hit King now, at a time when steroid cheats appear on the Hall of Fame ballot even as Rose is denied? What do we make of this happily unrepentant gambler, this shameless but beguiling showman whose post-baseball journey has led him to a curious reality show and to the streets of Cooperstown to hawk his signature, his story, himself?
Best-selling author Kostya Kennedy delivers an evocative answer in his fascinating re-examination of Pete Rose's life; from his cocky and charismatic early years through his storied playing career to his bitter war against baseball's hierarchy to the man we find today--still incorrigible, still adored by many. Where has his improbable saga landed him in the redefined, post-steroid world? Do we feel any differently about Pete Rose today? Should we?
“Kennedy's book on the tarnished and enigmatic Rose is exceptional. Like the best writing about sport-Liebling, Angell-it qualifies as stirring literature. I'd read Kennedy no matter what he writes about.” —Richard Ford
“Kostya Kennedy has given us the real Pete Rose at last. Perhaps Pete does not deserve him, but baseball fans and readers who appreciate superb and subtle writing will be grateful.” -David Maraniss
“This is a wonderful, clearly written book about a dark and complicated tragedy that continues to beset the purity of our national pastime. The whole story is here: the deeply talented, passionate ball player, 'Charlie Hustle,' and the deeply morally challenged hustler who bestrides essential questions about our national game.” -Ken Burns
“Pete Rose is too rich a character to fit on a bronze plaque. He requires a good, trenchant, poignant (ah, Petey) book, and this is it.” -Roy Blount Jr.
Kostya Kennedy is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated and the New York Times bestselling author of 56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports, winner of the 2011 Casey Award and runner-up for the 2012 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing. He lives with his wife and children in Westchester County, N.Y. For more, visit kostyakennedy.com
- File Size: 1071 KB
- Print Length: 354 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1618930966
- Publisher: Sports Illustrated Books (March 11, 2014)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00HDSQR68
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,309 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #1
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Baseball > Essays & Writings - #3
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Biographies - #4
in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Baseball
- #1
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Baseball > Essays & Writings - #3
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Biographies - #4
in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Baseball
While I think I would change the subtitle, there is not much else I would want to be different about this gripping and fascinating look at the enigma that is Pete Rose. Not so much a biography, but rather more of an extended biographical essay, Kennedy's book takes a long look at the many things Pete Rose is and the many things that shaped him, in his life and in ours.
Live most any baseball fan of my age (early 50s), Pete Rose has always been a major figure around the game. Growing up in Indianapolis, it was impossible not to be faced with him everyday during the season, and many during the off season. The Indianapolis Indians were the Reds' Triple A affiliate for most of the 1960s and 1970s, an being only a couple hours drive from Cincy, Indianapolis was big time Big Red country. Consequently, I hated the Reds, though I loved being taken to games at Crosely Field, and later Riverfront. And during those years, no matter how great anybody else on the team was - and they had some great players - the Reds WERE Pete Rose. And so I hated Pete Rose, though I also kinda loved him. Even early on, I could tell that Rose was the kind of guy you hated unless he was on your team, then you adored him.
And here, in this book, that plays itself out in large. There is much in Pete Rose to adore. There is much in Pete Rose to abhor. And that is the enigma. The only dilemma I can see, really is being torn over whether or not he belongs back in baseball and eligible for the Hall of Fame. And I confess, I am torn there. But in a sense, that is only a small part of both Rose and this book.
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