Review by Booklist Review
Pete Rose holds numerous Major League Baseball records, including most hits (4,256) and most games played (3,562), but he will never be elected to baseball's Hall of Fame. While the manager of the Cincinnati Reds in the eighties, he bet on baseball and was banned from the game for life. He denied the charges for years but then finally admitted they were true. Here he again admits he was wrong but devotes only about two pages to the scandal. That will be enough for knowledgeable fans, who by now have formed their own opinions about Rose's deeds and punishment. What Rose does here is look back at his career, starting when he was a small boy in Cincinnati. His father, a legendary semipro athlete in Cincinnati, gave Pete his mantra: practice hard, play harder than anyone, never miss a practice or a game. When father and son weren't playing in or practicing for their own games, they'd attend big-league games at Crosley Field, where Pete would eventually play much of his career for the Reds. Pete's vivid recollections of his early years, growing up in the forties and fifties, point out the profound difference between then and now for most kids. The title says it all. This is how a hungry kid became one of the greatest ball players of all time. Essential reading for baseball fans, controversy and all.--Wes Lukowsky Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Rose, the former Cincinnati Reds player and manager who was banned from baseball life for gambling, offers a bitingly candid reflection on his life in baseball. Just as his fans (or detractors) might expect, he's witty and brash, but he also displays unexpected earnestness, especially about the love for his father and his upbringing in a poor family in 1940s and '50s Cleveland, Ohio. Noting that the "only book I ever read cover to cover" was a baseball rule book, Rose drives home the importance of baseball in his life. Throughout, he highlights the memorable events in his career, including his 1963 season (when he was named Rookie of the Year), and his three batting awards and World Series wins. He doesn't shy from the low points, such as getting cut from an American Legion team at age 15; being told in his rookie year by Reds management to stop hanging out with black players (he ignored them); and his ban for illegally betting on his team as a player-manager. Readers expecting tawdry details will find instead a man who acknowledges his mistake in a chapter titled, "I Blew It, I Know That." Rose closes by describing the pride in watching his son follow in his steps as a ball player. With this frank, no-holds-barred narrative, Rose just might win new fans. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Former major league baseball player and manager Rose conjures up a dichotomy for most fans of the game; those who despise him for gambling on baseball, and those who forgive him because of how well he played the game. In his 2001 autobiography, My Prison Without Bars, Rose admitted what most everyone already knew: that he'd bet on baseball. Now he's finally sorry and has some wonderful stories to tell. Rose describes his difficult childhood in Cincinnati, what it was like to play in the major leagues for 23 years, and descriptively discusses how he became a great hitter, fielder, and base runner. In-game action, including the famed 1973 brawl with the New York Mets and the transcendent 1975 World Series with the Boston Red Sox are but a few of the many highlights. Rose's writing style is at times simplistic but genuine, concluding with an apology for his deeds and stating that he deserved to be punished. VERDICT Readers who can get past Rose's fallibility will enjoy his journeys, stories of teammates, and many historic moments in the 1960s and 1970s. Fans who have been waiting to hear Rose talk about his time as a ballplayer may wonder, after reading this book, why he didn't speak up sooner.-Keith Klang, Port Washington P.L., NY © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
One of the most talentedand controversialplayers in the history of Major League Baseball shares his life story.When Rose (b. 1941) set his on-field records during the 1970s and '80s, he became famous for his high-energy performances as well as his tough-guy brashness. He opens the book by noting, "my dad taught me that nothing mattered more than winning." Later, he earned a different sort of renown: for his gambling on the outcomes of games, which led to the sport's commissioner banning Rose from the game. So far, the ban has blocked his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Based solely on performance, Rose, the game's all-time hits leader, is one of the most deserving Hall of Fame candidates in history, and controversy about whether his apparently victimless gambling should prohibit his entry might never end. The author addresses his gambling and the ban it yielded in a few pages toward the end of the book, and the tone of those pages is difficult to characterize; it's a cryptic tumble of sentences that is half apology and half defiance. As for the remainder of the book, Rose builds the explanation of his successes and his quirks around the influence of his father, who held a day job in Cincinnati but became best known locally for his semiprofessional athletic prowess. Over and over the author describes how his father emphasized winning for the team no matter the physical and emotional costs. From his early childhood, Rose felt confident that he would reach professional baseball even though the odds are extremely slim for anyone. Unfortunately, the narrative is marred by an absurd amount of repetition regarding the author's macho nature and his immodesty about his hard-won skills. But when he tones down the attitude, his recollections about baseballand life off the fieldyield rewards for readers.In a baseball memoir filled with plenty of strikes and balls, Rose offers abundant evidence of why he has become a touchstone of controversy. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
