Pete Rose

Pete Rose describes his childhood in Cincinnati. His father encouraged his focus on sports over academics. Drafted after high school, he played in the "Bush Leagues" in the Cincinnati Reds' system. He caught the attention of coaches who promoted him past the minor leagues to the Reds. He briefly discusses his period of free agency and management. He regrets betting on baseball, but believes his punishment was greater than the crime. I was fortunate enough to live in Cincinnati where I watched him as a player-coach. I remember the night he set the record. Even in those years he and Johnny Bench were fun to watch. It's a mediocre book which doesn't spend enough time on his career in the majors and spends more time on the back story, but Reds and Rose fans may enjoy this.… (mehr)

This book is exactly what I would expect a book written by Pete Rose to be, jumbled, filled with revisionist history and outright errors, and poorly written. He seems to be attempting to make himself the victim or at the very least a sympathic figure being held down by the big corporation of Baseball. Rose tells his side of the betting on baseball story, but only his side. At times Rose has interesting stories about his time in baseball, but the folksy writing detracts from the quality of the story telling. I think he was trying to come across as a regular guy with his choice of language but it makes him seem unintelligent. Overall, the book has its moments of interest but not worth 300 pages of Pete stories.… (mehr)