I was really excited when the opportunity arose for me to review Charlie Hustle: The Rise And Fall of Pete Rose, And The Last Glory Days Of Baseball by Keith O’Brien. A book about an elite athlete during the time before they had too much money to really have problems? Yes, please. Sign me up.

Coming into this book, I only knew a couple of things about Pete Rose:

• He was one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
• He played for the Cincinnati Reds.
• He was banned from the Baseball Hall Of Fame for gambling on the sport.
• He was a jerk to a lot of people.

Other than that, I didn’t know a lot about the ins and outs of his life and career. I knew he was a “hit king”, and I knew about that All Star Game where he ran over the American League catcher at home plate.

But, who was Pete Rose?

It turns out that Pete was an incredible scumbag. If he wasn’t playing baseball he was being a degenerate gambler or cheating on his wife and then on his girlfriends. Or was he helping a guy set up a steroid ring? Or was he helping a guy set up a cocaine operation from Florida to up north?

O’Brien does a great job in this book juxtaposing the greatness on-the-field that was PETE ROSE with the shady, awful human being that he was being off-the-field at the exact same time. Sometimes on the same day!

My feelings on Rose’s baseball accomplishments are the same that I have for anyone else currently being held out of the Hall of Fame: put him in. Explain on his plaque how great of a player he was on the field and how awful he was off of it. Fans can walk and chew bubblegum at the same time.

I really liked this book. O’Brien kept me intrigued throughout slicing together Rose’s accomplishments right alongside his troubles.

Thank you Netgalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

You can pick up a copy of the book here.