Play Hungry: The Making of a Baseball Player

by Pete Rose

Overview

A New York Times Bestseller

The inside story of how Pete Rose became one of the greatest and most controversial players in the history of baseball

Pete Rose was a legend on the field. As baseball’s Hit King, he shattered records that were thought to be unbreakable. And during the 1970s, he was the leader of the Big Red Machine, the Cincinnati Reds team that dominated the game. But he’s also the greatest player who may never enter the Hall of Fame because of his lifetime ban from the sport. Perhaps no other ballplayer’s story is so representative of the triumphs and tragedies of our national pastime. 

In Play Hungry, Rose tells us the story of how, through hard work and sheer will, he became one of the unlikeliest stars of the game. Guided by the dad he idolized, a local sports hero, Pete learned to play hard and always focus on winning. But even with his dad’s guidance, Pete was cut from his team as a teenager—he wasn’t a natural. Rose was determined, though, and never would be satisfied with anything less than success. His relentless hustle and headfirst style would help him overcome his limitations, leading him to one of the most exciting and brash careers in the history of the sport.

Play Hungry is Pete Rose’s love letter to the game, and an unvarnished story of life on the diamond. One of the icons of a golden age in baseball, he describes just what it was like to hit (or try to hit) a Bob Gibson fastball or a Gaylord Perry spitball, what happened in that infamous collision at home plate during the 1970 All-Star Game, and what it felt like to topple Ty Cobb’s hit record. And he speaks to how he let down his fans, his teammates, and the memory of his dad when he gambled on baseball, breaking the rules of a sport that he loved more than anything else. Told with candor and wry humor—including tales he’s never told before—Rose’s memoir is his final word on the glories and controversies of his life, and, ultimately, a master class in how to succeed when the odds are stacked against you.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780525558675
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/04/2019
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	1,093,778
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Pete Rose grew up in Cincinnati and went on to star for the hometown Reds and later the Philadelphia Phillies. He holds the all-time baseball records for most hits in a career (4,256), most singles (3,215), most games played (3,562), most at-bats (14,053), and most outs (10,328). Rose made his major-league debut for the Reds in April 1963, a week before his twenty-second birthday, and he was forty-five when he made his last major-league appearance in August 1986, also for the Reds. He appeared in seventeen different All-Star Games, and played on three teams that won the World Series.

Table of Contents

Preface: Thanks, Dad ix

Part 1 Growing Up

Chapter 1 Big Pete 3

Chapter 2 Leland T. Jones's Leather Strap 17

Chapter 3 Not the Best Baseball Player 27

Chapter 4 Passed Over 37

Chapter 5 Uncle Buddy 47

Part 2 Bush Leagues

Chapter 6 Geneva (Not Switzerland) 57

Chapter 7 Tampa 71

Chapter 8 Instructional League 81

Chapter 9 Macon 89

Chapter 10 Straight to the Bigs 97

Part 3 Becoming Pete Rose

Chapter 11 Frank and Vada 109

Chapter 12 Rookie of the Year 119

Chapter 13 Venezuela 129

Chapter 14 Hustling Little Pete Rose 139

Chapter 15 Vietnam 153

Chapter 16 Batting Title 163

Chapter 17 Morganna 177

Chapter 18 Collision 189

Chapter 19 "He Never Walks When He Can Run" 203

Part 4 Life as Big Pete

Chapter 20 Brawling at Shea 221

Chapter 21 Some Kind of Game 229

Chapter 22 Winning with the Phillies 237

Chapter 23 A Big League Skipper 247

Chapter 24 Hit King 253

Chapter 25 I Blew It, I Know That 257

Chapter 26 Pete Jr. Makes the Big Leagues 261

Epilogue: Baseball Has to Make a Few Changes 267

Acknowledgments 275

Photograph Credits 277

Index 279

Editorial Reviews

04/08/2019

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)

Publishers Weekly

2019-03-03

One of the most talented—and controversial—players 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 baseball—and life off the field—yield 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.

Kirkus Reviews

An eloquent plea for reinstatement . . . [Rose] is expressive about the sport he loves and about the father who raised him to strive to win. . . There's an authentic Huck Finn-ish charm to these passages. Baseball was not the slick slugfest of today. Players bore colorful nicknames, played day games, and they played hurt. It was a game of knockdowns and spitballs . . .  Play Hungry testifies to the dividends paid by desire, not just to Mr. Rose but to the teammates that he inspired with the will to win . . . the sport misses the authenticity of his voice, and the Hall of Fame—barred to him on account of his banishment—can hardly be complete absent such an immense talent. After 30 years, baseball should think about bringing him home." —Wall Street Journal

“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.” —Booklist, starred review

“A bitingly candid reflection on his life in baseball . . . he’s witty and brash, but he also displays unexpected earnestness . . . With this frank, no-holds-barred narrative, Rose just might win new fans.” —Publishers Weekly

“[Rose’s] recollections about baseball—and life off the field—yield 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.” —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher