On the field, Pete Rose accumulated hit after hit, while off the field, he accumulated gambling debts. His relentless determination at the plate earned him baseball’s all-time hits record, but his gambling led to a harsh penalty—a lifetime ban from Major League Baseball and eventual exclusion from the Hall of Fame. A new book by veteran journalist Keith O’Brien, *Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball,* revisits this dramatic story.
O’Brien explains, “In the 35 years since Pete Rose was banned from baseball and continued making mistakes off the field, we’ve forgotten why we cared about him in the first place. My goal was to revisit the entire story, from beginning to end.”
The book’s title, taken from Rose’s nickname, carries added significance given the recent gambling scandal involving former MLB interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, who is accused of stealing $16 million from Shohei Ohtani to settle gambling debts. Ohtani insists he was unaware of Mizuhara’s gambling or the use of his money to pay those debts.
Major League Baseball players are still prohibited from betting on their own sport or team, with violations resulting in the same lifetime ban that was imposed on Rose by then-commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti in 1989. An investigation led by Marine Corps veteran and Department of Justice alumnus John Dowd concluded that Rose, as the Reds’ player-manager, had bet on his own games. Rose denied the allegations but accepted the punishment. Giamatti’s sudden death later that year further turned public sentiment against Rose, according to the book.
O’Brien notes that attitudes toward gambling have shifted in the years since the Supreme Court allowed sports betting in the US. “There’s been a massive shift in cultural acceptance of gambling,” he says. “It’s fundamentally changing how we connect to sports and talk about sports. It’s fundamentally changing American culture right now.”
The author notes that if Pete Rose were playing today, he could have legally involved himself in gambling, perhaps by partnering with companies like FanDuel or DraftKings.
“Pete Rose would undoubtedly be part of any discussion about the most famous gamblers in American history,” O’Brien says.
Hailing from Cincinnati, the author had numerous conversations with Rose for the book, resulting in 27 hours of interviews, although Rose eventually stopped responding.
“Interacting with Pete, you see all sides of him,” O’Brien explains. “He’s crass, brash, arrogant, entertaining, and a good storyteller. But what stands out most is his charisma—the same kind of charisma that defines our most accomplished politicians, actors, and rock stars.”
“Whether you support him today or not,” O’Brien adds, “it’s undeniable that he was one of the most iconic athletes of the 20th century, often at the heart of baseball’s most significant moments.”
The book vividly describes two such moments: Rose’s collision with Cleveland catcher Ray Fosse to win the 1970 All-Star Game in Cincinnati and his first of three World Series championships, during the seven-game series against the Boston Red Sox in 1975. Both moments captivated tens of millions of viewers on national television.
Regarding the collision with Fosse, O’Brien says, “I would argue this is the moment Pete Rose truly became ‘Pete Rose.’ It cemented the Charlie Hustle mythology—this was a guy who would do anything to win, even in a seemingly meaningless game. It also forever defined Ray Fosse, who was never the same player afterward.”
Five years later, Rose was a key part of the Big Red Machine, a legendary Reds team featuring stars like Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, George Foster, and Ken Griffey Sr. They faced off against the Red Sox in a World Series for the ages, remembered for the dramatic Game 6, which ended with Carlton Fisk’s walk-off home run. However, it was the Reds who won the seventh game, with Rose earning the Series MVP honors.
In Game 7, Pete Rose’s impact went beyond the statistics. With Cincinnati trailing, he aggressively slid into second base, breaking up a potential double play. The following batter, Tony Perez, then hit a home run out of Fenway Park, narrowing the deficit to one run.
“After the game, his own manager, future Hall of Famer Sparky Anderson, told the press that if Pete Rose doesn’t break up the double play, the Reds probably don’t win the game,” O’Brien recounts.
The Reds went on to repeat as champions, sweeping the New York Yankees in 1976. Two years later, Rose achieved a 44-game hitting streak, the longest in the National League and second only to Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game streak in 1941. After leaving Cincinnati via free agency, Rose won his third World Series title with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980. However, concerns about his gambling had already begun before his departure for Philadelphia.
“By the mid-1970s, at least one teammate was worried about Rose’s off-field associations,” O’Brien explains. “By 1978, based on my research, Major League Baseball was concerned about his gambling. It seemed to only get worse.”
During his first season with the Phillies, Rose’s marriage to Karolyn, his wife of 15 years, ended in divorce. The book reveals that he had affairs during their marriage, including one in the early 1970s with a high school student who later claimed she was underage at the time. It also addresses allegations of a child born out of wedlock with another woman, Terry Rubio. Rose’s second marriage to Carol Woliung also ended in divorce.
“I included all this in the book—not for sensationalism, but because it helps illustrate how much Pete was unraveling personally, even as he was achieving his greatest success as a player,” says O’Brien, who interviewed both Karolyn Rose and Terry Rubio (now Terry Rubio Fernandez).
Pete Rose returned to the Reds as a player-manager and made history in 1985 by surpassing Ty Cobb’s career hits record of 4,191, ultimately finishing with 4,256 hits. However, the following year marked a different turning point—the book claims that this was when Rose began betting on baseball in addition to other sports.
“I think my reporting makes it clear that Pete Rose was addicted to gambling,” says O’Brien. “A gambling addict is going to make destructive choices. I believe that’s why Pete Rose ultimately placed bets on baseball.”
The book aims to debunk what the author sees as myths surrounding the 1989 investigation of Rose’s gambling by then-commissioner Bart Giamatti. O’Brien argues that Giamatti wasn’t out to get Rose and didn’t have a vendetta against him; in fact, Rose liked Giamatti and respected his passion for baseball.
However, O’Brien explains, “Bart was also a purist and an idealist. When he was presented with—first rumors, then evidence—that Pete had bet on baseball, he knew he had to act. What Pete did was against the rules of baseball. Baseball’s most well-known rule is against betting. Pete had violated that, and now he was going to have to pay the price.”
While O’Brien and Rose were still in contact, the author would accompany Rose to autograph signings, where fans paid for the chance to get a signature from their idol. These days, Rose adds an apology for betting on baseball—a gesture that might have been better received 35 years earlier.
“That belief that he could do anything really helped him as a player,” O’Brien reflects. “He was always filled with confidence, believing that as a hitter, he would succeed, get a hit, get on base. But that same belief—the conviction that he could do anything and would ultimately prevail—was, in many ways, his undoing off the field.”
