Play Hungry: The Making of a Baseball Player

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.[em] (June) [/em]