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Reviewed by:
  • Pete Rose: An American Dilemma by Kostya Kennedy
  • Todd F. McDorman
Kostya Kennedy. Pete Rose: An American Dilemma. New York: Sports Illustrated Books, 2014. 341 pp. Cloth, $26.95.

In Pete Rose: An American Dilemma, Sports Illustrated’s Kostya Kennedy adds to the voluminous work devoted to Charlie Hustle with a contemporary account of “Hit King” Pete Rose. Reconsidering Rose twenty-five years after his baseball banishment—ten years after his gambling admission—and in the context of ped angst, Kennedy frames his work as a discussion about whether Rose merits Hall of Fame consideration, if he is deserving of forgiveness, and what we think of Pete Rose now (3). Apart from criticizing the 1991 special committee that made Rose ineligible for the Hall of Fame, it is uncertain if Kennedy answers these questions (or how pressing the dilemma is). Instead, he closes with a somewhat coy reflection that suggests fans are welcome to make of Rose what they will, while hinting that Rose’s status as a baseball outlaw may be fitting, at least for maximizing Rose’s earning power.

While Kennedy’s stance on Rose is subject to interpretation, less in question is the quality of Kennedy’s writing, as this is likely the most engaging of the many books on Rose. Kennedy is a skilled author who weaves Rose’s life narrative into a broader geographical history of Cincinnati and Cooperstown and into a cultural landscape including the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. Further, he reflects on Rose’s meaning as an embodiment of the American Dream—in all his paradoxical complexities—while tracing Rose’s baseball odyssey. Kennedy seeks to maintain his contemporary focus with five chapters that periodically return the narrative to Cooperstown and the 2012 Hall of Fame induction and by occasionally disrupting the chronology to offer a deeper character study of Rose and his familial relationships.

Despite Kennedy’s commendable efforts, much of the content is a familiar recounting of Rose’s life and its common tropes, a well-worn tale of humble beginnings, hustle, and a tragic fall. Arguably, the narrative is also occasionally uneven in its coverage. For example, the 1999 Jim Gray interview and Rose’s 2002 confession to Bud Selig are chronicled, but the nuance of Rose’s public statements during this time and his unspecified expressions of sorrow are not examined. Similarly, Rose’s confessional My Prison without Bars is addressed with generous attention and insightful analysis; but his earlier gambling denial and attack, in the Roger Kahn coauthored Pete Rose: My Story, is left unexamined. These authorial choices allow Kennedy’s still-weighty book to be more manageable and provide space for his new additions, but they are also omissions that affect the presentation of Rose. [End Page 177]

These observations are not intended to suggest that the book is without new insights or to discount Kennedy’s skill at recounting Rose’s story in novel ways. Kennedy offers new details of Rose’s childhood and perspectives gleaned from interviews that populate the book. Moreover, Kennedy provides readers with insight into Rose’s daily life and contemporary existence—the persona on display during, as he explains it, “another day of doing Pete Rose” (309). This persona is constructed through a consideration of Rose’s postban life, his various business ventures, and, in particular, his life in the autograph trade.

While Rose, who did not directly participate in the book (but did engage in several conversations with Kennedy), feels to be at some distance in the narrative, he is portrayed as a genuine, if unrefined, and defiant capitalist who lacks any sense of pretension or artifice. Kennedy contends that, at his center, Rose is guided by a “nothing bothers me” philosophy (121). Kennedy also provides some insight on Rose’s motivations and vices, including a devotion to money that has led to decisions adversely affecting his prospects for baseball reinstatement and his continued wagering on horse racing.

Kennedy also provides a different, and more objective, view of Rose’s banishment from the game while approaching Rose in a balanced fashion. Kennedy neither vilifies Rose nor serves as an apologist for his various questionable decisions...

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