Collision at Home Plate: The Lives of Pete Rose and Bart Giamatti [Paperback]

James Reston Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1997

Collision at Home Plate is a dual biography of Pete Rose, an uncouth but great ballplayer who suffered disgrace and imprisonment, and Bart Giamatti, the baseball commissioner so deeply shaken and bruised by the Rose scandal that he died a week after it was made public. This is the definitive book on one of the most traumatic and tragic episodes in baseball history.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Had there been just a little less chaos abroad in the universe, the lives of Pete Rose and A. Bartlett Giamatti might have kept on parallel tracks to infinity, blissfully out of the way of each other's extremes. Rose, baseball's most primitive outlaw since Cobb, and Giamatti, the Renaissance scholar who presided over Yale before taking on the comissionership of the national pastime, could not have been more different. Rose was arrogant, profligate, libidinous, and excessive; Giamatti was courtly, erudite, philosophical, and, in his way, every bit as excessive. Baseball hurled them into each other, and when it pitted them face to face over allegations of Rose's gambling, the pyrotechnics roared like cymbals clashing in a silent night.

The story of that clash is one of baseball's blackest moments, with no winner anywhere, and Reston replays it in all of its grim, grisly detail. Rose, the accused, was, of course, banned from the game for life; Giamatti, the accuser, died of a heart attack just days after the banning. But Reston isn't satisfied to simply play out the endgame confrontation of the sinner and the standard bearer, and that's the brilliance of his book; he entwines their complex and fascinating biographies in a way that makes their collision seem tragically, almost surreally, inevitable. Each man was failed by his flaws, and it's the flaws that made each personality so compelling.

Still, it was their very failures of character that slapped each with a fate neither would have willingly chosen: Rose the unpenitent outcast, Giamatti the eternal martyr. The Rose case, writes Reston, "elevated (Giamatti) to heroic stature in America. By banishing a sport hero, he became a moral hero to the nation." The final irony is that the gregarious Giamatti, who indeed relished the role of moral hero, didn't live to experience his own apotheosis. --Jeff Silverman

From Publishers Weekly

The backgrounds of the two adversaries could scarcely be more unlike: the late Giamatti, son of a university professor, educated on both sides of the Atlantic, a Renaissance scholar, onetime Yale professor and president who abandoned academe to preside over first one and then both of baseball's major leagues; and Rose, son of a semipro sports star bank clerk, uneducated beyond high school, unlettered and ungrammatical, who set a new record for total hits in a career and gambled away tens of thousands of dollars. Adversaries they became; in 1989 it fell to Giammati to ban Rose from organized baseball. Reston ( The Lone Star ) tells both their stories well and fairly, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of the two men and reluctantly concluding that there was proof of Rose's gambling and income tax evasion, and that Giamatti's decision, based chiefly on moral grounds, was right. The book is an effective portrayal of two careers on a collision course. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (February 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803289642
• ISBN-13: 978-0803289642
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #979,939 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most accurate account of what really happened, February 15, 1998

By 

Barbara L. Pinzka "Book Friend" (Cincinnati, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Collision at Home Plate: The Lives of Pete Rose and Bart Giamatti (Paperback)

I worked for Pete Rose after his suspension, and this is by far the most accurate book on the scandal - and it does not spare Rose any criticism. Reston unearthed evidence I thought would never see the light of day and does the public a great service, particularly in debunking the Giamatti myths. Essential reading for anyone interested in the subject. My only criticism is that he has little good to say of anyone involved.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A baseball morality tale, October 14, 2007

By 

sdewjr (CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Collision at Home Plate: The Lives of Pete Rose and Bart Giamatti (Paperback)

An important story and a modern tragedy, told in a highly readable manner. As a big fan of Pete Rose in his playing days, I initially thought James Reston was unfairly biased against Rose through many parts of the book. After finishing it, I think he probably struck the right balance, as there is simply no excuse for much of what Rose did off the field. Reston almost but did not quite fall into the trap of deifying Giamatti; he was, after all an extraordinary commissioner unlike baseball had ever seen. But Reston correctly pointed out that Giamatti bungled the investigation of Rose from a due process and fairness point of view, and if the matter had gone to trial Giamatti would have had a very difficult time on the stand.

The real point is that Giamatti did investigate, and he did take action. Even with the "settlement" that did not answer the question of whether Rose bet on baseball, Giamatti felt no constraint against offering his own opinion as to Rose and his betting on baseball. And Rose did bet on baseball. We can learn from Giamatti. How refreshing it would be to have a commissioner who would take on the steroids scandal which has made a mockery of home run records and likely changed the outcome of far more games and pennant races than gambling ever did. Where is the courage to have a thorough investigation, and a commissioner who would speak the truth?

Unfortunately, baseball has been a silent partner in the steroids scandal, happily banking the proceeds of increased attendance pursuant to amazing and superhuman home run derbys. I don't think Bart Giamatti would approve, and I would like to think he would acted to protect the integrity of baseball.

Finally, I agree with Reston's take on the Hall of Fame issue. Let the sportswriters vote. If they say yes to Rose, tell Rose's story in a display at the hall, the good and the bad. Especially the bad. And do the same for those whose steroid-enhanced records make them "worthy" of consideration in the future.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must read for any baseball historian., November 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Collision at Home Plate: The Lives of Pete Rose and Bart Giamatti (Paperback)

Anyone who feels that Pete Rose should be reinstated to baseball should read this book. Pete Rose was a great player, but a zero as a human being.