Customer Reviews

My Prison Without Bars

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

When I was a kid and still loved baseball, Pete Rose was Charlie Hustle, a nickname given him by Whitey Ford. And he was among my favorite players. The nickname was a reference to Rose's all-out play and determination (this was guy that ran to first base even when he got a walk). With the publication of this book, it's clear he is still Charlie Hustle, only the hustle is a completely different kind that he's trying to run by the public at large.

In his forward, Rose explains that he's finally confessing to betting on baseball because "it's time" and because someone "else might benefit." But as you read the book, it becomes apparent very quickly exactly who is meant to benefit-- Pete. After all, it's no secret Rose has been hustling for money for years and he reportedly received a one million dollar advance for this book. Sadly, it's clearly an autobiography intended to sell the public on granting absolution, with as little contriteness as possible.

Ross was banned from baseball in 1989 for his gambling activities. For years he denied it, excoriating others who accused him of having done so. Why 14 years later it is suddenly time to come clean, other than for the money and the chance to be reinstated in baseball, is beyond me. And if this is supposed to be a confession, it sure is an odd one. The book acts more as a rationalization for Rose's actions, going so far as to try to justify some of Rose's actions by having a doctor state Rose is a textbook case of ADHD attention disorder. Heck, he even gets into blaming his childhood teachers because they didn't understand him. Please...

Rose occasionally musters enough self-respect to say that he blames himself for his problems, but that rings pretty hollow in light of all the other pages spent pointing fingers at others. He does admit to betting on baseball four to eight times a week, including games he was managing, but almost seems to brush off criticism by saying he never bet against his team or tried to fix a game (after 14 years of lying, why should we believe him now?).

Rose appears to be going for some form of martyrdom, but with as little personal sacrifice as possible. He tries to play the victim throughout the book when in fact he victimized others. It's probably noteworthy that he never really bothers to apologize to those who have been lambasted for raising the issue of his cheating in the past.

Ultimately, it's not a very well written book, either. (I don't know who Rick Hill is, but he might want to leave this one off his resume). The book is so slanted that it really cannot be accepted as a true autobiography.

Thankfully, I did not have to pay full price for it.

This is the latest autobiographical book by Pete Rose. He chronicles his
whole life; from his childhood and hero worship of his father, to his time
spent in the federal penitentiary. He also writes several chapters about his
career in the Major Leagues. The main focus of the book, however, is Rose's
gambling. For over ten years he denied gambling on baseball. This book was
to have been his admittance and the beginning of his return to baseball in
some capacity. The problem is he comes off in the book as having not given
up gambling nor very penitent about his actions. It seems Pete wanted to
make excuses about every wrong he ever did. Nothing is his fault, either he
had bad friendships or did things that were bad but not quite as bad as
other things. The theme seemed to be "What about everyone else's mistakes?"
instead of standing up and admitting his own. As for the book itself and the
way it is written, this seems to be Rick Hill's first collaboration as an
author and the results are lackluster. The book jumps around a lot and loses
focus to many times. It is worth reading if for no other reason than to read
how Rose's wife would sneak in food at the prison for her hubby and inmate
friends.

Ghost written BS. A poor campaign for reinstatement so he can get into the hall of fame. Great ball player of the past. always an immature, narcisist who wouldn't know truth or honor if it beaned him in the forehead. Read the various articles over the years from Sports Illustrated if you want to know about the real Pete Rose. Read the book if you want to read a hallmark card to himself.

I am a 65 year old lifetime lover of baseball. Before reading this book, I was somewhat supportive of Pete getting into the Hall of Fame. Now, I am not sure that he should be. One must deeply appreciate his accomplishments on the field, but to be in the Hall of Fame, a player must be overall admired, it would seem. Rose has a very distorted view of "right and wrong". He has a persecution complex, even about his son and the "art on the locker" incident. He failed in his marriage and in raising his children. He is or was addicted to gambling. He was a self-proclaimed womanizer. He served time in federal prison for tax evasion. He failed to admit his many mistakes, until now. Pete is no hero, nor is he an example for other kids to follow. He would have been better off had he not written this book in my opinion. I am disappointed in Pete and wish I did not know of his deeds off the field. There is much more to life than being in the baseball Hall of Fame. Pete should concentrate on building his own character, if that is possible at this late stage of his life.

The title of this book is very appropriate. Pete Rose seems to think everyone is out to get him, and so his ego is in a prison when someone doesn't agree with him. This book is suppose to convince people that he was mistreated by baseball. However, this had the opposite effect on me. I thought he got a raw deal before reading this book. Now, after reading this, I have to agree with Major League Baseball.

First off, the good. It is a very revealing book. It does take guts to write about his life, especially his stint in prison (the one with bars). I found it to be insightful and somewhat interesting. It's definitely a book that anyone can pick up. As a casual read, it's not too bad.

Now, if you wanted to learn about Pete Rose and his struggle with MLB, it's entirely different. Throughout this book, he plays the constant victim. He almost seems like he is whining. While he does have some valid points, his constant complaints seem to lesson all degrees of agreeability. The worst is the treatment he talks about when he first deals with MLB. Reading it, it's quite clear that he was in denial about betting on baseball, even until the latter chapters. He describes how the media, and Jim Gray especially, mistreated him by accusing him of betting on baseball. Well, I hate to break it to you Pete, but you did. The media was right.

When he does finally admit it, he doesn't describe his actions, but describes how his "disease" forced him into it. Really pathetic. This sort of defeatism perpetuates throughout the book.

Even though the book interested me and was very fluid, I was very disappointed with it. I would not recommend this book due to its whining and victimization tilt.

This book is hardly worthwhile. Rose apologists have read his life story before such as in Charlie Hustle, by Pete Rose. In this new book, he reveals nothing new to the others who have actually bothered to read the John Dowd report and other similar material. A better and more believable book is Hustle: Myth, Life and Lies of Pete Rose by Michael Sokolove.

Rose appears to be one of those people who has no concept of how to be truthful. Even with his so-called apology, he still takes the time to blame everyone else. He's still trying to blame the late Bart Giamatti, but contrition for his own behavior, never. In Rose's words, "You see, I'm just not built that way."

He denies ever betting against his team and the Dowd Report is absent that type of evidence, but that is irrelevant. He admits betting on his team several times a week. Wouldn't the gamblers have cause to wonder why he chose to not bet on his team on certain nights? Isn't it likely that they would take this as a sign that he lacked confidence in his team's chances and they took advantage of this information.

In the end, Rose lacks a true understanding of his crimes including those for which he served a jail sentence. He brags about having his wife illegally bring him contraband items while jailed and used their baby daughter to smuggle the items. Feel sorry for this guy? Fergitaboutit! Has he kicked his gambling addiction, NO. He says that he still gambles, but only at casinos and the race tracks. This is like the alcoholic who claims to be cured because he stopped drinking whiskey and gin, and now only uses beer and wine.

Let Rose wait 14 more years to be eligible for reinstatement, the same length of time it took him to admit his crime against the game. This would be a fair rule of thumb that will serve as a better deterrent for anyone else considering the same offense.

Any book that features a grammatical error in the VERY FIRST sentence needs to be pulled from shelves and reprinted correctly. Whether or not Mr. Rose should be reinstated to appease his unrepentant ego (honestly, you can already guess his position on the matter), skip this book that almost seems to have been written and [is not edited].

Just read this and skip this atrocious book: if drug users, alcoholics, rapists, and wife-beaters can somehow be forgiven, so should gamblers. Or maybe... NONE OF THEM SHOULD BE FORGIVEN.

Don't read this book. I wish I hadn't. It ruined Pete Rose in my eyes, not because of what others have said about him, but because of what Rose said about himself. My grandpa was a huge fan of Pete Rose and once took me to meet him at Riverfront Stadium when I was around six. About the only thing I'm glad for with this book is it didn't come out in my grandpa's lifetime.

We all make mistakes. We're only human and that's what humans do: we screw up. Sometimes badly. I wish Pete Rose was in the Hall of Fame. I wish he was coaching the Reds today. I wish most of all he'd never placed a single bet on baseball. But as for Pete, like I said up there, he still doesn't get it, and I doubt he ever will.

This book was a disappointment for many reasons. It did give me a nice look at Pete's career with the Cincinati Reds and took me back to my grandfather's tales of how great the Big Red Machine of the 1970's was, but what was lacking in these 322 pages was contrition, and I think that was supposed to be what this book was about.

The Pete Rose I met in My Prison Without Bars, was a likable fellow, but underneath his trip down memory lane was a sort of combative, "this is somebody else's fault" attitude that put me off and I'm sure put a lot of others off, too. Rose admits at last that he in fact bet on baseball during the 1980's, a fact that surprised virtually no one, but instead of presenting an apology, or even a straightforward confession, Rose comes across as a bitter man, still trying to squirm away from his wrongdoing. He blames everyone from his friends and business associates, to Major League baseball (for not forgiving his gambling addiction as it did the drug and alcohol addicitons of other players). Rather than presenting the public with his mea culpa, Charlie Hustle, the greatest baseball player of his era, left me feeling negative toward him, and thinking he is a slightly unintelligent crook. Those were not images I had of the man before I started this book and I'm sorry that's how I felt when I was done.

If I could say something to the man whose life is the subject of this work, I'd tell him: Pete, you've led an interesting sixty-plus years. You're one of the greats and a hometown hero for what you did on the field. You deserve to be in Cooperstown. But your attempt to make amends with this book---probably your last chance, sadly--is a dismal failure and a backset. I remember well the night you passed Ty Cobb's all-time hitting record. I read this mostly to acquaint myself with a player about whom I heard so much growing up. I now wish I didn't know 4/5ths of what I now do know about you.

As I said starting out: don't read this book.

My Prison Without Bars provides a decent insight into the trial and tribulations of the life of Pete Rose. The book shows the reader both the good and dark side of one of the all time heroes of America's pastime. The first third of the book is dedicated to Rose's childhood, where the reader gains an understanding of how his gambling addiction first happened (his father took him to his first race track at the very young age of 12).

The second third of the book depicts the life Rose had on the baseball field. It emphasizes his love, desire and devotion to the game of baseball. The section puts into perspective how Rose's staggering desire to win, excel, and be the best that won him fame, admiration, and love from millions of people; but ultimately was the reason for his fall. The section illustrates the innocence, or better put, the ignorance, of Rose and severity of the consequences for the crimes he committed as far as baseball is concerned. In Chapter 9 "the Long Hot Summer" Rose says:

I managed my last baseball game on August 21, a night at Wrigley Field... After I shook hands with all the players, I took one last look at the ivy on that old brick wall and turned in my spikes... I figured I'd be away from the game for a least one year. But after what I'd done - one year was fitting punishment... enough time to get my life back on track.

The final third of the book deals with the prison time Pete Rose served for cheating on his taxes. Pete Rose discusses how he could empathize with the inmate who "got started in a life of crime because they came from broken homes - something I could relate to."

Rose ends the book with a very uplifting reference to his family, and how he feels that he has come to the point of redemption. The lasts words of the book are, fittingly, lyrics to the song Amazing Grace.

I highly recommend reading My Prison Without Bars. Rose's story is a very true, very tragic story of success and failure. Diehard fans of Rose will fall in love with the book. Casual fans of baseball will have apprehensions about certain parts of the book that see somewhat fictitious. One aspect of the book that I believe no one will disagree with is that Pete Rose loves the game of baseball.

All this book has done is manage to pile on more criticism on Pete Rose the man. There is no denying that Pete Rose the player is 'hall of fame' material. But what he did to the game, destroying its integrity by betting on it, is inexcusable. For some time I felt, sure, let him back into baseball, he's done his time. But now, I realize that he's nothing more than a liar, a cheater, and a hustler. I hope Selig makes his decision soon (and denies him reinstatement), and we can all be rid of this nonsense once and for all.