EVENT OVERVIEW: Keith O'Brien will discuss his new book, Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball in conversation with Jason Kander on Thursday, May 9, 2024 at 7:00 PM at The Unity Temple on The Plaza.TICKETS AVAILABLE VIA LINK ON EVENTBRITE
ABOUT THE BOOK: Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball
A SPORTS ICON. AN INFAMOUS SCANDAL. THE TRUE STORY—LIKE YOU’VE NEVER READ IT BEFORE.
Pete Rose is a baseball legend. He compiled more hits than anyone in the history of the game—a record that remains unbroken—and for decades captured the imagination of a nation. He was the American dream personified. Until 1989, when a sensational scandal brought him crashing down and forever changed the game.
Drawing on first-hand interviews with Pete himself, as well as FBI archives, court records, press coverage, and more than 150 hours of interviews with the people who knew Pete best, Keith O’Brien presents the definitive telling of Pete Rose’s story as well as a fascinating cultural portrait of baseball, Cincinnati, and America itself at a time when the biggest star was also the most flawed.
REVIEW:
An award-winning journalist tells the story of a baseball player who exhibited relentless hustle on and off the field.
O’Brien, the author of Fly Girls and Outside Shot, delivers a gripping portrait of fellow Cincinnati native Pete Rose (b. 1941). The author paints a vivid portrait of the simultaneously glorious and reckless life of Major League Baseball’s hit king, whose raw strength and work ethic symbolized baseball and the American dream itself, yet who gambled his way permanently out of baseball and its Hall of Fame, leaving a wake of bitter disappointment as he sped through life with the same air of tenacious invincibility that marked his play. O’Brien’s meticulous style captures Rose’s unlikely journey to his hometown Reds and his often complex relationships with teammates and opponents alike. Rose won every conceivable honor that a position player can win, but his addictions to gambling, women, and expensive cars belied his all-American image.
O’Brien’s construction of the book is brilliant, offering a thorough examination of Rose as a sort of baseball Janus: Rose took the mocking sobriquet given to him by Yankee royalty Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford as a badge of honor and never yielded on the field, but he conducted himself off the diamond as Charlie Hustle, a man who invited a rogues’ gallery of hangers-on, gamblers, and drug dealers to his inner circle and ultimately doomed his legacy. O’Brien’s work is so well researched and adheres to traditional journalistic standards in such a way that it is, by any objective measure, as fair as possible to all the principle figures, particularly Rose himself, whom the author interviewed several times. The text leaves little doubt that the definitive account of the life and times of Rose belongs to O’Brien.
A masterpiece of a sports biography and a must-read for baseball fans.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Keith O'Brien is a New York Times bestselling author and award-winning journalist.
He has written four books, been a finalist for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting, been longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, and has contributed to multiple publications over the years.
O’Brien’s work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, and on National Public Radio. His radio stories have aired on All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition, as well as Marketplace and This American Life.
A midwesterner by birth, O'Brien grew up in Cincinnati and graduated from Northwestern University. He now lives in the woods of New Hampshire with his wife, two dogs, two cats, and two teenagers, who often tell him to, "Chill, bro," because he is "max trip head."
O'Brien does not understand what this means and chooses instead to remember what others have said about him. The New York Times once called his work "a tour de force." Kirkus Reviews calls his latest book "a masterpiece" and filmmaker Ken Burns calls it "a soaring, dazzling accomplishment."
Max trip head, indeed.
EVENT DATE & TIME: Thursday, May 9, 2024, at 7:00 PM
EVENT LOCATION: Unity Temple on The Plaza, Fillmore Chapel 707 W. 47th Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64112
ADMISSION PACKAGE: $39.00 (plus Eventbrite Ticket Fee) includes 1 copy of Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball, 1 Admission Reservation, and 1 Guest Admission Reservation. General Admission Seating.
EVENT FORMAT: Keith O'Brien will discuss his new book Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball in conversation with Jason Kander. The discussion will last approximately one hour with book signing to follow.
PLEASE NOTE: Patrons will receive their autographed books as they arrive at this event.
DISCLAIMER: All author event sales are final and non-refundable. Eventbrite ticket fees are non-refundable.
Event Venue
Unity Temple on the Plaza, 707 W 47th St,Kansas City,MO,United States
Tickets
