Preview
  • Charlie Hustle

  • The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball
  • By: Keith O'Brien
  • Narrated by: Ellen Adair, Keith O'Brien
  • Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (104 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Charlie Hustle

By: Keith O'Brien
Narrated by: Ellen Adair, Keith O'Brien
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $20.25

Buy for $20.25

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A captivating chronicle of the incredible story of one of America’s most iconic, charismatic, and still polarizing figures—baseball immortal Pete Rose—and an exquisite cultural history of baseball and America in the second half of the twentieth century • "Comprehensive, compulsively readable and wholly terrific."—The Wall Street Journal

"Long before the inquiry into Ohtani's ties to betting, there was Pete Rose....Charlie Hustle chronicles one of the most polarizing figures in sports."—NPR, All Things Considered

“Baseball biography at its best. With Charlie Hustle, Pete Rose finally gets the book he deserves, and baseball fans get the book we’ve been craving, a hard-hitting, beautifully-written tale that will stand for years to come as the definitive account of one of the most fascinating figures in American sports history.”—Jonathan Eig, New York Times bestselling author of King: A Life

Pete Rose is a legend. A baseball god. He compiled more hits than anyone in the history of baseball, a record he set decades ago that still stands today. He was a working-class white guy from Cincinnati who made it; less talented than tough, and rough around the edges. He was everything that America wanted and needed him to be, the American dream personified, until he wasn’t.

In the 1980s, Pete Rose came to be at the center of one of the biggest scandals in baseball history. He kept secrets, ran with bookies, took on massive gambling debts, and he was magnificently, publicly cast out for betting on baseball and lying about it. The revelations that followed ruined him, changed life in Cincinnati, and forever altered the game.

Charlie Hustle tells the full story of one of America’s most epic tragedies—the rise and fall of Pete Rose. Drawing on firsthand interviews with Rose himself and with his associates, as well as on investigators' reports, FBI and court records, archives, a mountain of press coverage, Keith O’Brien chronicles how Rose fell so far from being America’s “great white hope.” It is Pete Rose as we've never seen him before.

This is no ordinary sport biography, but cultural history at its finest. What O’Brien shows is that while Pete Rose didn’t change, America and baseball did. This is the story of that change.

©2024 Keith O'Brien (P)2024 Random House Audio
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

“Pete Rose's epic life demands the epic treatment, and Keith O'Brien marvelously takes on the challenge. He captures the dizzying heights and calamitous lows but even more, finds the humanity of the man who lived a sports life unlike any other.”—Joe Posnanski, New York Times bestselling author of Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments

“I’ve never liked Pete Rose. I'm not sure many people have liked Pete Rose. But he also may well be the most fascinating pro athlete of the last century. And that's what makes Keith O’Brien's richly reported, beautifully written Charlie Hustle so damn good. It's riveting. It's engrossing. And, like Rose, it's impossible to ignore.”—Jeff Pearlman, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Folk Hero

Charlie Hustle is a thoroughly-reported, up-to-date account of a tragic American sports star. Keith O’Brien takes us through the highs and lows of Pete Rose’s rise and fall. Even if you think you already know it all, read this book. This is powerful new stuff.”—Dan Shaughnessy, New York Times bestselling author of Francona

What listeners say about Charlie Hustle

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    85
  • 4 Stars
    16
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    83
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    83
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

SOLID STORY OF HUSTLE, WINNING, AND A SAD ENDING NOT QUITE OVER!

As a lifelong fan of Pete Rose, I relived many of his triumphs, and many of his poor choices and failures. I come away with my mixture of feelings towards Pete - memories of admiration, anger, disgust, and - finally - pity and sadness.

Charlie Hustle, later known as the Hit King, had MLB itself as his biggest fan, and he lost that. Sadly, MLB and Baseball's Hall of Fame show little compassion today, and I don't see any change of heart for an increasingly frail old man who will turn 83 on 14 April.

Neither MLB or Cooperstown should waste time patting themselves on their collective backs over the nearly 34 years since that fateful year of 1989 - They have little to be proud of in several instances during their perspective Histories.

Rose will likely die outside the game he glorified with his hits, heart, and hustle - the game he still loves, sells, countless times, while setting many Major League and National League records along the way.

Charlie Hustle gambled away his game, and the Old Man now is all but out of time and forgiveness. That, to me, is particularly quite sad.

Well-written, and very fair. Good narration, too - A Solid Hit!

GRADE: A

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

His ego that couldn’t allow him to apologize.

The reader was very good. It was a good choice to have a woman read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Narrator not appropriate

A good story that brought up Parts of Pete Rose’s fascinating and self- destructive life. However, having this female narrator doing this book would be like Howard Cosell doing an Ice Dancing book. Too much empathetic voice inflections.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The truth about Pete Rose

Pete was so addicted to betting not just baseball but anything he could place a bet. What a waste.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Mr hitman ain't perfect

A great book, well researched, written and narrated. A compelling story of one of the best baseball hitters to date.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Same facts excellent context

Really enjoyed this book. I wouldn’t say I learned anything new about Pete but definitely well framed in a way that contexualized all the actions in an engrossing way.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Tough listen--because I love Pete Rose:

Well written examination of a flawed man. My sentimental side swelled with nostalgia. My justice-seeking side was left bruised. So many flawed humans are punished to a much lesser extent. My human side ached for him to find peace.
Let him into the HOF with an asterisk--just let him in.

[We, all, have asterisks.]

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Really enjoyed the writers insight

I really enjoyed this story on Pete. Much has been written. But you always learn something new. The performer of this audio book was great as well. I enjoyed her voice and pace.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Not for those who want heroes

Exhaustively researched, and that’s what makes this such a quality read. Some may be put off by the narrator’s somewhat cold, emotionless delivery, but it fits here, since this is definitely not a “happily ever after” book. There are really no winners, no saints, and no gray area as to what the author’s feelings are about the main subject of the book. But his facts make him right on target.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good overview

I have a feeling this makes a better reading book than an audiobook. The narrator has a nice voice and pace, but the book still kinda lost some credibility with the narrator choice. Early on in the book the pronunciation of Jack Nicklaus just kinda lost a bunch of the sports cred for the narrator and from there the book just needed a different voice to tell the story. The book itself gave an interesting overview of the Pete story, but it did tend to gloss over some fairly big subjects.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!