But the christening of Rose as "Charlie Hustle" was anything but complimentary. In a spring training game against New York that year, Rose bunted for a single, much to the amusement of Yankee's great Mickey Mantle and teammate Whitey Ford. From O'Brien's book:

Pete Rose: "My dad said the quicker you get to first base, the quicker you go around the bases. I played the way I was supposed to play."

Pete Rose, baseball’s career hits leader and fallen idol who undermined his historic achievements and Hall of Fame dreams by gambling on the game he loved and once embodied, has died. He was 83.