Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball

by Keith O'Brien

He was Icarus in red stirrup socks and cleats. He was the American dream sliding headfirst into third. He was both a miracle and a disaster, and he still is today.

But to his left and to his right in that moment, more than thirty living Hall of Famers didn’t cheer. This elite group of men who knew Pete—including Whitey Ford, Stan Musial, Tom Seaver, Reggie Jackson, Steve Carlton, Yogi Berra, Warren Spahn, Bob Feller, and two of Pete’s former teammates from the Big Red Machine, Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench—didn’t clap at all.