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, one of the greatest players and most complicated figures in baseball history, has died at age 83. Rose is Major League Baseball's all-time hit king, though never was inducted into the Hall of Fame because he was found to have bet on baseball,

Pete Rose makes for a fascinating on-field study -- a player whose reputation changed even as his game stayed the same.