Jew­ish author Kostya Kennedy explores one of the most provoca­tive and fas­ci­nat­ing ath­letes, and Amer­i­cans, of mod­ern times. The book exam­ines Rose as an inspir­ing and unique­ly tal­ent­ed base­ball play­er who wound up with more base hits than any­one in base­ball his­to­ry; as the play­er whose shame­less gam­bling on base­ball while man­ag­ing the Cincin­nati Reds led him to be per­ma­nent­ly barred from the game and from base­bal­l’s Hall of Fame; and as a beguil­ing show­man now in the bristling even­song of his unique and orig­i­nal life. But the book also explores moral ques­tions: What is the price of sin? And what is the nature of for­give­ness? Times have changed since Rose was ban­ished twen­ty-five years ago, and Rose, now 73 years old and mak­ing his liv­ing sell­ing his auto­graph at a shop in a Las Vegas mall, remains both a beloved and polar­iz­ing fig­ure. Does Pete Rose belong in the Hall of Fame? Today, 25 years after Rose’s ban­ish­ment, that remains per­haps the most provoca­tive ques­tion in sports.