| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 90.1

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 90.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Betting the Line: Sports Wagering in American Life. By Richard O. Davies and Richard G. Abram. (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2001. x, 212 pp. Cloth, $60.00, ISBN 0-8142-0880-0. Paper, $24.00, ISBN 0-8142-5078-5.)

Once again in the fall of 2002, as he has done periodically in recent years, Pete Rose toured the morning talk show and cable television circuit, trying to convince Americans that major league baseball ought to lift the lifetime ban imposed on him and allow his induction into the Hall of Fame. In front of a camera, Rose remains his own worst enemy, demonstrating not a shred of remorse, admitting no culpability, and self-righteously proclaiming his misunderstood innocence. Sports radio talk shows crackle with debate while the men and women who run major league baseball insist that a mountain of evidence implicated Rose in betting on contests in which his own team was involved. Rose has disappeared again and will remain in relative obscurity until his public relations advisers recommend another media barrage. He has become an icon to baseball and to smug hubris as well. He also represents the latest episode in the tawdry business of sports wagering, the subject of Betting the Line, a thoughtful, revealing book by Richard O. Davies and Richard G. Abram.

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