So sit back, curl up in front of the fire, and dip in and out of this massive volume, which is edited and organized in a way that allows just such delights. Packed with stories about the game's greats, and not-so-greats, it offers wonderful insights into how the men who delighted in playing a boy's game actually felt, thought and acted, as told in their own words. There are baseball heroics here aplenty, but also some bitter truths and some all-too human behavior that just serves to make these men all the more real, and fascinating.
Editor and author Danny Peary obviously loves the game, and isn't tainted with the sort of "celebrity awe" that characterizes so much of today's sports' coverage, and its cynical flip-side. Of course, he does pay homage to the greats of this era, but he also rekindles a thousand memories for those of us old enough to remember some of the less celebrated, but nonetheless extraordinary characters who once inhabited the game. Hopefully, younger readers will also delight in meeting these men as well, who had wondrous names such as Vic Power, Minnie Minoso and Pumpsie Green. Need I say more?
I'm only part way through and I love this book!
Covering the years from 1947 to 1964, more than sixty players-from Hall of Famers to utility players and bench-warmers-offer firsthand memories, opinions and gripes, and tell the real stories behind baseball's most colorful decades. Fans can relive all of the great moments on and off the field through the eyes of those closest to the action, including:
- Roger Maris's record sixty-first homer
- Ted Williams's final at bat (a home run)
- Eddie Waitkus being shot by a female fan (the premise for The Natural)
- Joe DiMaggio's desire to meet Marilyn Monroe-and many, many more.
From arguments with managers to encounters with groupies, from racial conflicts to salary negotiations, all of the key stories are here, including many not recorded elsewhere.
"What a joy-one of the best pure baseball books I've ever read," raved Larry King when this marvelous volume was first published in 1994.