This is one of the most informative(from the player perspective) books on baseball I've ever seen. Good narrative riddled with excerpts from interviews and autobiographies of the players who've made this the most beautiful sport around. Highlights include Willie Stargell's harrowing brush with Texas racism in the minors, psychological terrorism tips from Ty Cobb, playing through agony with Gary Carter and Roberto Clemente, what if's from Judy Johnson and Monte Irvin and dealing with the loneliness of language barriers in a strange land by Juan Marichal.
Humor comes from a bit on illegal pitches featuring Gaylord Perry and Burleigh Grimes, as well as Joe Sewell's innovative way to deal with a bunt down the third base line...that one led to an overnight rule change. There is also an amusing debate over who threw the first curve ball and how corn cobs made Paul Waner a better hitter.
There is also tragedy. The Carl Mays fastball that killed Ray Chapman is dealt with in these pages.
The oral history is striking and wonderful, but the rare photos are even better. Clear photos grace nearly every page, many of which I have never had the pleasure of seeing. If you love baseball with even half the passion that I embrace it , you must own this book. It's time to see what was going on before sportscenter.

Despite claims to the contrary by previous reviewers there are no stories related by Barry Bonds and this book is not in chronological order. It is, however, made to order. Slip off the dust jacket and enjoy.

This book is a unique approach to examining the
national pastime of the USA. It is a picture book
that visits various eras of the game in chronological
order, along with quotes from the era's greatest stars,
many of whom are enshrined in Baseball's Hall of Fame in
Cooperstown, New York. You get to see the quotes of some
great players. The photography alone makes the book a
treasured keepsake. If you love baseball history, this
book is for you. The photography mixed with comments

about the game itself from those who participate in it
is a great concept in itself.

This is a different sort of "best" book and takes the concept of oral history to a new level. Previously the players in such collections shared a common theme, like a team or time frame. But Wallace wonders what it would be like to sit down old-timers with contemporary players for a discussion of their craft. Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds . . . Bob Feller and Greg Maddux . . . brothers of the diamond shooting the breeze. Using excerpts from old interviews, Wallace seamlessly blends the generations as they regale us in tales about the pressures a rookie faces, the joy of the cheers, and the heartbreak of realizing it's time to hang 'em up. The choice of illustrations works extremely well in enhancing the stories.

Ira Berkow did a great job writing about Hank Greenberg's life. He has written several books on sport figures. Because of his career as a sport writer and book reviewer I feel he did a nice job with interviewing people and getting information about Hank Greenberg. The book takes a great look at Hank Greenberg life with all his accomplishments. Not only should it be read by every Tiger fan but also every baseball fans in general. Although he missed time through injuries, military service, and early retirement, Greenberg still ranks as one of the most fearsome sluggers in baseball history. The powerful right-hander played only the equivalent of nine and a half seasons, yet produced outstanding career totals as well as exceptional season marks. A native New Yorker, Greenberg was the son of Rumanian born Jewish immigrants who owned a successful cloth shrinking plant. Hank graduated from James Monroe High School in the Bronx, the attended New York University on an athletic scholarship for one semester before beginning his professional baseball career. The 6'4 215 lb. Greenberg's athletic success stemmed from size, strength, and hard work, more than native talent. His high school coach explained: "Hank was so big for his age and so awkward that he became painfully self conscious. The fear of being made to look foolish drove him to practice constantly and, as a result, to overcome his handicaps." Greenberg also took a lot of cruel comments about his religion which made him even a stronger person. He played for the majors from 1933 - 1947 first with the Detroit Tigers and one year with Pittsburgh Pirates. One of the most important decision he had to make was whether to play on a Jewish holiday. He choose not to and that was a very important statement about his heritage. Hank Greenberg retired in 1947 and becomes a smart business man and an excellent Farm Director for the Indians. I feel Hank Greenberg was a success in many things in his life, a truly one of a kind man and a book everyone should read. I applaud Ira Berkow for his commitment to the book.

This is a great look at Hank Greenberg. It should be required reading for every Tiger fan and baseball fans in general. In addition to providing a look at the life of Hank Greenberg, along the way it chronicles the great Tiger teams of the thirties and forties. However this is more than just a baseball book. Hank discusses his career as a ballplayer/GM/Owner, the challenges of being the first Jewish superstar baseball player, and his decision to give four and a half years of his career to the military. Hank dictated the bulk of this book while sitting by his pool in his final years. Ira Berkow took the tapes, wove in some interviews with friends/family/teammates, and added some old newspaper accounts to create this wonderful book.

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE READ. AN EXCELLENT JOB OF DESCRIBING THE LIFE OF ONE OF GREAT PLAYERS THE GAME HAS SEEN. MR. GREENBERG PUT UP WITH A LOT OF ABUSE AND RIDICULE. BUT HE HANDELED IT WITH AUTHORITY AND GAINED DIGNITY. HIS DESCRIPTION OF THE SIMILARITIES THAT HE AND JACKIE ROBINSON FACED IS VERY INTRIGING. HIS TELLING OF HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH BILL VEECK IS ALSO WELL TOLD AND FASCINATING.
A SMART BUSINESS MAN AND AN EXCELLENT FARM DIRECTOR FOR THE INDIANS SHOW THAT HANK WAS A SUCCESS IN MANY THINGS IN LIFE.
A TRULY ONE OF A KIND MAN AND BOOK.
A MUST READ FOR ANYONE.

Mr. Berkow has an understanding of both the sports world and its players, and here presents a range of essays on sports activities and minority experiences, from Muhammad Ali to Michael Jordan. Fans of sports and those interested in minority contributions to sports will find Minority Quarterback And Other Lives In Sport involving.

Red Smith was one of New York's premier baseball writers. His career spanned the period from 1941 to 1981. He was in his prime in the 1950s and 1960s when I was a avid baseball (Yankee) fan and I read all the sports columns particularly those in the New York Times or the Herald Tribune. The very first column about Mickey Owen's dropping Heinrich's third strike is a gem and a great choice to start out with. The articles are in a chronological order by decades. While there is some coverage of the 1970s and 1980s over half the book covers articles from the 40s and 50s and well over two thirds of it covers through the 60s. He likes to quote Casey Stengel who had many gems to include.

This is great for Yankee fans as brings back memories of the teams of the 50s and the way they were managed.

Red Smith never was much of a singles hitter. This collection of columns that span nearly four decades go deep with a wonderful blend of humor and insight. While the majority of columns are New York-based, there are enough bon mots about the greats and not-so-greats of the game to keep any baseball fan happy. One wishes that Smith were alive today to comment on today's game. He writes about Jackie Robinson's passion, Stachell Paige's humor, Bowie Kuhn's lack of it and more. For those of you who might need a good baseball writing fix this summer, you need not go any farther than this book.

The subtitle indicates for whom this book will have the greatest appeal: "The Game's Greatest Writer on the Game's Greatest Years." Included are 167 of Smith's best columns (written during the years 1941-1981) which were syndicated in almost 300 newspapers throughout the United States. How good was Smith? In the Foreword, Ira Berkow notes that a "blue-ribbon panel" was commissioned to select the 25 most influential newspaper people of the Twentieth Century. The final list included numerous publishers (eg Pulitzer, Ochs, and Graham) and writers (eg Mencken, Lippmann, and Pyle) but only one sportswriter: Red Smith. I thoroughly reading every single column and especially appreciated Smith's comments on Hall of Famers, of course, but also on dozens of others who had but one brief moment of glory. For example, Floyd ("Bill") Bevens, Al Gionfriddo, and Cookie Lavagetto. For those who share my passion for what was once the "national pastime", Smith was more than a great baseball writer or (as the blue-ribbon panel concluded) a great writer, period. He was also an anthropologist who examined a unique culture with style and grace as well as precision. Also with delicious wit. I would love to share Smith's thoughts about Major League Baseball today. Alas, that is a book he cannot write...and a book no one else could write better than he. Period.

It is common knowledge among baseball historians that Eddie waitkus provided the basis for "The Natural", a short story and film success.

The true story of Waitkus is far more tragic than the fictional version. This book successfully portrays the life of this somewhat obscure ballplayer. John Theodore does a fine job of researching Waitkus' life and career.

He also does a fine job of covering the little known details surrounding the woman who shot Waitkus on that fateful evening at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago in 1949. Her name is Ruth Steinhagen and her semi-successful reentry into society after release from an Illinois mental institution is chronicled.

It is one of the saddest stories ever in the world of sports.

Waitkus, who survived 2 years of intense combat in the South Pacific during WWII, returns from the war to resume a baseball career which sees him headed for superstardom, only to fall to a crazed females obsession with him.

Waitkus played in 1946,'47 and'48 with the Chicago Cubs. He was an All-Star and .300 hitter. Many considered him the best fielding first baseman in the game.

His trade to the Phillies for the 1949 season was considered a coup for the Phils. He was exactly what the youthful "Whiz Kids" needed; a quality veteran who could hit, field and lend class to the organization. He was hitting over .300 and leading the All-Star balloting in the National League when disaster struck in early June.

His subsequent recovery and contribution to the Phillies pennant winning 1950 team was the "feelgood" story of 1950. It wasn't to last however.

Waitkus was pursued by the residual demons of the shooting and latent WWII memories. He slumped in 1951 and, always a drinker, began to smoke and drink more heavily. Even marriage and a subsequent family which he loved dearly failed to assuage his demons. His physical skills reduced by the shooting, his continued late hour drinking contributing to his weakened condition, Waitkus never was able to fulfill his potential and by 1955 he was out of baseball.

Then the serious problems began.

Unable to find a job that satisfied him, he drifted from one job to another, finally ending up living in a rooming house near Harvard University and working the summers at what he knew best; an instructor at Ted Williams baseball camps. The end came suddenly in 1972 when a weakend Waitkus died from lung cancer at age 52.

In spite of the tragic aspects of Waitkus' life, Theodore successfully highlights the fact that Waitkus was a genuinely good guy; highly respected by all of his teammates, his family and Ted Williams. And most of all, the young campers he taught baseball to in the final years of his life. Many of them did not know he had played in the majors. They just knew that he knew a lot about baseball and that he loved working with them.

Theodore can be faulted only in failing to provide a good bibliography...otherwise this is an excellent biography and an important contribution to baseball history

When Bernard Malamud set out to write his infamous baseball book "The Natural", he took a major piece of inspiration from the real life consequences suffered by Eddie Waitkus. Unlike the Roy Hobbs character portrayed in Malamud's book however, Eddie was a tremendously different person.

Eddie Waitkus was born to be a baseball player. Playing the game since he was little, Eddie was devout to the sport, perfecting his fielding abilities and batting eye. Signed by the Chicago Cubs, Eddie came up through their minor league ranks quickly, impressing everyone with his capable hitting, and outstanding glove at first base. Beginning his career with a brief stint on the 1941 team, Eddie soon found the reality of World War II to be the calling for his full time employment.
Serving his country through the Army, Eddie found the Pacific Ocean front his new home, fighting in some of the fiercest battles of the war against the Japanese. A place where death and deprivation quickly surfaced on a daily basis. When he finally returned stateside after the war, Eddie went back to what he did best, baseball. Reemerging with the 1946 Cubs team, Eddie was known as a very fluid player, that was dependable on the diamond in every manner.
For three years, Eddie established himself with the Cubs as one of the finest first sackers in the league. Wrought with losing though, as the Cubs so often were in those days, Waitkus was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, a team that would come to define his life.
In just his first year with the Fighten' Phils, Eddie and company made a trip into Chicago for a set against his old mates. After one summer game, Eddie and teammates returned to their hotel, were Eddie found himself to be the recipient of a note. A young lady wanted to talk to him the note read, it was urgent..and she needed Eddie's help. Not one to keep a friend waiting, a classy Eddie Waitkus made a trip to the room indicated on the note. Alike the scene in Malamud's book, Eddie could only mutter a few sentances once in the room with his newly found assailant..Ruth Steinhagan..a girl 19 years of age. The conversation was over almost as soon as it started..Steinhagan had shot Waitkus..and left him for dead.
The victim of a psychotic and deadly young baseball adorer and fan, Eddie's life began to take a turn for the surreal. After fighting in the toughest battles in the Pacific Ocean against the Japanese Empire, he never could have dreamt this possibe fate.
Eddie took a year to heal, and in this journey, met his wife to be. Over the next five seasons, Eddie established himself repeatedly as a highly proficient hitter, and fielder extrordinaire. His tenure with the Philadelphia Phillies included a national league pennant for the much reknowned "Wiz Kids"..and several productive seasons at first base. Rounding out his career, Eddie began to suffer the consequences of his shooting however, physically and most noticeably....mentally.
Eddie's years follwoing the end of his baseball career where spent away from his family as the result of a divorce, and in a downward spiral of personal self defeat. Bouncing around for 15+ years in job to job, Eddie's life was a blur of quiet misunderstanding.
Eddie's life is one of courage, heroism, persistance, and class. Summed up in one word by his peers, Eddie lived his life with "class". From his teamates to his friends to strangers and fans, Eddie left a persona of the utmost class on everyone. Holding himself with great dignity and looking the part as well, Eddie's life thrived on bettering those around him. A life challenged by the reality of his past, Eddie let the deamons of war and his mid-life shooting alter his thinking. Although an upbeat man to those around him, Eddie let his past haunt him privately..and to no end until his death in 1972.
This is one of the best baseball books I've ever read. A courageous text with a very sad end, the story of a real American "Natural" is found here.

"Court Vision," by Ira Berkow, celebrates the diversity of those who not only love, but also appreciate the complexities of basketball. Looking at the sport through the eyes of people who use their own fields of high expertise as a prism, elevates the game from the purely mechanical to the art form which it surely is. In the book, Frank Stella, the artist, speaks of the beauty of the game "..in the coordination and getting it all together." We're dealing with magic also- the defiance of gravity engaged in by basketball's foremost practitioners in their daily work.All sorts of contradictions to conventional physics are rampant when they come to play: they float when lesser men crash to the ground, and they have the capability of going backwards and forwards at the same time. Kary Mullis, the Nobel laureate, speculates about this ability to float, about whether mental strength is capable of violating physical law, or whether they're "...putting helium in their shorts."

If great basketball players are a special breed, then some of those who try to make serious sense of who they are and what they do, are special too. It helps to have been or even to still be in the trenches. Berkow's last book, "To the Hoop," dealt with another grave defiance, that of having to come to terms with oncoming age. In it, he recounts the tribulations of an over 50 player of pickup games, beset by a bum knee and much younger teammates and opponents. This time around, he lets Johnnie Cochran, Tom Brokaw, Mario Cuomo and all the standouts he has interviewed do most of the talking. Yet the experienced journalist's hand is there to keep matters on track. The leitmotiv is always close to the surface, the need to make esthetic, emotional and intellectual sense out of this hybrid of sport, metaphysics and art.

Sex, opera, psychiatry, music, the law and other indispensable pursuits have been given a voice by Berkow in this winning attempt at illuminating a complex subject. The last interview says it all though. It is with that acute observer of the chronic human condition, Saul Bellow. In response to the question as to whether there is anything in basketball or a specific basketball player with which Bellow might identify, the visionary of Chicago (now unaccountably in a Boston exile,)speaking of Michael Jordan, has the final word on the subject: "I do identify myself with this power to hang in the air."

This book clearly deserves more than five stars.

Seldom do I find a new type of nonfiction book that is an improvement over its predecessors. Court Vision is such a book.

The concept is simple. Take famous people from all walks of life who are among our most talented individuals. Find the ones who know about NBA basketball either from a fan's or a player's perspective. Interview them about how they get insights into what they do from basketball, what their field can bring to basketball, and use a common questioning format so that the perspectives build on one another. Edit the results ruthlessly.

Although the book is ostensibly about basketball, the result is that you also see these observers in a new way through the common lens of their relationship to basketball. For example, some of the very mild-mannered public figures like Tom Brokaw use the four letter word that begins with "f" in their comments. Knowing that they were being taped, I am surprised by their language. Obviously, the public personnas and the real person are at variance in some ways. A further example comes from Walter Matthau's addiction to betting on the games, even though he doesn't enjoy it (the winning isn't enough fun to offset the pain of losing).

You will have your own favorite sections. If I quote a lot of the best material, it will spoil the book for you. But it may whet your appetite to know who some of the interviewees are:

Woody Allen (filmmaker)

William Cohen (President Clinton's Secretary of Defense)

Edward Villella (ballet dancer and choreographer)

Chris Rock (comedian)

Erica Jong (novelist)

Gene Siskel (film critic)

Donald Trump (businessman)

Reverend Edward Aloysius Malloy (President, Notre Dame University)

Julia Child (chef)

Mario Cuomo (former Governor of New York)

Alan Dershowitz (law professor)

Seiju Ozawa (conductor)

Sharon Stone (actress)

Saul Bellow (novelist)

In general, the comments by those who played basketball are the most interesting. But the narrow lens that our profession brings to our perspective is also very clear. Few draw on analogies and metaphors from outside their profession.

Many people are not well schooled in basketball. Their interest usually starts with the rise of Michael Jordan, so stars of the past are seldom mentioned. No one seems to have an explanation of how Michael Jordan could take off at the free throw line and dunk the ball. One interesting hypothesis presented is that he used some sort of extrasensory power.

Basketball players are also looked on as individuals. You get comments on the Latrell Spreewell coach-choking incident, immature behavior on the court and off, and the important potential role of education in these young peoples' lives.

Most of the observers either live in New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago, so you get a lot about the Knicks, Lakers, and Bulls. Some residual Larry Bird sneaks in now and then.

This book would also make a great gift for anyone who is an NBA fan. But you should give it to yourself first. It's too terrific to wait for.

To expand on the perspective developed by the book, I suggest that you think about what you could learn to apply to your profession and hobbies from NBA basketball. What could NBA basketball learn from you?

Have a ball!

very interesting stories on everybody from paul muni to adm. hyman rickover. All from maxwell st. Probably only a chicagoan can appreciate these entertaining stories on the famous and not so famous

I bought this book on the strength of an
excerpt in the New York Times Magazine,
which detailed a pickup basketball game
Berkow played with Oscar Robertson.
Unfortunately, most of the book is a self-
absorbed account of the writer's basketball
career -- his opinions of his high school
coach, accounts of his best games in high
school and a Division III college. He even
went back and looked up his old press clips,
such as they were, in the Chicago papers.
He devotes a fair amount of space to
recounting, in detail that verges on parody,
his ability to make a shot when dared by
Magic Johnson.

The book does have some interesting passages,
but not enough, in my opinion, to make it
worth buying. The Robertson pick-up game
story is a good, short read, available in the
NYT Magazine. There is a genuinely amusing
story involving Bill Bradley and
Dave DeBusschere. That's about it.

Put this one low, low on the priority list,
unless the life and times of a New York Times
sportswriter interests you.

Dale Wetzel Bismarck ND dewetzel@btigate.com

If you're addicted to "the greatest game ever invented," whether or not you play it well, you'll love "To the Hoop." It has insights and anecdotes from the famous and the unknown players Berkow has encountered in his checkered basketball career. Anyone who has played pickup basketball on a consistent and regular basis has their own memory bank of unusual characters and incidents. Berkow just packages and weaves his stories together in a way that grips the reader. Added to the mix is the emotional tale of alienation and reconciliation between brothers in the context of a life threatening illness. Aging baby boomers who are struggling to deal with the deterioration of whatever athletic talents they may have believed they once had, are the perfect audience for this autobiographical tale.