I really loved this book. My only complaint and trust me it's a small one is that I wish the chapters were a tad longer cause the stories are so great! I sure miss the Mick!

This book is such a great read with fantastic stories about courageous people.It can be used as a motivational,self-help book if you're looking for what it takes to have guts in today's wimpy society.This book hits a home run with all ages. It should be promoted more.

I got this book as a present when I was 7 years old (1968). It has been one of my favorite books ever since. Each vignette teaches a lesson in courage. From the story of the little boy who is courageous at his first haircut to Jackie Robinson's first year in the big leagues. I have been trying to locate this for my nephew and my son. It has been out of print since 1970. I was truly excited to see that it was being reprinted. Many more people will now have the opportunity to read about courageous individuals and how they can apply these principals to their lives

Anyone who loves baseball will enjoy the stories Jocko relates in this book. A true baseball fan will appreciate the directness and honesty with which he went about his work--and wish that more of that were evident in the game today!

I've read the book over and over. Baseball means visiting the past in what we thought as kids as simpler times with heroes. Baseball players were my heroes. Jocko Conlan was a man behind the mask in control of the great game. I've related myself with a person's will without the GOD given gift to be a player but with the determination to find a place in the game. Jocko Conlan was just that. He found his way into the game through his determination and strength to be part of it. The stories depict the golden age of the time we considered the game our national pastime. What wonderful stories! What a wonderful baseball book!

As a young amateur umpire in 1966, I had bought and read this book by former National League Umpire, Jock Conlan. Well, 33 years later, a little worn and a little tattered, I still have the book amongst my collection. I found it to be a wonderful inspriing book about a fine umpire. It was enjoyable then, just as I think the remake of this book will be enjoyable to your readers now. Truly a collectors' item.

Author Robert Creamer has created one of the finest George Herman "Babe" Ruth biographies. This book incorporates a plurality of fascinatingly engrossing details about the baseball career and non-baseball activities of Babe Ruth.
This portrait describes Babe evolving from his tumultuous life in Baltimore as the delinquent son of a saloonkeeper into whom many people consider as the greatest baseball hitter and baseball player of all time.
Robert Creamer gives the reader an exceptionally in-depth description of Babe Ruth's life activities, attitudes and habits before the beginning of his major league baseball career. Creamer even mentions a few facts about Babe's minor league baseball playing roommate Rodger Pippen who roomed with Ruth during their 1914 International League season. Although not germane to the Babe's career I do wish that Creamer had given a very brief history about Rodger Pippen's history and his later-to-be significance to Baltimore. Pippen's International League statistics for that 1914 season were omitted. After Pippen's baseball career he later became a notable sports editor for the "Baltimore News-Post". Rodger Pippen was the primary individual who convinced Baltimore to create Memorial Stadium n the early 1950's. It is also believed that he may have been the first individual to create the phrase "Believe-It-Or-Not!". Rodger Pippen was a longtime friend of my great-grandfather Boston Fear's family. When Babe Ruth was dying from cancer he decided to make one last trip back to Baltimore to visit Rodger Pippen, other friends and family.
Robert Creamer presents many detailed facets about Babe Ruth's baseball career with the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees and the Boston Braves. It would have been a bit more of an improvement if Creamer had explored the Babe's epic making record breaking 1927 sixty home run season in more exquisitely minute detail. The biography could also have given the reader a more behind-the-scenes explanation of the silent and talking movies the Babe played in. Also, Babe Ruth's life after his major league baseball career ( the retirement years ) and his off-season exhibition baseball performances could have gone into more depth. Perhaps some day a Ruthian baseball scholar will write a book comprising these oft-overlooked topics.
Robert Creamer's book splendidly evokes an appreciation of how highly important Babe Ruth was to revolutionizing and popularizing baseball. This biography is most definitely one of the "must-read" books about Babe Ruth. Every baseball lover should possess a copy of this book on their home bookshelf.
Babe Ruth may very well be the most famous American athlete of all time. No less an authority as baseball hall-of-famer Ted Williams called Babe Ruth "the greatest baseball hitter and baseball player of all time" and that "Babe Ruth was Bunyanesque ( like the mythological folk tale Paul Bunyan ) bigger than life".
For a small state in geographical square mile area Maryland certainly has produced an unusual statistically high proportion of Baseball Hall of Fame players ( e.g. Babe Ruth, Jimmy Foxx, John Franklin "Home Run" Baker, Judy Johnson, Robert Moses "Lefty" Grove, Al Kaline ) or potential-to-be Baseball Hall of Fame inductees ( e.g. Cal Ripken, Jr., Harold Baines, Bill "Swish" Nicholson ). However our state is very proud to state that we produced "The Sultan of Swat" , "The Bambino", "The Maharajah of Maul", etc. who is otherwise known as George Herman "Babe" Ruth! Even some of Babe Ruth's descendants today live around the Baltimore, Hagerstown and Salisbury cities of Maryland.

An engrossing, informative biography of baseball's greatest player. Some biographers make the mistake of rattling off facts and statistics, as if to impress you with how much research they've done. Creamer wisely focuses on the story, including descriptions of important games that make you feel like you're on the field with the Babe. Comments by Ruth's contemporaries add to the realism. "Babe" gets off to a slow start--a chapter dealing with Creamer's feelings about writing the book, and more details about Ruth's childhood than you probably want to know. But once Ruth starts playing baseball, the book grabs you and won't let go. One caveat: the discussion of Ruth's womanizing, while necessary and not extensive, makes this book inappropriate for young readers. If you like baseball and want to learn more about Babe Ruth, this is the book to get.

Of the 200+ baseball books I've read, "Babe: The Legend Comes to Life" is my favorite. Creamer wrote the book while some of the old-timers were still alive, and this makes his story come to life. If you want to learn about Babe Ruth, this is the definitive book to read.

Mr. Ritter takes a fond "look back" at past baseball stadiums that are now mostly memories. I find it interesting that the new stadiums being built are "throwbacks" to the designs of most of the parks described in this book. Which in my opinion is probably a good thing!

While the book mostly describes old-time major league stadiums (complete with "Top Ten" lists of the most historic events to take place at each stadium), a few minor league parks are also mentioned.

Lots of history and photographs are featured with each park's description. I like a couple other reviewers sincerely hope an updated edition of this book will be out soon, now that so many other ballparks (Candlestick Park, Tiger Stadium, and the AstroDome, for example) have been replaced.

If you enjoy reading about what it was like to watch a game in these old parks, you will enjoy this book!

Also recommended: Nuggets on the Diamond, Grand Minor League, Baseball's Hometown Teams: The Story of the Minor Leagues

THIS BOOK IS AN EXCELLENT WRITTEN HISTORY OF OLD BASEBALL PARKS. IWAS ABLE TO EXPERIENCE THE POLO GROUNDS, EBBETS FIELD, CROSLEY FIELD, ETC. THE PICTURES ARE FANTASTIC, AND LARRY RITTER'S WRITING IS UNMATCHED. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN ABOUT OLD BALLPARKS, THIS IS YOUR BOOK.

Lost Ballparks by Lawrence Ritter is a great book for anyone interested in old major league ballparks. Loaded with excellent, often historic pictures (including Mays' catch in the '54 Series and Maz's home run in the '60 Series), the book recounts essentially all of the steel and concrete era parks (built between 1909 and 1915) that were used in Major League Baseball but no longer exist. Some older parks (Baker Bowl, Hilltop Park) and 1950-60's era parks (Metropolitan Stadium, Memorial Stadium) are also included, as are selected minor league parks. The book naturally piques your interest, and leaves you wanting more.

Hopefully a new edition will be printed soon; the book was originally published in 1992 and doesn't include parks closed since then. Any new edition would also benefit from including Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, and the old Yankee Stadium. Even though these parks still exist, they would round out the history of the classic era of Major League Baseball.

The only shortcoming of the book is that it is a bit short; I would prefer some of the minor league parks be replaced with longer stories about major league parks. However, if you are interested in old ballparks or baseball history, BUY THIS BOOK!

...so in parts I was a little disappointed. I realize that baseball is the game of statistics more than any other. But the game has a more prosaic side. I live for stories about baseball, the opinions, arguments & nostalgia of baseball as it was 60 years ago. I enjoyed Robert Creamer's blend of his life intertwined with baseball & the World War brewing outside his idyllic & innocent exsistence. But then he would go on: "nine days in the early part of 1941 neither the Dodgers or the Cards were in the lead. First place change hands seven times in June. Huh? The Dodgers were in first place 78 days & the Cards 73 days. Come on. Tell me about Joe D's 56 game hitting street & Teddy Ballgame's All-Star home-run & how he got to a .406 average. He did eventually. I realize you can't tell a baseball story without numbers & factoids, but I don't need a list of every minor leaguer that had a 50 game hitting streak. Tell me about Leo's temper, his run-ins with the gm, Lee MacPhail, Mungo, the umpires, reporters & everyone else. The story of Mickey Owens rough play & passed ball, Lefty Grove's struggle to get his 300th win: that's the ticket. Stuff I didn"t know about baseball players & the draft in 1940 & truly that most wonderful year of baseball, 1941.

Baseball has perhaps never had a season of the importance of 1941. In the last year of the American "innocence" before the beginning of World War II, unassailable records were broken and Americans got to see some of the greatest baseball ever played. It was the season of Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak, Ted Williams astounding .406 batting average, and the improbable run of the Brooklyn Dodgers to the National League pennant.

The end would be one of the best world series ever, a series that would see the first of the New York Yankees numerous world series victories over the Dodgers. Finally, the clouds broke and America was at war.

Author Robert Creamer has done an outstanding job weaving in tales from his own life and coupling them with observations about the season as it unfolded. Creamer is a very readable author who gives the reader an outstanding insight into what life was like in America in 1941.

WHERE HAVE YOU GONE JOE DIMAGGIO? THIS IS THE SEASON OF JOE'S STREAK, TED WILLIAMS BATTING .400, THE DODGERS WINNING THE PENNANT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 21 YEARS,AND THE UNITED STATES ON THE BRINK OF ENTERING THE WAR. I FELT AS THOUGH I WAS TRANSPORTED BACK TO OUR LAST YEAR OF INNOCENCE AND EBBETS FIELD ALL IN THE SPACE OF ONE EVENING. THIS BOOK IS MORE THAN JUST BASEBALL IT IS HISTORY AS SEEN BY A YOUNG MAN WHO HAS PASSIONS AND LOVES THAT HE RETAINS EVEN 50 YEARS LATER. HE ALSO GIVES THE APPROPRIATE CREDIT TO KENNY KELTNER AND THE REST OF THE CLEVELAND INDIANS FOR PUTTING A STOP TO THE MOST FAMOUS STREAK IN ALL OF SPORT.

I had read such glowing reviews of this book, and had enjoyed other Creamer works so thoroughly that I was suprised how uninspired I was while reading this. Perhaps I failed to be dazzled by Stengel the man. Perhaps I grew tired of the predictable retelling of Stengel's life, season by season, many of which held no remarkable events. Baseball in '41 is a much more rewarding book, full of wonderful anecdotes well recounted.

"Stengel: His Life and Times" is no mere biography. It is a chronicle, not only of the earlier days of baseball, but of America itself. As a biography, it is superlative. As a history book, it stands on it's own merits.

In STENGEL, Creamer traces the life of baseball legend Casey Stengel, from his youth in Kansas City through his baseball career. Included are dozens of anecdotes which reveal insight into the character of the man known and loved by millions of baseball fans spanning several generations.

I am a big fan of the "Dead Ball" era so I was a bit skeptical when I picked up this book. However, it is well written, and interleaves Creamer's experiences as a person and as a baseball fan in 1941. He brings a lot of his excitement back to life to those of us who weren't there.

For once, the integration of autobiography, history and baseball really works. I can't explain why - this sort of thing often stinks - but this is a truly wonderful book.

Great Book! Tells the Story Of Sports In America From The Early Days (1900s Onwards!) to the present day! Good Buy!

Problem here is that it isn't Barber's book. Creamer, about as southern as Halifax, slicks matters. Skip this. Look at Barber's work without Creamer on 1947 or actual NPR broadcast transcripts, edited, but not intruded upon by Bob Edwards.

THIS IS A GOOD SOLID YARN ABOUT ONE OF THE BEST RADIO MEN IN THE HISTORY OF BROADCASTING. RED BARBER WRITES ABOUT HIS LIFE AND BEHIND THE SCENES IN THE BROADCASTING INDUSTRY. HIS HONESTY AND DETAILED RENDITION MAKE THIS A GOOD READ. WISH HE WOULD HAVE WRITTEN MORE ABOUT THE GAMES HE COVERED BUT THAT IS THE ONLY REAL THING I DIDN'T LIKE ABOUT THIS. FOR ALL FANS OF BASEBALL AND BROADCASTING HISTORY BUFFS. RECOMMENDED.

While you are reading this book you can feel the breeze coming through the open windows of a warm summer afternoon. The curtains are billowing and the radio is crackling with excitement. You can hear the crack of the bat, the sing of leather hitting wood. When on the road, going from city to city you are jostled by the motion of the train. Mr. Barber writes such a descriptive story, that you feel that you are right there as part of the story. This takes you back to a gentler time in life. I read this book at the start of every baseball season and never tire of it. I take it out of the library, I love the feel and the smell of the old yellowing pages, the black and white photographs. It puts me in the baseball mood. Sometimes, I feel as though Branch Rickey is going to join me for lunch.