5 comments about An American Journey: My Life on the Field, in the Air, and on the Air.

1. Jerry Coleman has honorably served America both as a military man, as a baseball player during the 1950's for the New York Yankees, and as an announcer for the Yankees, CBS, and as an announcer/manager for the San Diego Padres. He considers his greatest achievement in life to be the five years he spent as a marine during both World War II and the Korean War. He grew up in a home with a physically abusive father, and a very devoted mother. His best friends with the Yankees were Allie Reynolds, Vic Raschi, Ed Lopat, Bobby Brown, and Charlie Silvera. Coleman believes Mickey Mantle's alcohol problems became full blown after he retired from the game and the cheering stopped. Coleman vividly recalls the incident in May of 1957 when Yankees' infielder Gil McDougald lined Cleveland Indians' pitcher Herb Score in the eye. This had a great emotional effect on McDougald who considered quitting the game. Coleman's one year at the helm of the Padres did not go well. His players viewed him as the team's announcer, and a relic from the past. Coleman gives his views on various things regarding the game such as the size of players compared to when he played, and the effect large contracts can have on some players. He blames the players' union for fighting against a strong drug program which has ultimately harmed players who play by the rules. Coleman considers Aaron to be the all-time home run leader with Maris to be the home run leader for a single season. This book is light easy reading, and I enjoyed reading about one of the bubble gum cards of my youth.



2. I don't know how many "with." books I have read not 100 but more than fifty. Even wrote two of them. YOGI IT AIN'T OVER WITH YOGI and THE OCTOBER TWELVE with PHIL RIZZUTO.Jerry Coleman's "WITH" RICHARD GOLDSTEIN did an outstanding job. I envy him but not for writing the book. Writing is hard work. Spending time in the company of Jerry Coleman is a joy. A tonic for the soul.



3. I bought this book for my father as he has been an avid Padre fan since 1969. He just loves it. Jerry Coleman is the San Diego Padres.
   
   Scott
   El CAJON, CA



4. I can't wait to read this book. Amazon makes ordering new and used items so easy. I am a customer for life.



5. Former Yankee Jerry Coleman recalls his playing days: second baseman played his entire nine-year career in New York and appeared in six World Series.(Turn ... An article from: Baseball Digest
   
   
   Great Read! Jerry is true example of what real heros are made of. How many players would unselfishly leave the game not once, but two times to serve their country in combat? This is the stuff Pat Tillman was made of. Jerry is a great guy! You never hear him speak of any of this unless asked. He is a San Diego treasure.

5 comments about Branch Rickey: Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman.

1. While every major league team is required to retire Jackie Robinson's #42, the Lords of Baseball might also consider having every team display a pair of rimless glasses, an unlit cigar and a bow tie in memory of Branch Rickey. Until that happens, Lee Lowenfish's book stands as an excellent and precise memorial.
   
   Robinson's contribution to baseball and American history is undeniable, but he was acting, to some extent, in his best self-interest. Rickey's self-interest, as normally defined, however, would have been to continue to bar the door to African American participation in the big leagues, while denying the door was even shut. This was the path of his fellow baseball decision-makers, for decades.
   
   Rickey defined his self-interest in broader, even spiritual terms. He was several kinds of paradox: a muscular Christian, a country gentleman who lived and worked in the biggest cities, a tee-totaler who constantly supported and even loved rascals like Leo Durocher, Dizzy Dean and Pepper Martin.
   
   Mr. Lowenfish, in addition to being a fine baseball maven and historian, is also a professorial-grade expert on American History. He combines these areas of expertise smoothly, giving depth and meaning to the various events and decisions in Rickey's life. He weaves details from inside baseball and culture into a deeply textured whole.
   
   He also does not see the world in terms of cardboard heroes and villains, a particularly rare and useful point of view when it comes to this story, which has so much genuine and well documented heroism. Lowenfish reports on Happy Chandler, Lee Mac Phail, Ben Chapman, even that original baseball Satan, Walter O'Malley, by treating them as real people with complex motives, instead of mere evil-doers put in the world specifically for Robinson and Rickey to overcome.
   
   Give Robinson, who walked through the door, all the credit in the world. But also credit he who opened the door. Lee Lowenfish does so in the way that Rickey himself would have most admired: by showing the human beings behind the myths.



2. Let me touch on that last first.
   
   Branch Rickey may have used the term "ferocious gentlemen" about various people he appreciated. It certainly was NOT used regularly of others about him, definitely not to the point where it became a moniker.
   
   But, Lowenfish tags Rickey with it, and uses it of him about every 10-15 pages. It's grating, it's off-putting, and does nothing to move the story line forward. Nor does it do anything for me in a good sense of establishing Lowenfish as a special author.
   
   There's a few small errors of fact in the book. Most notably, the 1948 Chicago Tribune headline was "Dewey DEFEATS Truman" and not "Dewey BEATS Truman."
   
   Other than that, while not leaden, the style of the book is not crisp, either.
   
   As far as content, the book could either have been written a bit tighter and be 50 pages shorter, or else have been longer and more jam-packed. Rickey's Brooklyn years and especially his relationship with Walter O'Malley come immediately to mind. What first set them off against one another? Did Rickey have any quotable comments about O'Malley? Ditto for O'Malley about Rickey.
   
   In other words, this book isn't bad as a Rickey bio -- if you can get past Lowenfish's writing tics. But, there's surely a more compelling -- and better written -- book available.



3. If you consider yourself a baseball fan you need to read this book, because Branch Rickey was an integral part of the game's history. The book is 600 pages long, but the reading style flowed easily for me, and held my interest throughout the book. The legal profession's loss was baseball's gain as he devoted practically his entire life to serving the game while serving others at the same time. He spoke his mind and rubbed some people the wrong way, but this conservative Republican knew a wrong when he saw it, and opened up the game of baseball to the Negro race when other owners dared not disrupt the status quo. After a stint at coaching at the University of Michigan where he encountered who he deemed one of his two favorite players, George Sisler, he moved on to St. Louis to cover the lowly Browns where he worked under his favorite superior, Robert Hedges. From there it was to the Cardinals where he placed his stamp on the Redbirds successful teams of the mid-1930s Gashouse Gang, and early 1940's which were under the ownership of Sam Breadon. From there it was on to Brooklyn where he made history by signing Jackie Robinson along with others who would become stars of Roger Kahn's book "The Boys of Summer" during the 1950s. Following the 1950 season he left the Dodgers following a power struggle with "The Big O", Walter O'Malley. The Pittsburgh Pirates came calling, and once again Rickey built a cellar-dwelling franchise into a championship 1960 team with players such as Dick Groat and stealing an unprotected Roberto Clemente from the Dodgers' minor league system. Rickey's last stop was back in St. Louis when Cardinals' owner "Gussie" Busch hired Rickey as a consultant. This proved an unwise move on the part of both Busch and Rickey. Rickey clashed with Redbird general manager "Bing" Devine who was in the process of building a winner in St. Louis. Rickey wanted Stan Musial to retire, certainly an unpopular suggestion where The Man reigned supreme. Rickey died in November of 1965 while making a speech in Columbia, Missouri. I remember listening to it on St. Louis radio station KMOX. This book is filled with legendary baseball characters such as Larry MacPhail, Red Barber, Leo Durocher, "Pepper" Martin (Rickey's other favorite player), Clyde Sukeforth, Rogers Hornsby, Frankie Frisch, Connie Mack, and numerous others. Incidentally, I was disappointed to learn that Mack was the only owner who protested to Rickey personally regarding the signing of Robinson. Mack is quoted, "I used to have respect for Rickey. I don't have any more." Mack added that his Athletics would not play the Dodgers in Florida if Robinson came with them. Don't be intimidated by the length of the book. To adequately cover Rickey's life it needs to be a lengthy book. If you enjoy baseball history this book will be a breeze. Treat yourself! You will also enjoy Rickey's quotations which are still appropriate today.



4. Lee Lowenfish has written a fabulously researched book that is an entry point into the history of baseball since the start of the 20th century. Yes, I knew that Branch Rickey ran the Dodgers and hired Jackie Robinson, breaking the color barrier in major league baseball. I didn't know, however, that he started his career in St. Louis and as I read this easy to like book, I began sending copies to people I thought would be interested.
   
   I'm 65 (born in 1943) and started listening to New York baseball games in the car with my Dad starting in about 1948. As we drove, we'd hear the Yankees and the Giants and the Dodgers. Did I know that I was listening to history as Jackie Robinson ran the bases?
   
   Many of my friends are 20 years older than I am. I thought that this book would bring back wonderful memories for them and I was right.
   
   Imagine, to date I've sent 18 books as gifts to people from New York, St. Louis, Los Angeles. Everyone has been reading and loving Lowenfish's book.........each for a different reason.
   
   SO BUY THE BOOK ALREADY.



5. An excellent biography of Branch Rickey and his accomplishments during the first 65 years of the 20th century.
   It is a fascinating story of his life,life in America,a history of baseball and the social mores of the era.
   Fascinating reporting on the recruitment and emergence of Jackie Robinson.

5 comments about Get in the Game: 8 Elements of Perseverance That Make the Difference.

1. Life's little lessons taken from one who knows. Good title. Inspirational! Thanks Cal.



2. Get in the Game is not only a book about Cal Ripken Jr., his consecutive games streak and his fine career. It's a recap of some simple but overlooked values.
   
   Using his core strength in baseball to describe his thinking, the reader will not only appreciate some particular plays in his career, but also down-to-earth ways of approaching things in life.



3. This book provides extremely useful guidelines in dealing with situations we all eventually run into in our lives. While alluding to baseball related examples, it does not simply dwell solely on recounting Mr. Ripken's impressive baseball accomplishments or relate amusing/interesting anecdotes. Instead it gives thought-provoking insights into two all too fast-disappearing basic axioms in our country's psyche: "practice makes perfect," and "do unto others." I highly recommend this book for everyone, especially young people still in their formative years. In fact, it presents an excellent opportunity for parents to reconnect with their child(ren) by reading it aloud and together, with discussion centering on each of the eight elements as they are completed.



4. Cal Ripken offers many of his life lessons and experiences he has learned through playing the right way his whole career. I highly recommend this book to baseball fans of all ages and backgrounds.



5. This book helped me and it helped me help my eleven-year-old son.
   
   One of the parents from my son's baseball team actually said to me last night at our end-of-season party that several games ago it was like a completely different boy began showing up to play. He said he could see my son now has baseball in his head. That's about when I started reading parts of this book to my son. I started taking him to the batting cages. We began really working toward his goals on the field and talking about his goals in life.
   
   This book resounds with the values I've always carried in my heart but have not been able to live due to circumstances beyond my control. Reading it allowed me to see these values do actually work somewhere out there in this world and these values are what I want for my child.

5 comments about Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero.

1. I have been reading quite a few baseball biographies over the past 4-5 years and this one was absolutely and by far the most thoughtful, the most thorough, and simply the best. And frankly, I was not even a Ted Williams fan before I picked it up. I knew very little about him and didn't remember him, having been born in 1961. But the portrait Montville draws is remarkably detailed and nuanced. This book goes beyond the person and gives glimpses of the times.



2. I have read a couple of books on Ted Williams, but this was the best. It's exhaustively researched -- Montville spoke to anyone and everyone who may have come across Williams, almost to a fault -- and a lot of fun to read. I guess I would label it sympathetic, but it's really quite fair. I think that after reading this book, you will understand why so many people loved Williams off the field, but why he rubbed fans and writers the wrong way. Montville made me feel like I was along for the ride throughout Williams's amazing career, and that's not always easy to do. A great read to be enjoyed by all.



3. From the beginning, Ted Williams was a larger than life personality - a great player on the field, the last baseball player to hit over .400 - and a player off the field as well, married three times, but never to the true love of his life. His antics on and off the field were legendary, as were his breaks from baseball to serve in both World War II and Korea. And, of course, his relationship with his children, especially son John Henry, led to headlines long after his career and life were over.
   
   "Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero" by Leigh Montville is a wonderfully written look at the colorful Williams. Montville covers all aspects of Williams's life, from his childhood and troubled relationship with his parents (especially his mother), his career in Boston, his tumultuous relationship with Boston sports writers, his life after baseball, his troubled relationship with his children, and of course his controversial freezing after his death. Williams was a complex man and Montville does his best to show what made Williams tick. It's not an easy task, Williams was prickly and had two sides to his personality - the public Ted and the private Ted. By the end of the book you will both love and hate Williams - you'll love the public Ted that associated so well with fans (at least off the field and especially the young ones - Williams was instrumental in helping the Jimmy Fund, which supports young cancer patients, get off the ground) and hate the private Ted, who made life difficult for those around him.
   
   For the most part, Montville is objective in his writing, treating both the private Ted and public Ted even-handedly and making no excuses for his behavior. But his objectivity slips near the end of the book when he discusses Williams's son John Henry. It's clear that Montville doesn't like John Henry. As much as your feelings for Ted may waver throughout the book, by the end you can't help but feel sorry for him and the way his family treated him the last few years of his life.
   
   "Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero" is an interesting look at a complex man.



4. Leigh Montville's biography of Ted Williams is exhaustive in its analysis of one of baseball's greatest hitters. At times childish and self-absorbed, but always focused upon his art, Ted Williams emerges as a troubled genius in this wonderful book. Some of the anecdotes about Williams' intensity evoke a character who loves a few things in life to obsessive delight while ignoring almost everyone and everything else. An absolute master in the science of hitting a baseball, Williams loves his talent and nourishes it in a way that illuminates how beautiful, powerful, and fragile is the human desire to achieve greatness. A must for baseball fans.
   
   Donald Gallinger is the author ofThe Master Planets



5. Leigh Montville paints a brilliant portrait in words of the man who wanted to be remembered as the greatest hitter who ever lived. Ted Williams deserves to be on the short list of baseball's greatest hitters, and he easily deserved his hall of fame induction, where he was the first prominent white man to publicly call for recognition for negro leaguers Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson.
   
   Ted WAS a great hitter, and he had many other desirable qualities as well, giving generously of his time and money to charity and serving his country TWICE during the peak of his baseball powers, losing five major league seasons to WWII and Korea. We can only speculate how many more hits and homers Ted might have had if not for those lost years.
   
   But Montville shows us the warts as well. We see an arrogant young Ted who cared ONLY about hitting and only took the field because that got him his turn at bat. He considered pitchers contemptuously and Montville gives several examples where the great hitter gave priority to HIS individual achievement over less important matters, such as his team winning.
   
   Gifted with an extraordinary mind, Ted was nonetheless minimally educated and when he had opportunities to "get away with things" because of how well he could hit, Ted took every opportunity.
   
   I agree with another reviewer who wrote that Ted's career is not chronicled as well as his later years. The last hundred pages are about the pathetic final years of the great hitter's life when son John Henry used his father's name and money to finance one failed business venture after another. After Ted's death Montville describes John Henry's nearly desperate efforts to have Ted frozen at a cryonic center in Arizona, for the speculative reason that there might still be another buck in it for John-Henry. In a cruel twist of fate, John-Henry was stricken prematurely with leukemia and joined his father in frozen perpetuity.
   
   To present a biography of such a man is a daunting task, and Montville succeeds admirably. No doubt some of the unwieldy nature of this volume comes as a result of the volumes of research done by the author and an unwillingness to pare the passages that could use a prune.
   
   Universally acknowledged today as one of baseball's greatest - the last man to hit over .400 and one of the small number of players with over 500 home runs - before steroids and with five years lost to the Marines, Ted nonetheless had the personality that made baseball writers, for example, choose Joe Gordon as MVP in 1942, even though Ted won the triple crown, leading the league in batting average, home runs and runs batted in. How ticked off would the writers have to be to give such an award to someone else when you've led the league in EVERY major hitting category? Ted Williams did that to some people.
   
   A baseball hero - but a cautionary tale also of a man who was often not a role model.

5 comments about Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig.

1. Looking through the glass of hindsight, everyone just flat out looks better. Life is funny that way. If you were mean in reality, history may classify you as "gritty." If you were thoughtful, history may remember you as "genius." Or if you were fat, you may be labeled as "stout and strong." The story of Lou Gehrig is not necessarily an example of this. In reality I will never know. The author will probably not know either. Lou is painted as larger than life in "Luckiest Man." He was thoughtful, kind, humble, and amazing. Not only that, but he brought to the public the story of ALS and its affects. It became real and tangible to the whole world. His personal health tragedy no doubt amplifies his kinder qualities, as it would in most people's remembrance. Not to say it is undeserved, but in this book, it seems exaggerated. Gehrig is not really made into a real person. He is made into a monolithic figure. In baseball, he was one, but in his personal life, he would have hated this.
   
   I have always had a soft spot for heroes, especially heroes in baseball. No doubt Lou Gehrig is a hero in this regard. He played in the shadow of one of the largest figures in history, Babe Ruth. Not only did he thrive, but he made a name for himself that, in my opinion, out shined Ruth on the field. No one could outshine him off of it. I have no doubt that if the opposite had occurred, Ruth would never have made it in Gehrig's shadow. His accomplishments, unlike his character and personality, are in black and white. His statistics say it all. Amazing in his steadfast play, he also shone when it counted most, the World Series. Back in those days baseball meant something to everyone, and he had the privilege of playing and delivering in those times.
   
   Gehrig was a great role model, and a great player. His character and approach to the game are things I would teach my children, and plan to. These type of stories may not be completely true, but sometimes it is the legend and myth that build from simple beginnings that can shape our lives and build on our own morality.



2. I'm a Yankee hater, but I loved this book. I always found the story of Lou Gehrig to be an inspirational one. Jonathan Eig did a great job of not only telling Gehrig's story, but also making you want to root for Gehrig to survive. At times I found myself forgetting that he dies in the end, only wanting to read more about his amazing feats on the ball field. A great book that everyone should read.



3. Lou Gehrig has always been an interesting subject for me. I'm a so-so baseball fan, but I am a fan of individual's who appear to have the same values and morals that I hold.
   
   Jonathan Eig does a very nice job in this book of focusing on Gehrig's baseball qualities and his qualities as a man. I really enjoyed the book that gave a tremendous insight into how Gehrig acted behind closed doors.
   
   A few things that really interested me:
   
   I didn't know he was nearly that good of a baseball player. If ALS wouldn't have ended his career he might have gone down as the greatest first baseman ever. Eig did a very nice job in citing statistics and comparing those to other players in Gehrig's era and in the modern era.
   
   I also didn't know that a number of times Gehrig would play an inning or two and get credit for a game. I appreciate the fact that the writer didn't get caught up in the legend of Gehrig and pointed out the streak and how it lived basically because of the manipulation of Gehrig and Yankee manager Joe McCarthy. That definitely diminshes the accomplishment of consecutive games played in my mind... not by much because Gehrig did play with a lot of injuries and issues.... but it does diminish it. It also puts that much more of a wow factor into the consecutive games streak of Cal Ripken because I believe he had to play 5 innings to get credit for a game.
   
   That said, Eig did a really nice job in pointing out that Gehrig really was much more than just "An Iron Horse" at first base. The stats, the clutch hitting, etc. were well documented by Eig.
   
   I also liked the detail that Eig provided on ALS and Gehrig's final years. As I was reading the book, I was thinking we are sure flying through his playing career and there is a whole lot of book left here. That was because Eig wanted to take some time to describe in detail Gehrig's final years and he did a very nice job.
   
   I would suggest this book to anyone wanting to know more about Gehrig, Yankees history, or if you just want to read a great account of a man who should be well-admired for his work ethic and moral values.
   
   A great book and great subject matter.



4. Author Jonathan Eig has written a fantastic character study of New York Yankees great Lou Gehrig, a shy, Momma's boy who always followed the rules and didn't want to let anyone down. A proud man, Gehrig always handled himself with class. He had few equals on or off the field.
   
   Eig paints a sensitive portrait of Gehrig while discussing his relationships with his mother, his wife, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and his other teammates as well as Yankees management.
   
   Never considered colorful enough to merit the press' attention, Gehrig played in the shadows of Ruth and DiMaggio.
   
   Thanks to locating letters between Gehrig and his physicians at the Mayo Clinic, Eig is able to shed light on the relationship the Yankee great had with his physicians, what the doctors told him about his disease (ALS) and how he handled it.
   
   After reading Eig's biography, you'll have a deeper understanding of Gehrig, the man, and a better appreciation of Gehrig, the baseball player.



5. I read this book while in middle school and it inspired me. Yes even a Red Sox fan enjoyed this book. This is not a book about a Yankee or baseball but a story about an amazing person.

5 comments about Veeck--As In Wreck: The Autobiography of Bill Veeck.

1. I must preface this by saying that I read this book after it was reccomended to me by the sports editor of a local paper.
   
   This book, and Veeck's life, are nothing short of amazing. In these times of high ticket prices and salaries, it is fasciniating to read about how Veeck bought and sold major league franchises, sometimes with little to no capital or cash to start with.
   
   Veeck is also the pioneer of the idea of going to a baseball game and being entertained. He came up with some of the wackiest and funniest promotions and ideas ever and they are all contained in this book. On top of that, he was a genuinely funny guy, which also comes across throughout the course of the book.
   
   Every baseball fan should read this book to realize exactly how much Veeck shaped the experience of going to a baseball game like we know it today.



2. My thanks goes out to Bill Veeck for being one of the men that saved baseball on the South Side of Chicago. Even though it is not all included in his autobiography, he worked to keep the White Sox in Chicago multiple times. This is one of the reasons many people closely associate Veeck with the White Sox.
   
   On page 352, Veeck writes, "To the White Sox rooter, there is nothing casual about baseball. Wake him up in the middle of the night, ask him who he is and he will say, 'I am a carpenter and a White Sox fan.' He may or may not have inherited his trade from his father, but chances are that he inherited his rooting interest in the Sox. This kind of family solidarity can only come out of adversity and trial by fire." This is the blue collar attitude he brought to baseball ownership. He was also an entertainer and promoter the likes of which baseball will never see again.
   
   "Veeck as in Wreck" is a wildly entertaining ride. While Veeck occasionally gets bogged down in mathematics and finances, his baseball stories compensate. The midget that Veeck sent to bat in St. Louis is discussed. The wild promotions that attracted record crowds are included, though he could not possibly include them all. The book only omits his second tenure in Chicago which included the dubious Disco Demolition Night. Veeck started in the early 1900's when his father owned the Cubs. While his heart may have been with the Cubs, his best work came with the White Sox.
   
   Including his riffs with the owners who included current commissioner Bud Selig, Veeck was a fan's owner. Although long, this is a great read for baseball fans. White Sox fans should find it extra sweet.



3. I gave this book to my brother who is a baseball nut and he loved it. He couldn't wait to get off work so he could sit in the subway and read it all the way home.
   
   He is a historian and found it accurate and a page turner.



4. I'm biased, since Veeck -- As In Wreck was a childhood favorite, but I still say it's the best book ever written on professional baseball. It's a great take on the sport -- baseball's supposed to be FUN for the fans, and this book is a great primer on how to make it so.



5. This is one of the single funniest books that I have ever read. Moreover, it is a book that you can reread again and again and still find amusing years after your initial reading. It is that good.
   
   Bill Veeck was the son of a sportswriter (William Veeck, Sr.) who later became a top executive with the Chicago Cubs and helped rebuild the organization. As a young man, Veeck, himself, worked for the Cubs and played an important role in remodeling the bleachers and adding many of the signature features to Wrigley Field. Later, he owned and operated a successful minor league team (the Milwaukee Brewers), a World Series Championship team (the Cleveland Indians), and he presided over the demise of the poorest team in baseball (the St. Louis Browns) before putting in two stints as the head owner of the Chicago White Sox (including the 1959 pennant winning club).
   
   From this unique perspective, Veeck takes the reader on a wild booze fueled ride that explores the joys, the sorrows and hypocrisies of professional baseball. During the Fifties, Veeck was essentially blackballed by his fellow American League owners and compelled to sell his stock in the struggling St. Louis club. As soon as Veeck was out of the picture, the new owner was permitted to move the team to a greener ballfield in Baltimore. The other owners resented Veeck's flair for showmanship. Today, virtually all baseball clubs imitate the promotions that Veeck pioneered.
   
   Someday, I can only hope that Bill Murray succeeds in his ambition to adapt this marvelously humorous book into a motion picture.

5 comments about The Life You Imagine: Life Lessons for Achieving Your Dreams.

1. This book starts off as derek jeter stating that he wil play for the New York Yankees when he is 8 years old. They discuss the 10 rules about how to live you life and what to do. Growing up derek had alot of racial problems with his parents. He had one black and one white, and he had a sister, they were a really close family.
   
   growing up there were many racial problems in his town. He went to college in Kalamazoo michigan. He played baseball there and now hes making millions doing what he loves. He said he loves to wake up every morning knowing he loves his job.
   
   Derek is always saying set your goals high so you are always working toward them. Not too high to where you cannot reach them but just high enough that you have to work at it to get to them.
   
   This is one of the greattest books i have ever read. I will give 2 thumbs up. It was a very interesting book becuase i lvoe baseball and i want to be exactly like derek jeter.



2. Book review mod 1
   
   Over the summer I read a few books. One of those books was The Life You Imagine: Life Lessons for Achieving Your by Derek Jeter. I choose this book because I'm a Yankees fan and love Derek Jeter. This book is a great book for someone who needs a role model. Derek Jeter is an amazing role model he had strait A's growing up. In this book Derek Jeter tells you how he grew up and how hard it was for him and how he never stopped trying to get what he set his goals for. This book is wonderful it shows you how any body can do it. His dream his whole life was to play short stop baseball for the New York Yankees. This book is one of those books that will inspire a person to go out and try harder then every one and get what he set out for. That's how good this book is, your are into baseball and trying hardest any way. This book is written well and will show you how a person who really like really tries his hardest and never gives up and will do what ever he has to, just to get what he sets out for. If there was a rating for this book it would get a 10 out of 10 or 100 out of 100 or 5 stars. That's just my opinion. This book is just like I said be for just one of those books that just makes a person want to do something good in life or achieve a goal or something. In this book Derek Jeter said that he would write all of his goals down and check them of as he achieved them threw out the year. This book is wonderful inspiring and just an all around baseball lovers dream book, if I was to recommend this book to anyone it would defiantly be a YES! This book is one of my favorites and would hope it would be one of yours as well. =]
   
   
   By Kevin Lunn



3. After reading the first couple of pages I knew right away that this book would be a good one. The reason Derek Jeter became so well known is because he started very young knowing what he was going to do in life. Throughout high school and college Derek Jeter was an outstanding athlete and student, but at times he did have those people that said that he couldn't do it and that he couldn't make it to the major leagues. This book would be recommended to those who look at Derek Jeter as an idol and also are athletes. Reading this book could change the way you look at Pro athletes and maybe even inspire you to do better.



4. Great book and great lessons for kids. Shows what can happen when you are ambitious enough and try hard enough. Great book about Derek and where he came from and where he wants to go!



5. I am giving this to a friend of mine's son who is nine who could care less about Derek Jeter or the Yankees. That is how good I think that this book is. It shows how Derek was focused on his goal from age 8, and I am going to get more copies for children of my friends to give to them when they turn 8.

2 comments about Billy Williams: My Sweet-Swinging Lifetime With the Cubs.

1. It is an honor to be the first person to review this excellent book about the life of Billy Williams. In an age of baseball books called Vindicated and stories of steroids and other sordid aspects of the game it is refreshing to read this book about a player who exemplified class and a love for the game of baseball and a love for one woman his entire adult life.
   
   I am a lifelong Cubs fan and I began following the team in around 1965 when I was 7 years old. Everyone knew about Ernie Banks back in those days but Billy Williams was a very unsung hero of those teams. I once saw him get 5 hits in one game.
   
   In the book Billy is pretty outspoken about the racism he encountered as he moved up in the cubs organization. He came very close to quitting for good and what a shame that would have been if Buck O'Neill hadn't tracked Billy down and brought him to his senses.
   
   My favorite chapter was one where Billy goes down a long list of his cubs teammates giving us glimpses into what it was to be a baseball player before the years of free agency and exorbitant salaries.
   
   Billy also talks about his time with the Oakland A's just after they had won their three championships in a row.
   He discusses his desire to manage in the major leagues and his years of coaching for the A's and the Cubs and his experiences with Sammy Sosa during the 1998 season.
   The book concludes with the text of Billy's Hall of Fame speech.
   If you followed the Cubs during the 60's and 70's this book will be a nice trip down memory lane.



2. Williams is not shy in telling about the discrimination he and other people of color experienced during his minor league and major league career. I enjoyed his recollection and feelings regarding the Cubs' 1969 collapse and his memories of a large number of his former teammates.

5 comments about Bad Guys Won.

1. I loved the book for granting a reader the real behind-the-scenes look at how the 1986 Mets were assembled, how they managed to execute so well for one season, and how it could never last. Really, the epilogue is almost unnecessary since Met fans and most baseball diehards know how it played out in the subsequent years. The beauty and quality of the book is in the background material: it explains what the beat writers have always know, what real insiders just assume as common knowledge amongst themselves, and confirms some of the best and worst suspicions I've always had about the players and management.
   
   See, I loved watching Gooden pitch, I tried to emulate that easy motion as much as I could, but I never had the talent, not even close. I knew something was wrong in 1986 but hey, they won it all... but in 1987, it could no longer be ignored. His waste of talent, the mismanagement of his ability, all there to be seen as early as 1986, 1987. There was enough time to rectify the situations, really, but the sad truth is all too common: many of us lack the kind of courage and will to overcome our problems, much less face them.
   
   As sad as Gooden's decline was, Staweberry's was irrevocably tinged with meanness that almost made it a just outcome. Still, talent wasted is common and always tragic.
   
   What I liked most about the book, then, was the confirmations of my opinions about most the crew that I'd considered, and the revelations I did not. For example, I always admired Keith Hernandez and the book gave him additional depth of character that made him my favorite Met again (Sorry Edgardo Alfonzo). For another example, that Gary Carter was really all about himself was a bit of a surprise to me, because he played a selfless position on-field. I could see it, I admit its truth, but it's still a bit of a dichotomy.
   
   In all, a terrific book and a quick read. I withheld the fifth star because clearly, the author dislikes Strawberry intensely and it showed in the depictions. True or not, I could see the author's contempt and while I agree with it, I tried to view and evaluate the book as a historian might, so I put the ding there.
   
   This is the kind of sports writing I would love to see published daily/ weekly. It's too bad you can only read about what really happened in 1986 in 2007, when enough time has passed to expire the statute of limitations on any kind of material consequence.
   
   -C



2. Maybe every woman secretly loves the bad boys, but maybe it's because they're fun! 1986 was the most fun I've ever had in my life. That wild ride with that baseball team was the most profoundly satisfying baseball season I've ever experienced, and I'm sure I'm not alone.
   
   Frankly, after years of suffering with the Mets of Grant's Tomb, the Mets and their long-suffering fans were ready to cut loose, to dance and sing and win, win, win. Where others saw obnoxiousness and arrogance, we saw exuberance and cameraderie. We saw teamwork, butt-busting effort, and hard-earned celebrations. The Sox fans often maintain that the 86 Series was lost on an error as if the Mets should NOT have capitalized on their jittery Schiraldi and Stanley, and the tough-but-fragile Bill Buckner (BTW, off Buckner, everybody-- he was a hell of a ball player and a very classy guy, and you guys sure are doing a lot better in the post-season than we are recently!)
   
   It was pure, unadulterated joy, the kind of joy only amazing baseball can afford, and for that, I can never think of those guys as bad. The Mets are a good, contending team now, but when I see the DVDs of the '86 Series, I remember really transcendent baseball played by really vivid personalities. I just loved them.



3. I'm the type of guy who likes to read only the sports section, but I must admit,that this was one of the most interesting books that I have ever read. It goes into great details and discusses the off field antics that made the 86' Mets so notorious. If you are looking for a great read, pick it up!



4. Stylistically, this is pretty conventional sports-writing, with lots of overwrought melodrama and awkward analogies ("The Boston right-hander had as much right pitching in Game 4 of the World Series as Spuds McKenzie [sic] did distributing political advice"). But Pearlman is a decent story-teller, and as a long-time Mets fan, with fond memories of 1986, I found the story compelling. While hardly comprehensive, the book offers interesting behind the scenes perspectives, albeit with a strong emphasis on the most negative aspects. Even more general baseball fans, with no emotional ties to the year or team, should find much of interest here. And, of course, it's endlessly fascinating (and fruitless) to look at the young Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, and the amazing chemistry of this team, and wonder what might have been.



5. I was only 2 years old when the Mets won it all in 1986, but reading this book made me feel like I lived through it all. Pearlman does a fantastic job bringing the highlights (and lowlights for that matter) of the 1986 season to life in full detail. A must read for any Mets fan or any fan of baseball.

5 comments about The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship.

1. Good books need no blurbs, they can speak for themselves. This one has at least ten blurbs on the covers.
   
   If you're curious about just how much of a bastard Ted Williams really was, read the book and marvel at the stature of a person who would repeatedly curse out a friend for "not fishing right". Then find out about his son's exploitive tendencies, presumably learned from his father. (Nah, a cryofreezing company would never, ever, not in a billion years, pay anyone to freeze their famous father. Couldn't possibly happen.)
   
   I feel sorry for the other three guys who got lumped in with this mess, because they seem like reasonably decent people. And some of the stories are entertaining, though I felt like I had to fight through a lot of unnecessary verbiage to get there.
   
   If you're in the target audience (people who worship sports heroes) this probably will work well for you. I was quite disappointed, and I'm not likely to read any of the author's other works; the effort wasn't worth it.



2. This brief but excellent book covers a lot of ground. It is a fine baseball book that follows the lives of its four main characters from their humble roots through their shared baseball careers and into their post baseball lives. Along the way, the reader learns a lot about how baseball worked during simpler times both at the minor and major league levels.
   
   But it is much more. Among other things, Halberstam examines immigrant culture in America, friendship, success, love and aging. He also tells a lot of really entertaining stories including the Williams lunch with Tip o'Neil, the infamous tarpon fishing trip and the Red Sox/Cardinals World Series. The parallels between Williams and Joe Dimaggio were also interesting.
   
   Ted Williams' "cantankerous" personality is a featured element of this story. As the book progresses, Pesky, Dimaggio and Doerr are presented as truly wonderful human beings (and there is no reason to believe that they are not). It is difficult to imagine what attracted them to Williams, but they clearly were all great friends with Williams as the glue. Despite his well known personality flaws, Williams clearly had some excellent qualities. Halberstam chronicles both sides of the Williams personality and leaves the reader with an overall positive feeling toward him.
   
   This is an entertaining and meaningful story that is more about life and friendship than baseball. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and hated to see it end.



3. There's a good bit of information in this book. But I just did not perceive that the author effectively conveyed the "magic" that the story seemed to promise. I came away feeling like I had some more facts about these players but just none of the 'warm and fuzzy' that I expected.



4. I read this book on the recommendation of a client and was impressed! Halberstam does an excellent job of weaving the tale of four teammates forever bound by baseball, Boston, and their friendship. Each has his own story and personality from the larger-than-life Ted Williams to the reserved Bobby Doerr all revealed with masterful writing. A must read for any Red Sox or baseball fan. Because of the masterful writing I will be reading more of David Halberstam.
   October 1964
   Summer of '49 (P.S.)
   The Best and the Brightest



5. Admittedly, I'm a huge Yankee fan. But beyond that, I'm a baseball fan, and Halberstam does a great job of getting me to feel in my heart for this great group of guys and the relationships they had with each other. He takes you through the major milestones of their careers and relationships and makes you feel like you're one of the boys and share in their joys and hardships. If you're not a fan of baseball and brotherhood, then you won't enjoy this book. But if you are, you won't be able to put it down.