2 comments about Mickey Mantle: Before the Glory.

1. i knew the mick for 40 years and this helped me learn even more about his young life even when i thought i knew most everything.
   this is a great job by the author and i thank him for his book
   BOB SARRA



2. I was hoping for something a little more exciting. A really dry read.

No comments about Extra Bases: Reflections on Jackie Robinson, Race, and Baseball History.

No comments about They Too Wore Pinstripes: Interviews With 20 Glory-Days New York Yankees.

2 comments about Heroes of the Hall : Baseball's Greatest Players.

1. This is a great book for the baseball aficionado. Especially for those who appreciate the great players of years gone by.

   Dozens of Hall-of-Famers are featured, with beautiful photographs of each individual. You'll find basic statistics and the accomplishments of each personality, as well as a commentary on their contributions to the game. A nice bonus is a small photograph of their hall-of-fame plaque.

   As a collector of older baseball cards I found this book especially useful to my further appreciation of the players and the history of this greatest of past-times.

   I highly recommend it!




2. If you know a baseball fan who you would be looking to purchase a gift for a birthday present or just as a pleasant surprise, you will not go wrong with this book. This is a book that would be appreciated by both youngsters 12 and up and adults. The book is illustrated with beautiful colored pictures of the Hall of Famers in addition to providing text that covers their career. The price is worth it. I have bought multiple copies as gifts, and they have been much appreciated. This is a book that will be treasured by the lucky recipient for a lifetime.

5 comments about Our Tribe: A Baseball Memoir.

1. This is a superb book because it goes beyond being a great sports book. Terry Pluto's weaving of his relationship with his father into his lifetime love of the Cleveland Indians makes it a book that readers will think about long after they've finished reading it. It's not necessary to be a Tribe fan to enjoy this book. I'd even go as far to say that a reader need not be a baseball fan to feel empathy and self-reflection on his or her parent-child relationship, regardless of whether the person is the parent or the child. I've also read the author's "Loose Balls", a wonderful look back at the American Basketball Association, and recommend that to those who remember the ABA (go Oakland Oaks!) and to those who weren't around to enjoy those years.



2. This book is as much a story about a son and his relationship with his father as it is about baseball, and tells each of those stories wonderfully. For basball fans it is an entertaining history of the Cleveland Indians and is full of colorful players, managers, and even owners. From the perspective of this one baseball team, the reader has a ring side seat on how much our country, society, and professional sports have changed and grown over the last 75 plus years. Just from the standpoint of the baseball Terry Puto is as good as Ken Burns or George Will.

   But the story within the story is really about the author and his father. That relationship is one that is full of joy and sadness, wonderful memories and yet regrets. The author comes to better understand and appreciate his father after a stroke makes it impossible to talk to his father. In a cruel irony, when the time came that the author was ready and wanted to share stories and talk to his father, he was not able to.
   All fathers and sons should read this book.

   A final comment on Terry Pluto's writing style. I have read three of Mr Pluto's books and appreciate the way he writes in a clean, no non-sense style and yet fills his books with so much detail and color.




3. This is a fantastic book for any Indians fan who grew up watching games at the old Stadium. It's for all of us who grew up rooting for a sad team who had never won anything before and was never likely to do so in the future. It helps us to remember those days when the important thing wasn't how good the team was or if they had a chance at the Series, but rather spending time with our fathers watching the game. Maybe, just maybe, this book will help us to remember what is really important once again.



4. Absolutely wonderful weaving of an at times diffcult father-son relationship (congrats for telling it like it was!) and the history of the Cleveland Indians. Never gets bogged down in year-to-year stats and his way of comparing Shoeless Joe and Manny Ramirez's careers was brilliant. The stories about Manny are priceless.
   
   Like all his other sports books, Terry Pluto is easily the best sportswriter on the planet.



5. Terry Pluto has written an excellent book and as an Indians fan for 70 years I can easily relate to his personal story and to the history given of the Cleveland Indians. It is an excellent history for the most part, written as only a sports writer can, though he contradicts a couple other writers a few times. I espeically like the emphasis on the heroes of my childhood, Lou Boudreau, Bob Feller, Larry Doby and others on the famous 1948 team. I disagree with his contention that the l948 championship team was not one of the greatest championship teams ever and this is disproved in the detailed book An Epic Season by David Kaiser. Also for a really complete history of the Indians before and leading to 1948, Franklin Lewis wrote a book titled Clevland Indians published in 1949. Sadly, I don't know if that one can still be found or not, even through Amazon. It is more a history. Nonetheless, Our Tribe: A Baseball Memoir is a very good read and brings back the agony of the countless opportunities that former owners of the Indians let get by them. And the new owners may be doing that again today. :( As a personal story it is superb.

5 comments about Derek Jeter : A Yankee for the New Millennium.

1. As the author of four books on young adolescents (including The Roller-Coaster Years and Parenting 911), I am thrilled to have a positive role model for children. Derek Jeter's behavior on and off the field can inspire young people, even those who are not Yankee fans. He is always respectful. (I understand he still calls Joe Torre, "Mr." Torre). When the rest of the team brawled with the Seattle Mariners, Jeter and his friend, Seattle shortstop, Alex Rodriquez, wisely stood aside. Jeter never blames others for his mistakes. His response is to work harder to improve. He is supportive of fellow players, even when they are struggling with their game. He has made a genuine commitment to children with his Turn 2 Foundation, donating both his time and resources. This book would make a wonderful gift for any young adolescent who dares to dream about the future.



2. This is a great book if you love Derek Jeter. It was written by people who truely know the game of baseball, and has a lot of great pictures. I highly recommend it.



3. I think that Derek Jeter is very good for little kids to look up to becuase he is a base ball player and that is one great job.You get to build your body more and more when your playing base ball its just great.

   I think that Derek Jeter is very good to look up to and a great roll motle and if i were a guy i would want to be just like him. he is a very interesting to know about someone famouse and someone great!




4. This book has great photos that are large and detailed (not a waste of space like some other books). They show a wide variety of situations, so if you are looking for particular things like I was (e.g., bat grip), it is very handy.

   The text is gathered from Derek's peers and provides a great glimpse of what being around him must be like. Great book, especially for kids or older fanatics!




5. I purchased this book for my daughter several years ago. She got the Jeter bug! I was impressed by this book and impressed by Derek Jeter, the man. He seems to be a genuinely good person on and off the field. His personal life and approach to the game is an example for what all ball players should strive for. He brings the finest qualities out in the game of baseball by his approach to the game. He is not flashy and does not draw attention to himself other than through his fine play on the field. I was impressed.

4 comments about The High Hard One.

1. I read The High Hard One while I was in high school, and then again about 15 years ago, both times in library copies. Immediately after I read it the second time our local library purged it, and I have been looking for a copy ever since. This biography of Higbe stands out from all of the saccharine self-righteous hackneyed sports biographies to which we have been exposed. Higbe tells what it was like to be a working man and a baseball player. Higbe does not claim to have been a role model or a hero. He describes his life as he went from poverty to major league baseball to prison, and his skills, his gifts, and his personality flaws are all on display. He was not a nice man, but his life story sheds accurate light on the prejudices and beliefs of the people that fans turn into heroes. His willingness to look honestly at his life, even though that look was not complimentary, shows admirable courage.



2. You've got to hand it to a man who admits if he could do it all over again, he would still oppose Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier. And who uses his autobiography to mention he sold prescription drugs to inmates when he was a guard.
   As offensive as his stances and actions are, you know you're not getting any pretenses with this guy. Higbe had only a seventh-grade education, so he had plenty of help from Martin Quigley in sounding eloquent, and Quigley does a good job there.
   This isn' t a groundbreaking work, but it is a quick, enjoyable read.



3. It's interesting to read other people's reviews of this book. Kirby Higbe was my great uncle. I never met him- in fact, he was always referred to as crazy... but that just goes with being a Higbe, I think. I asked my dad for a copy of this book when I was younger, and he told me it would be impossible to find. Chances are, he just didn't want me to see any of the skeletons in the closet. It's odd seeing Uncle Kirby's face and seeing my dad, and uncle, and grandfather's features there. I think the book had a different meaning for me than it would for other readers. It was more a search for family history rather than learning more about baseball.



4. Kirby Higbe was a hard throwing, hard living pitcher from South Carolina who made it to the Bigs in 1937 with the Cubs and played for the Phillies, Brooklyn, the Pirates, and the Giants before his career ended in 1950. These are his memoirs and for the most part reveal a time when the game was rougher, the players tougher, with the time between games (at least for Higbe and his crowd) spent mostly lifting booze glasses at local saloons and chasing women. Hig keeps the details sketchy (few names are mentioned except for relating incidents on the ball field) and even there rarely delves beneath the surface. He developed a wicked knuckleball later in his career that kept him pitching longer, but when he was released in 1950 things went downhill for him pretty fast. Frequently in the book he rues not getting a high school diploma and is forced to work menial jobs and even spend time in prison for writing bum checks. When the book was first published in 1967, Higbe was living off his baseball pension ($209.93 a month) and like Dickens's Macawber "waiting for something to turn up." (He died in 1985.)
   
   The best chapter is the one where Higbe decries the way the game now frowns on pitchers throwing inside heat or hitting batters, which he views as taking away the pitcher's most important weapon: intimidation. The saddest parts are his post-baseball days and his decision not to play with Jackie Robinson when he came up in 1947, thus initiating his trade from Brooklyn to Pittsburgh. Regarding the latter, he says he based his decision on being a Southern boy who "never lived or played with Negroes and didn't see any reason to start then." He says at one point he never regretted his stand, and he praises Robinson as a player. Hig is not one to go into much detail on anything, especially regarding second thoughts or inner feelings (except about not getting an education, which is almost his mantra), so it's difficult to get an accurate reading about all this from his point of view. Anyway, the book is fairly interesting, though in a cursory sort of way; one wishes Higbe had opened up a little more, especially about other players, the teams, and his personal thoughts.

5 comments about Baseball Letters: A Fan's Correspondence with His Heroes.

1. I bought Mr. Swirsky's new book "Every Pitcher Tells A Story" and was so taken by its originality that I bought his first one "Baseball Letters". They are quite different and it's hard to tell which one I enjoyed more. I was glad he didn't write to the same players--every letter was a new 'experience'.Great reads.



2. I *love* this book. It's a great compilation of some of the most interesting questions one can ask his heroes. Mr. Swirsky doesn't just stick to the basics, he asks players who played in the 1930s what baseball was like in that era, he asks legends to put together their all time All-Star team, and asks players their impressions of up and coming (soon to be legendary) rookies! I was very impressed by Mr. Swirsky's knowledge of the game, and his ability to ask questions we wouldn't have thought of.

   What's also interesting is that 99% of the responses are handwritten! In this day and age of email, it makes the book more intimate and personal!

   This is a great coffee table book, too, as it's great for reading in small portions--when you want a slice of baseball history! The companion book, Every Pitcher Tells a Story, is also wonderful and features more great letters. I highly recommend!




3. . . . this would have to be it. I actually started getting jealous that HE was the one who wrote to all these players, and HE was the one who got letters back from them. But I got over it quickly and just shared in the joy and the fascinating discoveries. What a treasure trove, made even better by the author's showing us copies of the actual handwritten letters from the players! Also it's gutsy how he shares with us the story of how this project resulted from a period of emotional difficulty that he went through. The style is casual yet flawless -- as easy to read as anything you'll ever find.



4. This book is rich and full of exciting baseball history, as Swirsky writes to professional baseball players of all decades and teams and poses questions to them on their careers and reflections of America's Pastime. Not only is this book interesting in a historical prospective, but it's very fun to read and analzye. The work that went into this book is noticeable, and both the letter to the player and the response from the player (as well as many great pictures) make this book a timeless classic. Bravo to Seth Swirsky for such a job well-done.



5. Having my own collection of "baseball letters" similar to Swirsky's thoroughly enjoyed this book. I even envied a few of his responses that I was never able to receive and was relieve to find that I was not the only baseball fan to journey into letter writing.
   
   It is a collection of responses to letter's Swirsky sent to baseball players in a varied range of topics. Some answers are short and simple while others provide a more interserting response. Either way, if you are a baseball fans or have even written to a baseball player, past or present, you should enjoy this simple and enjoyable book.

No comments about Babe Ruth - The Sultan of Swat (Biography).

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