5 comments about Away Games: The Life and Times of a Latin Baseball Player.

1. Being a baseball fan since Orlando Cepeda led the Cardinals over Yaz's 1967 Red Sox, I thought I was well versed about the history of minorities in major league baseball. (The Jackie Robinson story became gospel in my house.) After reading "Away Games," I had to eat some humble pie. The sports pages, which I read cover-to-cover as a youth, never made mention on how the Clementes, Tiants, and Marchials made it to the majors. Authors Marcos Breton and Jose Luis Villegas provide that missing story. "Away Games" is about how major baseball exploits young Latino men in the same way that the film "Hoop Dreams" documented basketball's exploitation of inner city black youth. Breton and Villegas elaborate on how the baseball establishment entices Dominicans into their camps and then uses them like throw away parts. I only wish the authors would have kept their focus on Miguel Tejada- "the star" of the book- rather than flip-flopping between his "life and times" with the history of Latino baseball players. (Actually, there are two books in one here- Tejada's baseball journey and the history of major league baseball in the Caribbean.) Far from being an enjoyable book, "Away Games" is often painful to read especially for gung-ho baseball fans; however, it should be included right next to the censored sports page as we're implored to "root, root for the home team."



2. Breton and Villegas make the case that Latin ballplayers are exploited and then, in the overwhelming majority of cases, tossed away by major league teams. Miguel Tejada was one of those who, it turned out, wasn't just cheap filler for an organization's minor league chain, but instead broke through to the majors. This surprised the A's organization which originally ranked him below other Dominicans who have since faded and returned to island obscurity or the life of an undocumented alien in New York City. Unfortunately, the author's case is buried by some truly stilted prose in a narrative that wanders all over the map without giving Tejada himself much more life in the book than as a paradigm for the author's argument. I happen to know already a fair amount about Latin ballplayers so this book brought me neither increased insight into them as a group or to Tejada as an individual.



3. THIS BOOK IS A REAL "SLEEPER". BRETON TAKES THE EVENTFUL LIFE OF ONE LATIN BALLPLAYER AND INTERTWINES THIS WITH THE HISTORY OF THE STRUGGLE OF ALL LATIN BALLPLAYERS. THE STORY OF SOME OF THE LATIN PIONEERS IS AN UNEXPLORED TERRITORY IN BASEBALL HISTORY. BRETON BRINGS THESE STORIES OF PREJUDICE, TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY TO THE SURFACE. I LEARNED ALOT FROM THIS BOOK, AND WAS WELL ENTERTAINED IN THE PROCESS.



4. I was a fan of shortstop Miguel Tejada before I read this book and was overjoyed when he won the AL MVP honors this past year. The book opened my eyes to the incredible struggle and long odds that Dominican players - or any Latin players - face to make it in the major leagues. It makes Tejada's accomplishment seem that much more amazing and important to me. His story is interwoven with a lot of baseball history that I would not have otherwise known, and it is one that kids my age and up (8th grade) would enjoy because it makes you think.



5. This book is awesome, one of my favorites. I have read it more than once it is so good. What makes it so great is it tells the story of the latin baseball player that happens so often these days. From step to step, the book shows the reader how Miguel Tejada got from the barrios to America, to MLB star. What makes this bok so special is what a great story Miguel Tejada is. In his town, he was not regarded as a great player. But as soon as he was in a league there, he was great and never stopped. Now he has an MVP. A great job by Marcos Breton for the book and Jose Luis Villegas for the great pictures.

1 comments about It Takes a Team: Mike Cameron.

1. Great inspirational all ages book by Seattle local favorite Mike Cameron. I would recommend it for any young sports fan.

5 comments about Dugout Days : Untold Tales and Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Career of Billy Martin.

1. This is a fascinating look at Billy Martin that works on two levels. First, it shows how Martin rose to the tops of the baseball managing ranks through his passionate love of the game. From his apprenticeship at the side of Casey Stengel through his later wanderings with second-rate teams, Martin was learning the game inside out so that when the opportunity came to manage, he was ready. Second, the book shows how Martin unleashed his knowledge as a manager. Through conversations with many of Martin's players, the author shows how Martin worked one on one with his players to inspire their best, and then fit those players together at the team level to orchestrate some amazing seasons. Players from the "Billyball" teams in Oakland (like Mike Heath and Mike Norris) and the "Turnaround Gang" in Texas (like Toby Harrah and Lenny Randle) offer fasicnating pictures of a man full of confidence, bravado, and knowledge, willing to do ANYTHING to win a ballgame. He created opportunities for success and pumped up his overachieving players to attack those opportunities. Billy's raw, energetic confidence emerges very clearly. Martin was certainly a fascinating character and leader, and that's readily clear in "Dugout Days".



2. DeMarco goes against coventional wisdom and appeals to the less visable side of the reading audience....the virtuous side! It's so easy to capture us with the picture of a man which the dotors of spin have firmly established....whether true or half true (which is another way to say false!) But Demarco elects not to take the easy way out. He goes to those who knew Billy personally and I'm not talking about a handful of cronnies but, rather, fourty plus former players and fellow managers. What we get for the more than hundred hours of interviews and research is the truth about Billy Martin....The GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY. However with the previous writters appealing to our ever hungry, "give me the dirt side", DeMarco focouses more on the former....the good. Much to my surprise and my "already spun" perception of this man, I found there was a great leader and,even more surprising, a soft side to this tough guy....a tremendous giver to the underdogs of life and an amazing spiritual side that was very real! I highly recomend this book for personal consumption you will be pleasantly surprised once you get past Billy's "cover". Well done DeMarco!



3. I guess the main reason this book was written was to provide a more balanced account of Billy Martin. He certainly had a number of people who didn't care for him and a number of derogatory stories have been told about him. This book relates experiences about people such as Willie Horton, Paul Blair, Rod Carew, Mike Heath, and others who had positive experiences regarding Billy Martin. Any manager has individuals who can tell both positive or negative stories about them so Martin would not be unique in this respect. I find Billy Martin to be an interesting individual to read about in baseball, but I found the book to have pretty much the same people commenting on him throughout. It is not a story of his life, but one that is told by those having positive experiences with him. I buy baseball books to save for my baseball library, but if I had the chance to do it again, this book would have remained in the bookstore. I found it to be repetitious and boring at times.



4. According to the subtitle, DeMarco provides "untold tales & leadership lessons from the extraordinary career of Billy Martin" and indeed he does. I am among those who saw Martin play for the New York Yankees and I later followed his career as a Major League manager of several different teams, including one in Texas where I now live. He always fascinated me. DeMarco draws certain appropriate comparisons between Martin and George S. Patton. Indeed, many of the same qualities which explain Martin's success in the dugout and Patton's success on the battlefield help to explain why both had so many problems elsewhere.

   Consider first Martin's and then Matt Keogh's explanation of "Billyball": "Just give me a little room, I'm going to take advantage of it. What the hell. When you're a leader, you have to lead. That's when you stick your neck out. Leaders ar not followers. They are innovators. They are gamblers. They're not afraid to take a chance, not afraid to fail....Billyball is nothing more than just aggressive, old-fashioned baseball where you're not afraid to make a mistake...forcing the opposition to make mental and physical mistakes. Going against the grain. Going after them all the time...Force the other team to execute perfectly...Always looking for an opportunity out there to create something. But get it quick. Right now. Not two innings from now." Now consider what what one of his former players, Matt Keough, has to say: "A definition of Billyball would be: What we did equaled making them worry. Talk about spitters and all that. stuff -- the whole thing was to create anxiety. And when you create anxiety, you beat 'em. That's all it was. He generated a tremendous amount of anxiety, because no one wanted to look stupid."

   Especially the younger members of teams which played "Billyball" under Martin's leadership usually performed above their talent levels. They developed a swagger, a brawler's mentality, and a hatred of losing. Meanwhile, the values and principles which drove Martin the player and manager suggest why he was fired eight times and divorced three times as well as why he initiated so many heated arguments which often resulted in a fight with an individual or a brawl involving both teams. According to DeMarco, Martin "was a great leader, but like General George Patton and General Douglas MacArthur, he was not a great employee." Indeed, Martin eventually (and inevitably) shredded every welcome mat which greeted him when he first assumed the manager's position with a series of teams which include the Minnesota Twins, the Detroit Tigers, the Texas Rangers, the New York Rangers, the Oakland Athletics, and finally once again the New York Yankees whose owner George Steinbrenner hired and fired him five different times. Martin seems to have been most effective when entrusted with relatively inexperienced and less-talented players, players more inclined to be deferential to him, although a few of his World Champion Yankee teams are among the best during the last 30 years.

   As indicated previously, the bulk of the material in this book is provided by 33 people who either played with or for Martin or were in some other way closely associated with him. All duly acknowledge Martin's flaws -- and some speak frankly about having been personally abused by Martin -- while suggesting (to a degree of agreement which surprised me) that Martin was also an uncommonly sensitive, thoughtful, loyal, generous, and (believe it or not) spiritual, if not precisely religious person. They knew him well, both in and out of the dugout; I knew of him only from a great distance and was almost wholly dependent upon how he was portrayed by the media.

   Near the end of his book, DeMarco includes some insightful comments by Paul Stoltz, author of The Adversity Quotient: "So many entrepreneurs and leaders have some of Billy's profile -- a nontraditional path, childhood adversity, being made fun of or ridiculed, and an uncompromising track record of relentlessness. This is the high AQ [Adversity Quotient) Climber profile. These people can really irritate....Thank God! Without them, this world would be far less interesting and rich. It is It is the Climbers who shape whatever game they are in. Once the wounds are healed and the hurt feelings mend, we remember the Climbers most fondly and admiringly for the impact they have had and legacy they left." The 33 provide "untold tales" and DeMarco suggests several "leadership lessons." Read the book and then take your own measure of Alfred Manuel Martin.




5. I found this to be an extrememly interesting baseball book, with numerous valuable insights regarding management as well. (By the way, Dugout Days perhaps should get a 5-star rating based on what I typically see in review, but I tend not to give 5 stars except for truly extraordinary books. This is, however, a very good book, well worth the money and time.)

   Dugout Days presents a great perspective on the legendary manager/player. DeMarco has interviewed scores of former players and teammates, lending the book a firsthand quality often missing from biographies, especially those in the sports field. Furthermore, the subject inherently adds some value to the equation, as Martin was an intriguing figure within one of sports' legendary franchises.

   From a business perspective, I consider Dugout Days better than most. (I generally am skeptical of the "business" book genre.) Whereas most other offerings pass off common sense observations as platitudes on how to succeed, etc., Dugout Days demonstrates a few key points with actual situations, how they were handled and what the results were. There is no sense of "stretching" to prove a point, thereby avoiding the bloat to which business writers succumb.

   I highly recommend the book for any baseball fan.

No comments about Bart: A Life of A. Bartlett Giamatti, by Him and About Him (A Harvest/Hbj Book).

1 comments about Joe Dimaggio: The Yankee Clipper.

1. I have an original copy 1943 "lucky to be a Yankee" published and autographed by Joe Dimaggio himself. What in a round about value am i looking at? If you can tell me I'd really apprciate it. thanx!!!

1 comments about George Brett : A Royal Hero.

1. THIS IS A VERY NICE COLLECTION OF HIGHLIGHTS AND LOWLIGHTS CONCERNING THE CAREER OF SUPERSTAR GEORGE BRETT. IT HAS A NICE AMOUNT OF SHORT STORIES AND FACTS FOLLOWING HIS AMAZING CAREER FROM HIS FIRST YEAR IN THE MINORS TO HIS INDUCTION TO COOPERSTOWN. IT IS KINDA SHORT NOT HIGH ON DETAIL BUT HIGH ON CONTENT AND FACTS CONCERNING MR BRETT. I LIKED IT AND RECOMMEND IT FOR ALL BASEBALL FANS WHO MIGHT LIKE TO READ ABOUT THE PINE TAR INCIDENT, ALMOST HITTING FOR A 400 BATTING AVG, AND MANY OTHER FACTS IN HIS GREAT CAREER. WELL WORTH READING.

4 comments about Armando Marsans: The First Cuban Major League Baseball Player.

1. ...then you have to read this book. Toot is that rare breed of writer who can weave together an impressive array of details and facts into a compelling story. This is a great baseball tale with larger-and-lower-than-life characters, nail-biting games, and interesting off-the-field background. It's also an important book about the integration of hispanics into baseball--their experience and the reaction from the American baseball community. In this day and age of hispanics playing such an integral role in baseball, it's more important than ever to understand where they got their start.



2. If he were playing today, Armando Marsans would be a household name. Until this remarkable book, Marsans' name survived only in boxscores, in the occasional mention in the sports pages, and in the memories of those few surviving fans who remember seeing him play. Through his in-depth research, Toot manages to rescue the player from obscurity and bring his story to life.

   Toot's book is also an interesting sociological study of our country's first hispanic celebrity's struggle for acceptance. Further, it provides an eye-opening picture of the early days of baseball, when players played year-round, when sharp metal spikes threatened devastating injury with every slide, and when there was still the prospect of multiple professional leagues in the US.




3. Its surprising how a very good book can receive so little publicity.
   We always refer to Jackie Robinson when talking about racial prejudices, but we never stop to think what early Latino players suffered.
   Peter Toote has done an impressive job documenting Armando Marsans' career in the Major Leagues, describing his intelligent and agressive style to play the game.
   We can read how Marsans became one of the iconic scapegoats that the Major Leagues used to expand its monopolistic tentacles against the Federal League. Take a look on Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis' role to protect the Major Leagues.
   Perhaps, one of the disadvantages that I find in this book is the little research that the author does about Marsans' career in Cuba.
   American authors must realize that language is not a barrier anymore as there are many Latin experts that speak English and can give a big help to complete a research project.
   Anyway, I give 5 stars. I really liked it.



4. I'd list this up there with Halberstam's The Teammates, Brashler's Josh Gibson biography, and Kahn's Boys Of Summer as one of the great baseball books.
   Toot's love of the game and deft prose is elegantly interwoven with the history of this one groundbreaking player.

5 comments about Just Call Me Minnie: My Six Decades in Baseball.

1. "Just Call Me Minnie" ranks as one the best baseball autobiographies I've read. It's very rare that an individual with such vivid recollections and interesting stories ever gets around to writing them down. Minnie Minoso succeeds in delivering this unique perspective of baseball, from pre-Castro life in Cuba all the way up to his goal to play Major League Baseball at age 70. Minoso gives the reader a glimpse of the sport that is entertaining, exciting, and eclectic. Although only 205 pages, this is not a book to be read in one sitting. Instead, it's easier to read it in "doses", letting the stories fully sink in. The patter is similar to those of Buck O'Neill's and Satchell Paige's, except that Minoso seemingly has never retired! Minoso's first-hand accounts of the Negro Leagues (from a non african-american), Major League Baseball, (remember the "Go-Go" Chicago WhiteSox?) are priceless, especially in the present tense. If you can get past Minoso's constant lobbying for a shot to play MLB in his 70's (the only thing missing is a postcard to send to the commissioner), this is a must read for any "real" baseball fan. Who knows, if he ever gets his chance, you can say you read it in this book first!



2. I grew up on the south side of Chicago and remember when I sat in left field thinking how it would be to meet Minnie. My dream came true after reading this book, I felt I knew him all my life. The respect he gave the fans and the respect we gave him is rare in baseball today, this was the thrilling days of "Go Go" when we as fans had a real life hero, and that hero is Minnie Minoso in the past and forever in the future we will never forget him. This book is the type of book that takes you back to the past and the memories of great players. It's the type of book you can read time after time after time.

   Thank You Minnie




3. What a great book thats interesting and easy to read. You get to look behind the scenes and see the real life of a professional athlete. True life experiences that Minnie remembers vividly from over six decades of experience. From his childhood days in Havana to his present day life with his family in Chicago, this is a wonderful story that can put a lump in your throat one line then have you laughing the next. A book worth adding to your collection!



4. 
   The title certainly tells it. "Just Call Me Minnie" is the biography of Orestes "Minnie" Minoso. He was a major league outfielder, mostly in the American League, from 1949-1964 and one of the most exciting players of his generation. This reviewer is old enough to remember that when Minnie came to bat, fans sat up in their seats. He made things happen! JCMM is an enjoyable story. It follows Minnie's baseball life from his early years in Cuba through his Major League years, to the ups and downs of his later years. The golden years are those with the exciting "Go-Go" White Sox from 1949- 1957. It helps that the story's time frame encompasses what is arguably the big leagues golden years. Those would be 1946-1960. WW2 was over, pro football was still relatively undiscovered and expansion had yet to dilute the talent base. JCMM is the American League counterpart to Robin Robert's recent-and recommended- "My Life in Baseball". The core of JCMM is solid Hot Stove League. Minnie is a fine storyteller. The tone is positive. He does not attempt to settle old scores or tell tales out of the locker room. There are obvious hard feelings toward a former manager, Al Lopez, but the reader is left to imagine the complete story behind them. There are a few nice, if self-serving, tributes from the likes of Ray Boone, Lou Boudreau, Bob Feller, Jim Landis, Ferris Fain, Cal McLish and Jim Landis. Those baseball fans in the amazon community who can remember those guys will enjoy JCMM. There are some weak points: Minnie's later years are less than compelling and a bit too many pages are devoted to Minoso family travails. Left mostly unexplained are Minnie's various comebacks. For the record, he is the oldest player to appear in a major league game. Finally, and to the distress of this reviewer, there is no statistical composite of the Minoso career. Since baseball is so numbers-obsessed, this omission is strange indeed. Despite these objections, JCMM is a safe choice for hardcore fans of baseball's "golden era". Both White Sox fans and Chicagoland natives should take a close look at this offering.



5. MINNIE MINOSO FORMER MAJOR LEAGUE OUTFIELDER DOES A GREAT JOB TELLING US HIS LIFE AND CAREER IN AND OUT OF BASEBALL. MINNIE WAS A VERY GOOD AND COLORFUL PLAYER WHO GAVE HIS ALL ON THE FIELD. AS A CHILD I REMEMBER MINNIE AS A MEMEMBER OF THE CLEVELAND INDIANS AND HOW POPULAR AND WELL LIKED HE WAS BY THE FANS AND MEDIA. MOST OF MINNIE'S GLORY DAYS WERE WITH THE WHITE SOX. THERE ARE MANY INTERESTING PARTS INCLUDING LIFE IN CUBA BEFORE AND AFTER CASTRO TOOK POWER AND TOOK EVERYTHING AWAY FROM THE CITIZENS OF CUBA. MINNIE LEFT CUBA AND MOST OF HIS FAMILY REMAINED. MINNIE HAS GONE THRU A DIVORCE AND OTHER THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN LIFE. BUT HIS POSITIVE OUTLOOK AND LIKE ABLE PERSONALITY MAKE THIS BOOK A GREAT READ FOR ALL BASEBALL FANS AND ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO SAW MINNIE PLAY. HIS NAME MAYBE MINNIE BUT THIS BOOK IS MAXI.

4 comments about The Curt Flood Story: The Man Behind the Myth (Sports and American Culture Series).

1. According to the author, this book is the story of the life of a sensitive, brooding St. Louis Cardinals star center fielder who became unhinged after misplaying a costly line drive in the 1968 World Series, feuded with his boss, Gussie Busch, and the Cardinals front office, and then found himself traded. Bound by his contract that obligated him to go where the Cardinals sent him, or retire, he chose a third option--to challenge baseball's reserve clause which he believed, after conferring with his lawyer, was unconstitutional. The writer argues, successfully in this reader's judgment, that Flood's unusual decision, sacrificing his career, was another in a series of bad decisions that stemmed from his misplay in 1968. In this smoothly written book, Professor Weiss also argues very cogently that although Flood, because of his challenge to the reserve clause, is viewed by many people as the father of free agency, actually he was at best the grandfather, and perhaps only the Godfather, of free agency.



2. This book is a good read and not only for a baseball fans. It is primarily about a player's reasons for sacrificing his career, and in that sense it is extremely provocative. It directly attacks the eulogistic and long-standing view that Curt Flood was a hero who sacrificed his career on behalf of a noble cause--challenging baseball's reserve system in the courts. In that sense it is a psychodrama.



3. Interesting premise, and although the writing is a bit uninspired, a reasonable read. I am still not quite sure what problem the Mr. Weiss was trying to solve (but, indeed, the book is provocative, as the author promises). I also was struck by the apparent refusal of any of Curt Flood's teammates to speak with the Mr. Weiss about Flood's career. I think there also could have been a bit more discussion of Jackie Robinson's testimony at the trial and what prompted it.
   
   I did spot a few minor errors which I would suggest revisiting should there be a second edition.
   
   page 103, top paragraph, for Keane (who was dead by 1967) should be Schoendinst.
   
   page 106 there is a repeat of the phraase "-and Mickey Lolich"...which I think is unintentional
   
   page 114 The museum housing the old masters in Amsterdam is the "Rijksmuseum", not the "Reichsmuseum" (probably the last thing the Dutch would want the place called"
   
   page 140 Not really an error, but when the Phils were trying to lure Flood to come in 1970, the artificial turf of the Vet was still more than year away
   
   page 175 In January of 1970, the opposing teams in the Superbowl were Kansas City and Minnesota, not Green Bay and Minnesota
   
   My only other observation is that whatever the myth was, Flood was a fabulous player and in 1967, when the Cards came to New England for the Series, many of thought that with the excepton of Frank Robinson (who had come to the Orioles the previous year) the American Leagues did not have players the likes of Flood, Bob Gibson and Lous Brock.



4. As the author of The Curt Flood Story: The Man Behind the Myth, I want to correct a key date on page 110. It could not be more significant. It was central to my argument that Flood sued baseball because he became bitter and angry, even unreasoning, after he misplayed Jim Northrup's line drive in the 1968 World Series. A central piece of evidence was his failure to send his ex-wife her semi-monthly check on October 18, 1968, just a week after the Series ended. Unfortunately, I did not see until yesterday, August 26, 2008, that I placed the month at November, more than a month after the Series, which undermined the nexus and my argument. I am sorry on several counts, for not seeing the mistake before publication, for not correcting it sooner, and for partially vitiating my thesis.

1 comments about Clemente!.

1. This book came out about a year after Roberto Clemente's death in a plane crash. The author mixes narrative and interviews with Clemente's family and friends. It's nice reading for those of us who loved watching number 21 throw strikes from the right field fence and hit line drives with his unorthodox batting style. It's good reading also for those who only know Clemente from ESPN footage.