1 comments about Ozzie Smith: Road to Cooperstown,, Limited Edition.

1. I bought this for my son who is a baseball fan and enjoys reading about baseball legends!! It is a joy to tell the story of the first baseball game I went to in Saint Louis and I saw Ozzy flipping around on the field...it was so exciting and it is such a joy to see my son reading about a fine baseball legend!! Enjoy the book, my son and I did!!

2 comments about Thanks for Listening!.

1. If you love baseball and the Chicago Cubs, this book is for you. Jack Brickhouse was Cubs' baseball during the time I was growing up on the north side of Chicago and he was a welcome member of our family, through the TV and radio.

   Later in life, we became close friends and he was a mentor to me. A finer gentleman you will never meet. The book is a history of the Cubs from the mid-40's through the 90's and it also tells the story of WGN-TV, one of the nation's great independent stations.

   Hey! Hey! This book is a grandslam homer in the ninth inning.




2. THIS IS ALOT OF THIS AND THAT FROM VETERAN BROADCASTER JACK BRICKHOUSE. HIS CAREER IN CHICAGO IS LEGENDARY. HE GIVES A ALOT OF GREAT STORIES OF HIS CAREER, OPINIONS, LIFE IN GENERAL, AND SOME HUMOROUS LETTERS SENT TO HIM OVER THE YEARS. A VERY NICE READ FOR ALL BASEBALL FANS. RECOMMENDED.

No comments about Bottom of the Ninth: An Oral History on the Life of Harry 'The Hat' Walker.

5 comments about Baby Bull: From Hardball to Hard Time and Back.

1. I saw Orlando Cepeda play throught his career (mostly in person during the time he was with St. Louis). He was my hero then, he is a hero now. The book captures it all. I just wished that its publication could have waited to include a chapter on his 1999 induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame (maybe the paperback will). But with all the times he just missed out on the honor, who can blame the man for writing his story now.



2. Orlando Cepeda is one of the greatest baseball players of our time. His personal life story is even more inspiring than any of his professional achievements. I was so moved by his accounts of overcoming drug addiction and other tribulations. I was also inspired by his encounter with Soka Gakkai and Buddhism. I recommend another book filled with wise quotes from the Buddhism Orlando Cepeda practices titled "Open Your Mind, Open Your Life: A Book of Eastern Wisdom." by Taro Gold. Wonderful.



3. I tend to prefer my baseball books pure, untainted by "larger" themes (as though there were any).

   I knew that this book, billed as a frank autobiography of Orlando Cepeda, would deal with his conviction for smuggling marijuana. But I am interested purely in his baseball career and was planning not to take much interest in what happened afterwards.

   And yet, it must be confessed that Orlando's story of the disgrace that he suffered among his fellow Puerto Ricans after his arrest and conviction and how Buddhism helped him to overcome his difficulties and make peace with the world and find his way back into major league baseball was a moving one. Especially touching is the story of his reunion with a son sired out of wedlock.

   But the story of his personal experience with weed is uncomfortably vague. He acknowledges having smoked it as a youth in Puerto Rico and that he picked up the habit again in 1965, while still with the Giants, to relieve stress after a particularly bad run-in with The Evil One, Manager Herman Franks.

   Yet Orlando appears to have become as happy as a clam after having been traded to the Cardinals in 1966, and this is certainly reflected in his performance while with the Cardinals and in the championship seasons that "El Birdos" compiled with him on the roster.

   So with the stress gone, did he continue to smoke pot as a Cardinal? And with the teams that he played on afterwards? How did this affect his performance at game time? Orlando simply does not tell us.

   Still, it's "Baseball Forever", and baseball purists will be glad to know that most of this book is set in between the foul lines. This is a familiar-sounding story of a youngster who grew up in poverty, despite having been born the son of Puerto Rico's most celebrated ballplayer, the great Perucho Cepeda. Perucho was known as "The Bull", and Orlando's nickname, which is the title of this book, was naturally passed onto him.

   He used his natural ability (presumably also inherited from his father) and effort to overcome prejudice in the United States and build a storybook career.

   The year-by-year recapitulation of his performance and that of the teams he played on is interesting but unremarkable and gives the reader a chance to reacquaint himself with the players from that era. What I primarily wanted to hear was Orlando's version of his alleged refusal to move from first base to left field in order to enable the Giants to get both his big bat and that of Willie McCovey into the lineup in a way which would not sacrifice too much defense (McCovey was not mobile enough to play left field effectively).

   It is remarkable that a team laden with as much talent as the San Francisco Giants of the 1950's and 1960's won only one National League pennant, and many blame this on Cha-Cha's alleged refusal to make the switch to left.

   In interviews conducted by Steve Bitker for his book, "The Giants of `58", Herman Franks repeats this charge, and Orlando sidesteps it. But even Bill Rigney, revered by Orlando as a father figure, states that he thinks that the Giants would have won the pennant in 1959 (McCovey's Rookie of the Year season) if Orlando would have been more cooperative.

   Again, Orlando is uncomfortably vague in dealing with this issue, stating only that by 1966, he was ready to try to become the best left-fielder in baseball but that Herman Franks was already set on getting rid of him. But McCovey and Cepeda had played together for six years before 1966 (Cepeda was hurt for virtually all of 1965). What of those years?

   The statistical comparisons from those years of how often Orlando played the outfield and of McCovey's at-bats and Orlando's might provide a slightly better defense of Orlando than he does of himself.

   After 1959, 1962 seems to be the only year in which McCovey, while healthy, might have been deprived of at-bats because of Orlando's possible resistance to playing left field. Yet the Giants won the pennant that year and so this resistance appears not to have cost them.

   But while McCovey does not appear to have been deprived of at-bats during those other years, he mostly played left field in 1963 and 1964, and played it poorly, while Cepeda was anchoring first. Would a switch have made enough of a difference to mean a Giants pennant? The statistics show that Orlando played creditably in left field in 1960 and 1961.

   Cepeda also responds to Herman Franks's charge that he was a poor clutch hitter by pointing to his 553 RBI's garnered over his first five seasons. It's an astounding number, but it includes a monstrous 1961 season in which Orlando produced 142 "ribbies", which staggers the five-year total somewhat. From 1958 to 1960, he averaged slightly under 100 RBI's a season.

   100 RBI's is usually a sterling number, but RBI's, by themselves, do not a clutch hitter make. Runs batted in during the early stages of a close game might make a difference later but are not the stuff that heroes are made of.

   And runs produced when one's team is hopelessly ahead or behind are meaningless. But situational statistics weren't kept in Orlando's day so the case for him having been a good or a bad "clutch" hitter can only be made through anecdotal evidence, which is lacking in both the Cepeda and Franks accounts.

   So to this day, it remains unresolved whether Orlando's complaints about being under-appreciated are valid - or just a lot of Baby Bull.




4. I found the book very boring, as is typical of most books by former ballplayers. I should have known better. Orlando talks about his life growing up in PR, briefly about the minors, the majors, and his post-career life. He is very frank about his life. Orlando didn't care for Al Dark or Willie Mays. OC was the first SF Giants hero, as Willie was considered a NY guy.



5. THIS IS THE STORY OF ORLANDO CEPEDA FORMER MLB PLAYER. ORLANDO TAKES US THRU HIS LIFE IN PUERTO RICO, BASEBALL CAREER, JAIL TIME AND HIS COMMITMENT TO BUDDAHISM. ALONG THE WAY, HE HAS MANY INTERESTING STORIES AND OPINIONS. AMONG HIS STORIES IS A THE FAMOUS BRAWL IN WHICH ORLANDO WAS ABOUT TO TAKE A BAT TO USE ON SOMEONE UNTIL WILLIE MAYS TACKLED HIM AND ENDED THAT THREAT. HE ALSO HAS SOME BAD OPINIONS OF ALVIN DARK, WILLIE MAYS, AND RUBEN GOMEZ. WHETHER ORLANDO IS TELLING THE TRUTH IN ALL OF THESE INSTANCES IS DEBATABLE. BUT HE IS HONEST ABOUT HIS ADULTERY AND DRUG USE. ORLANDO WAS A VERY TALENTED AND COLORFUL PLAYER. I FOUND HIS BOOK TO BE BOTH ENTERTAINING AND INTERESTING. I RECOMMEND IT FOR ALL BASEBALL FANS.

No comments about Gabby Hartnett: The Life and Times of the Cubs' Greatest Catcher.

1 comments about Crossing the Line: Black Major Leaguers, 1947-1959.

1. I like this book. I like black baseball players. Jackie Robinson is my hero, he played for the Dodgers, and was very black. I think that I will start liking Thomas Edison Alston better because of his story on page 108-09. He was a tall black man from North Carolina, I live in South Carolina so that is close to my home. I am not black though, if that matters to you. I have a learning disorder and writing this essay will help with bettering my condition. I think that if I lived in 1947-59 I would like black people better than those mean white baseball players did. I mean some of those players names I have heard before because they had strong black powers to hit the ball far, like Hank Aaron, he played in Atlanta, I live near where he played too, and my daddy watched him hit home runs very far. He was number 44.

1 comments about Candy Bars and Fly Balls.

1. Ryne hit a home run with this one. If your a baseball fan you will appreciate the knowledge of the game that he shows throughout the book. He's also not afraid to show that he may not have they same amount of exerience with relationships. This is one of those books that you sit down and read cover to cover.

5 comments about Celebrating 70: Mark Mcgwire's Historic Season.

1. It was a fabulous book which relived all of the excitement of the homerun-record chase of the 1998 baseball season. The photographs are excellent and the text is very well-written as well. The exact distance, pitcher, count, inning, and stadium are given for every one of "Big Mac's" homers, with at least one picture for each. Not only does it cover McGwire's homers, but it also covers the homeruns of Sammy Sosa. The introduction by St. Luis Cardinal announcer, Jack Buck is nice too. Overall, Celebrating 70:MARK MCWIRE'S HISTORIC SEASON is a must-have for any baseball enthusiast.



2. For the strongman from Pomona, California playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Summer of '98 was one long victory parade. A reminder of seasons past & a celebration of baseball future. He became a national hero & role model with class. He gave baseball back its luster. In this large, glossy, colorful homage to one fabulous boy of summer - the team of writers, photographers, designers & editors has given us a memorable, collectible, hit-by-hit, play-by-play story of a modern grand adventure. What a gift!



3. The 1998 baseball season was truly one of the most magic in recenty years, thanks in part to the "home run battle" between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. This book chronicles their achievement which I suspect will grow to legendary tones in the years to come. The sportmanship between these two hereos was evident all season long, and the book reflects that.

   Perhaps it was fitting that McGwire should wind up in a city that is a true "baseball town," and one that could truly love and cherish his accomplishment. I remember watching the game on TV where McGwire broke Babe Ruth's home regular season home run record and even the Cub players stood and applauded him. This book remembers that.

   It starts off with pictures of McGwire and a nice foreword by Jack Buck, the longtime St. Louis Cardinals' broadcaster. There's also a brief story about Maris and Ruth, the men McGwire chased for most of that long summer. And then the home runs. Each page is devoted to a description of each one; the date, the opposing pitcher, the final score and so on.

   Reading through each page brought back all those wonderful memories of the 1998 season for me. This book is a wonderful treasure and keepsake to celebrate an incredible baseball season by one man.




4. Relive Mark McGwire's historic 1998 assault on the single season home run record with this magnificent book overflowing with full-color photos and amusing anecdotes. "Celebrating 70" charts the slugger's season, home run for home run, and features a bevy of information - complete with pictures - including the date of each long ball, the distance, and which pitcher was christened with the dubious distinction of yielding one of Big Mac's clouts! Along the way, you can read a brief summary for each game McGwire applied his trade. The pictures have been well chosen, conveying the emotion of each moment. The text matches the shear exuberance of the images, and Jack Buck's forward is simply splendid.



5. Relive Mark McGwire's historic 1998 assault on the single season home run record with this magnificent book overflowing with full-color photos and amusing anecdotes. "Celebrating 70" charts the slugger's season, home run for home run, and features a bevy of information - complete with pictures - including the date of each long ball, the distance, and which pitcher was christened with the dubious distinction of yielding one of Big Mac's clouts! Along the way, you can read a brief summary for each game McGwire applied his trade. The pictures have been well chosen, conveying the emotion of each moment. The text matches the shear exuberance of the images, and Jack Buck's forward is simply splendid.

No comments about The Other Side of the Counter.

1 comments about Josh Gibson: THE POWER AND THE DARKNESS.

1. The 2004 paperback edition leads off with author Mark Ribowsky taking Barry Bonds to task for comments the controversial slugger made concerning the slugging prowess of Josh Gibson.
   
   He chides the future hall of famer for falling prey to the myth surrounding the total number of official homers Gibson smacked in regular-season Negro League games. Barry bashing at its finest!
   
   Ribowsky then pens a very uneven biography that often relies on too much game commentary and material from his outstanding biography of Satchel Paige. While the pair certainly were superstars in baseball, Ribowsky losses focus too often on the title of his book.
   
   There are sections where Ribowsky yanks the reader from Gibson, goes into long commentary about Paige and then attempts to draw the chapter back to Gibson. It simply doesn't work.
   
   As a dual biography, the book deserves at least one more star. Ribowsky simply needed to be more honest with himself and the reader about the direction he took with his research and writing.