Branch Rickey (Penguin Lives) Review

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Branch Rickey (Penguin Lives) ReviewThe wonderful "Penguin Lives" series has hit another home run with Breslin's insightful, entertaining and revealing treatment of the man who, as GM of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the late 1940's, had the courage and foresight to facilitate Jackie Robinson's extraordinary breaking of the sport's color bar.
These "Lives" books are not meant to be exhaustive biographies. Generally, there are no indices, source notes. Rather, the author provides a quite selective bibliography for readers wanting fuller treatment. The mission of the "Lives" books, rather, is to sketch the full life, and home in on significant, inspiring acts of the subject that truly made a positive difference in the world. The several I have read, including this one, have the sense of a masterful story-teller chatting knowingly with me across a kitchen table.
Enter Breslin, an icon himself, who for more than 55 years has moved us to tears and laughter and greater understanding. His selection to treat Rickey really is "beautiful." By story's end, Penguin's choice of Rickey as the inaugural sports figure in the series--ahead of Robinson, Ruth, Thorpe--also seems totally appropriate. As Breslin shows, without Rickey doggedly pursuing his vision of integration against many foes, a decade (or more) might have passed unchanged.
What led Rickey to dissent from all 15 other baseball owners (Breslin provides their ridiculously pious and hypocritical "Statement on Race") and dedicate himself and his team to integration? Breslin reveals Rickey as a dedicated Methodist, a proponent of fairness for all, with an eye for talent (he champions a lanky young freshman named George Sisler; years later, Rickey and super scout Clyde Sukeforth seize on Robinson, but only after subjecting him to a four-hour grilling, "Will you have the guts to turn away?"; the recounting of that meeting is riveting). As do a number of others in the Penguin series, Rickey radiates as a true visionary. Not only was breaking the color bar the right thing to do morally; it also was great business. Rickey's every act in that direction was purposeful, as Breslin shows us a man who never relied on luck. "Luck," Rickey said, "is the residue of design."
So before Robinson could take the field in a Dodgers uniform and triumph over so much hostility, Rickey carefully built a new infrastructure. He steadfastly courted politicians to pass first a fair employment law and then to mobilize their constituencies; he spoke to African-American groups; he courageously ignored the racist sports writers of the time; he reasoned with some of his own racist players. "Proximity" was part of his vision for success--by being proximate to a player of Robinson's immense talent and focus, the rightness of integration would manifest itself. He was in his late 60's by then, had a long and successful career in baseball, but was determined to make this happen. And in Robinson he had a great chance.
With his unique style, wry humor and grace, gift for incisive anecdotes and riffs, and flair for embellishing dialogue without taking undue liberties, Breslin succeeds in letting his remarkable subject's life achievement show and tell itself. In so doing, Breslin's gem takes a rightful place among Penguin's other lives who really mattered.Branch Rickey (Penguin Lives) Overview

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The House That Ruth Built: A New Stadium, the First Yankees Championship, and the Redemption of 1923 Review

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The House That Ruth Built: A New Stadium, the First Yankees Championship, and the Redemption of 1923 ReviewI love great writing, and author Robert Weintraub has treated us to a rousing rendition of a story in his new book entitled The House That Ruth Built. It is an account of the 1923 baseball season with a concentration on the feud between the New York Giants and their across-the-Harlem River rivals the New York Yankees. We have had recent books devoted to the seasons of 1920 and 1921, but this book surpasses both of those. Weintraub avoids the day-by-day summaries of games that all too often make up books devoted to particular seasons. Instead the featured players in this story such as owners, managers, players, and writers are all brought back to life with anecdotes that greatly enrich this wonderful book. Examples would be a story you may well not have heard regarding the Lou Gehrig and Wally Pipp incident. How did Bullet Joe Bush get his nickname? The train ride that took the life of "Wild Bill" Donovan and spared the life of George Weiss who went on to become the general manager of the New York Yankees. The Odd Couple ownership duo of prim and proper Jacob Ruppert and slovenly Til Huston and their accompanying feud over who should manage the Yankees. Ruppert had the audacity to insist on being called Colonel when Huston is over in France fighting in The Great War to End All Wars. Giant Manager John McGraw's inconsiderate treatment of Lou Gehrig at a tryout. Bomber boss Ed Barrow telling Eleanor Gehrig, "Well, I guess he'll have to find another line of work," when told Lou would no longer be able to play baseball.
This book is loaded with anecdotes regarding individuals such as those listed above along with others such as Bob Shawkey, Herb Pennock, Carl Mays, Art Nehf, Miller Huggins, Casey Stengel, along with numerous others, not the least of which is the Prince of Pounders, the Behemoth of Biff, the Sultan of Swat, the Colossus of Clout, the Maharajah of Mash, Babe Ruth himself. You may think you have read all you need to know about the individuals in this book, but author Robert Weintraub has provided each of us with stories galore and written in a very humorous way that will keep you entertained with laughs throughout the book.
Baseball was blessed with great writers during this time period such as Grantland Rice, Damon Runyon, Joe Vila, Ring Lardner, Westbrook Pegler, John Kieran, Paul Gallico, Bozeman Bulger, and Dan Daniel. All of those names should be familiar to most any baseball fan who has done any reading on the game's history. Anecdotes along with examples of their writing are also provided.
This book is about The Battle of Broadway, the scientific baseball of John McGraw verses the long ball being ushered into baseball by Babe Ruth. McGraw berating his team into trying to win a third consecutive championship against his hated rival Babe Ruth and the Yankees. This book is social history at its best. It also amply illustrates there is more to history than wars, treaties, and presidents. I bought both the hard cover and the Kindle edition. You're a baseball fan, you say? Then buy the book. It is that good.The House That Ruth Built: A New Stadium, the First Yankees Championship, and the Redemption of 1923 Overview

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Uppity: My Untold Story About The Games People Play Review

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Uppity: My Untold Story About The Games People Play ReviewIf you enjoyed listening to Bill White broadcast Yankee baseball you will want to read this book. If you are a baseball fan (or, for that matter, a follower of any sport) & want to get a better perspective on what life was like trying to break into the "big leagues" in the fifties & deal with the biases he faced... from the fans, other players as well as management you will love this book.
White, respected both as a unbiased broadcaster as well as a man with strong opinions, tells the story of his life & his story parallels many of the major changes in that occurred in American society in the 1950's & 1960's. When he left college to play minor league baseball in the south, blacks could not eat in restaurants, ride in the front of a bus nor attend schools with whites. Bill White gives the reader an idea of what life was like for him. It makes you realize that whatever he faced, blacks that lived in the south went through this everyday with little hope for improvement. He talks about how sports helped change our society and he was pleased to be a small part of some of these changes.
His stories on working for the Yankees as a broadcast partner of Phil Rizzuto brings some humor into the book and
the reader sees that Bill White does have a great sense of humor to go with his integrity. He discusses his role as National
League President and provides some insight into the inner workings of baseball. It is interesting to hear his thoughts and opinions on issues that arose and how his opinions sometimes differed with the majority opinion that we read about in the paper or saw on television.
This book is an easy read because White tells a story that, as Howard Cosell used to say "tells it like it is". It flows and
seems to be written from the heart. He pretty much leaves no stone unturned, yet it is a book that does not try to get back at anyone, but tells of the accomplishments of a very proud and honorable man...and along the way the reader is privy to a lot of interesting inside stories.
He seems to be the kind of person you would enjoy sitting down with and discussing anything and everything with over a nice long dinner.Uppity: My Untold Story About The Games People Play OverviewThere are very few major personalities in the world of sports who have so much to say about our National Pastime. And even fewer who are as well respected as Bill White.Bill White, who's now in his mid 70s, was an All-Star first baseman formany years with the New York Giants, St.Louis Cardinals and PhiladelphiaPhillies before launching a stellar broadcasting career with the NewYork Yankees for 18 years. He left the broadcast booth to become thePresident of the National League for five years.A true pioneer as an African-American athlete, sportscaster, and top baseball executive, White has written his long-awaited autobiography in which he will be candid, open, and as always, most forthcoming about his life in baseball. Along the way, White shares never-before-told stories about his long working relationship with Phil Rizzutto, insights on George Steinbrenner, Barry Bonds, Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Bob Gibson, Bart Giamatti, Fay Vincent, and scores of other top baseball names and Hall of Famers. Best of all, White built his career on being outspoken, and the years fortunately have not mellowed him. UPPITY is a baseball memoir that baseball fans everywhere will be buzzing about.

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Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game Review

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Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game Review"Baseball in the Garden of Eden: A Secret History of the Early Game" is densely packed with wonderful stories and imagery. It took me quite some time to read because I frequently paused in my reading to consider the information and to visualize what it must have been like in the early days of the game.
The premise of the book is that baseball's beloved creation myths are all lies.
Goodbye Doubleday and Cartwright. Rather than beginning on the green fields of small town America or with the game of cricket in England, the real origins of baseball were in the Garden of Eden or somewhat nearby in the Nile Valley c. 1460 BCE. There, carved on the wall of a temple at Deir-el-Bahri, is a relief showing the young pharoah Tutmosis III participating in a game with a bat and ball which surely must have been baseball. He and his team are playing to honor the godess Hathor who was perhaps the first female club owner in the game.
From the Nile Valley and over the centuries, baseball with variations, seems to have been played in many parts of the world. We come to England in the 19th century
where cricket was the most popular sport. Then we come to the US, where we have the origins and development of American style baseball as we know it today. In 19th century America it became a glorious game in the sunshine and a game of greed and gambling in its shadows. Every organization seems to have had a team. Many of them used teams to further their goals, honest or nefarious, often being vehicles to promote religious tenets or propaganda. 19th century Theosophist and occultist Madame Blavatsky was associated with the game for a time, as were businesses and fraternal organizations.
The game was very colorful to look at back then. Players often wore uniforms resembling racing silks with a different color for each position. Many of the game's leading characters were very colorful as well and not the benign beloved heroes they have become in baseball mythology. Albert Goodwill Spaulding was not just the guy whose name (Spaldeen") resonated as we played stickball in the steets. He had a secret life and an out-of-wedlock child whom he later adopted. This story and many others about baseball's characters are told in an engaging fashion in this book.
The book contains great photos (I wish there more of them) and an excellent index.
The book could change even a casual fan into a lover of baseball history. I was a fairly knowledgable fan. After I read another work on baseball's history, David Block's "Baseball Before We Knew It," I became a passionate fan of the game and its history. "Baseball in the Garden of Eden" could do the same thing for other fans.
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The Kansas City A's and the Wrong Half of the Yankees: How the Yankees Controlled Two of the Eight American League Franchises During the 1950s Review

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The Kansas City A's and the Wrong Half of the Yankees: How the Yankees Controlled Two of the Eight American League Franchises During the 1950s ReviewI grew up as a Yankee fan in the 1950s and it was obvious that this was going on. Kansas City never had a good ball club but whenever they got talent they traded the player to the Yankees for very little in return. Sometimes it was just cash. The biggest gain was when KC got Roger Maris from Cleveland and after one strong year with KC he was tradedf to the Yankees where he hit 39 home runs in 1960 and 61 in 1961. The As were essentially a farm system of the Yankees but instead of being sent down to the minors a Yankee who needed seasoning was traded to KC where he could face major leaguers including the Yankees. When the Yankees thought the player was ready they brought him back. Here are some of the Yankees that went back and forth: Norm Siebern, Bob Cerv, Irv Noren Marv Throneberry, Hector Lopez. The Yankees got Bud Daley and Bobby Shantz in addition to Maris from the KC As. Billy Martin was traded to KC but only because the Yankees thought he was a bad influence on Mantle. They didn't plan to ever bring Martin back.
Of course the Commissioner ignored the obvious as he let the iwners do whatever they wanted. I never could understand why Kansas City wuld do this. This book explains it all as the KC owner seemed to share outside business interests with Topping and Webb, the Yankee owners.The Kansas City A's and the Wrong Half of the Yankees: How the Yankees Controlled Two of the Eight American League Franchises During the 1950s OverviewDuring the second half of the 1950s, folks derisively referred to the Kansas City A'sas a 'farm team" of the New York Yankees. Trades between the two-often lopsided-were commonplace, and it seemed every time the Yankees needed that one final piece for yet another pennant run, the A's filled the gap.While most knew that A's owner Arnold Johnson was somewhat affiliated with Yankee owners Dan Topping and Del Webb through his joint ownership of Yankee Stadium, The Kansas City A's and the Wrong Half of the Yankees digs into the deeper business entanglements among the three. In addition to the questionable trades and his earlier purchase of 'The House that Ruth Built," Johnson's purchase of the then-Philadelphia A's shows signs of Yankees clout.Through periodicals,letters, conversations with contemporary players and executives, and an analysis of player records, author Jeff Katz has compiled a chronological account of how, through the hands of a friend and business partner, the Yankees controlled two of the eight American League teams during the second half of the 1950s.A publication of Maple Street Press, distributed by Potomac Books, Inc.

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