Rating: 
Summary: Truly a "Hall of Fame" book
Review: Sometimes the best histories are the ones where the participants in that history are allowed to talk and the history's author just listens. Such is the case with this book. And oh the stories these old ballplayers tell. Stories of an era in baseball from long ago: what it was like to play with Honus Wagner or Ty Cobb or Lou Gehrig; what it was like to play for John Mcgraw; or get a new persepctive on an infamous play like the Fred Snodgrass muff or a dropped ball that led to a World Series win. And funny how you get a sense too from reading this book of what life and the people in it were like back in the early part of the 20th century, as well as what the baseball was like. I was highly entertained and intrigued from the moment I opened the book to reading the last page in it. And I'm thankful the author thought to preserve this era for all of us before it was too late.Dick Dobbins used this "oral history" approach to great advantange in his now out of print book about the old Pacific Coast League called The Grand Minor League. It's an approach I used to a lesser extent some years ago when I wrote a history of a local volunteer group in the late 1990s. I've wanted to read this for years, and I'm glad I did. If this isn't the greatest baseball book of all time, it's pretty darn close.
Rating:
Summary: A+
Review: The interviews form a tapestry evoking the baseball era before WWII and the feel of the national pastime is captured. Brilliant journalism. Warm yet realistic, and laugh out loud funny.
Rating:
Summary: "All these were honored in their generation"
Review: This is one of the greatest books I've ever read and may well be the best non-fiction book I ever read. The book is actually a collection of reminiscences of old-time baseball players compiled by their interviewer, Lawrence Ritter. The original book was written in 1966 with additional chapters added for the revised 1984 version that I read. What comes across first and foremost in all the recollections is the joy and dedication of the long-retired players. At a time when labor strikes, hold-outs and escalating salaries are standard sports stories, this book takes Baseball nostalgia to a new level. It isn't just about the joy of the game, however. This book brings to light a lot of forgotten Baseball history. I fancied myself a bit of a Baseball historian but there were a number of major events in Baseball's early history that I had never heard of before. I think the most memorable was Fred Merkle's "bonehead" play that cost the Giants the pennant in 1907. That was a situation where he forgot to touch second base and thereby cost the Giants the winning run. It is told (and referred to often) with better embelishment than I just gave it but, then, that's the point of my praise; the whole book is a poetic look backwards at the game we sometimes take for granted these days. It's no accident that the best parts of the book are the earliest recollections. You can almost see the corrupting effects of popularity creep up on the game in the 1920's. The stories that these veterans tell and the details that they give make you feel like you've been there yourself. If you're a Baseball fan, you'll love this book. If you're not a Baseball fan, reading this book might just make you one.
Rating:
Summary: Baseball as it should be, always!
Review: Words alone cannot describe what I have read. Smoky Joe Wood, Rube Marquard, Wahoo Sam Crawford, and many others. We are talking legends of a game gone by. True hero's when a baseball world needed hero's. Many thanks to Lawrence Ritter for capturing moments in time with these baseball legends. I'm sure that they all had a million stories to tell, but I'll settle for just the few that are represented in this book. In today's baseball world of outright sheer greed and selfishness, it was so refreshing to hear stories about baseball's yesterday when times were simpler and the game was just a game. How I miss those days. How I miss those players. Thank you for a memorable look at a simpler time, Lawrence.
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