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Rating: 
Summary: Bad Research?
Review: As I started to read this book, I am alarmed with his love fest for Oklahoma. Stating that 1 out of 10 Baseball players came out of Oklahoma? The Deans for example were born and lived in Arkansas. Warren Spahn was born and grew up in Buffalo NY. Carl Hubell was born in Missouri. I want to believe in the author and trust in his information but with his wild exageration about Oklahoma being the hotbed for baseball I begin to wonder if his research will be flawed as well. I have been to Oklahoma and stayed the night many times but I am not from there! For him to steal Paul and Dizzy Dean from Arkansas raises questions. They always claimed Arkansas as home.
Rating: 
Summary: Magnificient!
Review: Clifton Blue Parker hits a homerun with this book on the Waners. Parker does a great job telling the story of the Waner brothers and has a wonderful use of quotes from both brothers throughout the text. He frequently uses unpublished materials from Lawrence Ritter's The Glory of Their Times interview with Paul Waner.Much like one of the other reviewers, I read through this book quickly. An absolute must for Pittsburgh Pirate fans!!! P.S. - The only historical error of significance is that Parker is not familiar with the 1934 Goudey baseball card set.
Rating:
Summary: High quality book, lively writing
Review: Excellent portrayal of American baseball history through the rollicking lives of Paul and Lloyd Waner. Fun to read!
Rating:
Summary: A model for all baseball biographies
Review: I loved this book. Unlike so many baseball biographies, it captures the good and bad alike about the players, offers interesting, fascinating nuggets of information about the game and even American history. Excellent job Clifton Blue Parker! I think this guy's one of the best up-and-coming baseball historians.
Rating:
Summary: Smash Hit!
Review: Magnificient -- I read this book in two days flat. It's written beautifully with deep attention to the cultural history of baseball in the '20s and '30s.
Rating:
Summary: Setting the Record Straight
Review: Parker is a lively and engaging writer who also knows his subject matter as well as anybody I've come across in a long time. The Waners are two of the most overlooked Hall of Famers who played during baseball's most colorful era. Both the details and the historical context help set the record straight about the Pirates and the Waners. Few know, for example, that Paul Waner holds the record for extra base hits in consecutive games. It's much more than statistics and records. This book is about people and history. Through many anecdotes, interviews and tons of old newspaper and magazine clippings, we learn who Paul and Lloyd Waner are and how this game was played back then. It's this kind of detail that makes this book a swift and enjoyable read. I'm not sure what the prior reviewer was talking about -- actually Parker quotes another writer that 1 in 10 ballplayers had SOME connection to Oklahoma (he never says "from" only "passed through"), as defined by being born there, living there, going to school there, playing in the minors or college there. (Read "Glory Days" by Royse Parr et al -- that's the author Parker quoted.) It's common knowledge that the Dean brothers lived in Oklahoma as well as Texas and Arkansas at various points in their lives, that Carl Hubbell went to high school in Oklahoma near the Waners, that Warren Spahn retired to a large ranch in Oklahoma, etc. So what's the big deal? As a reader, I'm glad Parker went to the trouble to give us the full story and everything I read was thoughtfully done. Excellent job!
Rating:
Summary: Thorough job
Review: This book contains tons of info about the days of baseball back in the 1920s and 1930s. The Waners were fascinating, often forgotten today. I'm glad we get books like these and not more of the usual stuff on all the guys who get too much ink, like Ruth, DiMaggio, Mantle.
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