Description:
The wonderfully substantial one-volume reissue of the two all-star volumes that made up the Armchair books of baseball is cause to fire up electronic scoreboards throughout the land. The line-up of writers is monumental: Roger Angell, John Updike, Robert Fitzgerald, Gay Talese, James A. Michener, Wilfred Sheed, Russell Baker, Irwin Shaw, and that's just scratching the surface of Volume I. The sequel calls up Walt Whitman, E.L. Doctorow, Willie Morris, Grantland Rice, Fred Lieb, John Lardner, Garrison Keillor, Damon Runyon, Philip Roth, and--the Babe Ruth of them all, from Stratford in the old Elizabethan League--Bill Shakespere. Shakespeare? Sure. What sport do you think he was commenting on with lines like "I will run no base," "Now let's have a catch," "What foul play had we?" and "And so I shall catch the fly"? In any volume of this size and scope, there are, of course, a few selections worth skipping over, but what's remarkable is just how many are worth savoring: Talese on Joe DiMaggio, Pat Jordan on his own minor league career, Angell on one of the greatest college games ever played, Stephen J. Gould on the extinction of the .400 hitter, and a short story from former bush-league outfielder Zane "Riders of the Purple Sage" Grey--yes, that Zane Grey. Like foul lines diverging in the distance, you'll wish the The Complete Armchair Book of Baseball went on forever. --Jeff Silverman
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