Sunday, February 22, 2009
THE BOOK REVIEW: Spring Baseball Books Part I: Baseball Prospectus 2009, Diamond Gems, Baseball Dictionary, The Big Field
With spring training underway another sure sign that the 2009 baseball season will soon be with us is the deluge of new books focused on all manner of different facets of the national pastime. There is something out there for every taste, every budget.
"Baseball Prospectus 2009" is a mother and father lode of information for even the most crazed of stat guys. Now in its 14th season, this oversized paperback (Plume Original, $21.95, 628 pages) presents a Hall of Fame group of analysts analyzing all kinds of things connected to the summer game. Sagacious, smart, this book belongs on the top of your baseball buy list.
"Diamond Gems" edited by Tim McCarver with Jim Moskovitz and Danny Peary (McGraw Hill, $24.95, 270 pages is essentially a book that was more than decade in the making and includes a vault of material from "The Tim McCarver Show." There is Willie Mays on "the Catch," Yogi Berra on war and baseball, Sandy Koufax on his quest to add a third pitch. It is neatly organized by position - the "lefties" for example - contains Warren Spahn, Whitey Ford, Sandy Koufax, Jim Kaat, Tom Glavine and Al Leiter - thinkers all. "Diamond Gems" is a gem of a baseball book.
"Baseball Dictionary" in a new life - revised and expanded by Paul Dickson weighs in at 974 pages and a hefty fifty dollar price tag from WW Norton. One quibble I do have is that two of my books "Sports Lingo" and "Sports Roots" are in the annotated bibliography. But Dickson sadly missed out on my terrific tome - THE SPORTS JUNKIES BOOK OF TRIVIA, TERMS, AND LINGO" --What They Are, Where They Came From, and How They Are Used. Otherwise, this is deep, definitive, daunting - a thesaurus of all things baseball.
Now in paperback reprint is Mike Lupica's "The Big Field" (Plume, 272 pages, $7.99) recommended for ages 10 and up - the story of Keith "Hutch" Hutchinson and his relationship with father, a former boy phenomenon.
HIGHLY NOTABLE: "High and Inside: My Life in the Front offices of Baseball" by Lou Gorman (McFarland, 226 pages) is to be up close and personal with a man who has spent almost a half century in pro baseball and who is now an executive consultant for the Boston Red Sox. This is a man who drafted Roger Clemens, signed George Brett , developed Jim Palmer. This is a man who knows his way around a story and can tell it in detail, with humor and insight. "High and Inside" is a work that belongs on the bookshelf of every baseball fan - there's a lot to learn from an expert on the national pastime.
Harvey Frommer is his 33rd consecutive year of writing sports books. The author of 40 of them including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his highly acclaimed REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball."
Frommer sports books are available direct from the author - discounted and autographed.
FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in excess of one million and appears on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
February 1927 Part II
(Excerpt from Five O'Clock Lighting: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and the 1927 New York Yankees, The Greatest Baseball Team Ever)
This 1927 spring was a different spring, a different Babe Ruth, one more circumspect and more caring about taking care of his body. Actually, after the 1925 season, during which he weighed more than 250 pounds and played abysmally, the Sultan of Swat for the first time started to watch (somewhat) what he ate and drank.
His first appearance in spring training 1927 was filled with hype, hullabaloo and hoopla as befitted the King of clout. Reporters swarmed about, crowded around him. They looked him over. All the stories about the terrific shape he was in seemed true. The great Ruth announced in that deep voice of his that had just a hint of a Southern accent: "I never felt better in my life. I weigh 223 pounds and will lose only 3 pounds while here."
Showing off his expanded 47 inch chest, he bragged about the hardened belly. "Hit me," he smiled. Hit me as hard as you can." One of the more intrepid scribes, James R. Harrison of The Times, went for the suggestion. Ruth took the poke, feigned some pain, kept on smiling.
“Twenty four gaping rookies stood at attention as he sauntered through the lobby of the hotel,” Ford C. Frick, wrote in the New York Evening Journal, “and flocks of femininity dogged his footsteps to the very portals of the elevator where a flunkey in uniform barred the way.. . .The Babe was friendly to all, smiling, bowing, yelling in a hoarse voice to teammates.”
That morning he played golf, a round of 92, violating the training rule set by Miller Huggins that banned participation in the sport by players except on Sundays. “Special permission,” Huggins explained to reporters was given to Ruth.
“The Big Bam,” the New York Evening World’s Arthur Mann wrote: “shags flies to begin the day's work, fields bunts, and then warms up with a catcher. By this time he is ready to go into the box, and there he remains, pitching for about 25 minutes. His batting practice consists of about 12 good wallops."
Billy Sunday made a visit to the Yankee training camp. Ex-major leaguer, ex-drunk, celebrated revivalist, umpire and scribe, he hit some balls – one was a shot he got good wood on that according to one scribe "was still smoking."
Smoking, characterized the way many Yankees reacted to a Billy Sunday comment: “Of all the ball clubs I have looked at this spring the Athletics are by far the most impressive. The club doesn't appear to have a single weakness."
But Sunday was not the only one with the pro-Philly point of view. The New York Betting Commission had installed the Philadelphia Athletics favorites to win the pennant because of their addition of veterans like Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins and Zach Wheat. Only 9 of 42 writers polled gave the Yanks any chance to repeat as pennant winners. American League President Ban Johnson predicted a historic-five team pennant race. An AP poll of 100 players and "baseball experts" tabbed the Athletics to win it all.
Grantland Rice writing in the New York Herald-Tribune said: "From present indications, the American League race figures as follows: Philadelphia, New York, Washington, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Boston." Professional odds makers set the Athletics at 2-1, the Yankees at 3-1, the Senators at 7-2.
Harvey Frommer is his 34th consecutive year of writing sports books. The author of 40 of them including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball.".
Frommer sports books are available direct from the author - discounted and autographed. FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in excess of one million and appears on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
You can reach Harvey Frommer at:
Email: harvey.frommer@Dartmouth.EDU
About the Author:
Harvey Frommer is his 33rd consecutive year of writing sports books. The author of 40 of them including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published September 1, 2008 as well as a reprint version of his "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball.". Frommer sports books are available direct from the author - discounted and autographed. FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in excess of one million and appears on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~frommer
http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/02/sports_frommer083002.htm
http://www.redsoxnation.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=15388&s=93d3ba714519f785d290b4305f62c42d
Harvey Frommer along with his wife, Myrna Katz Frommer are the authors of five critically acclaimed oral/cultural histories, professors at Dartmouth College, and travel writers who specialize in cultural history, food, wine, and Jewish history and heritage in the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean.
This Article is Copyright © 1995 - 2008 by Harvey Frommer. All rights reserved worldwide.
Monday, February 02, 2009
February 1927:(Excerpt from Five O'Clock Lighting: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and the 1927 New York Yankees, The Greatest Baseball Team Ever)
The pieces were falling into place for the 1927 Yankees. But the biggest piece, Babe Ruth, had not yet signed a new contract and seemed not likely to do so anytime soon. Hands down, he had rejected the $52,000 salary he earned in 1926. That was out of the question. In early February, Jake Ruppert sent another in what would be a series of contract offers to Ruth. This one was for $55,000. The offer annoyed the hell out of the competitive Babe who said he had it on good authority that Ty Cobb, now with the Philadelphia Athletics, was slated to get $75,000. The peripatetic Yankee outfielder moved on to "Hooray for Hollywood" time. He was now a star on the East Coast and the West Coast, now making his first movie, "The Babe Comes Home" for First National pictures. In a break during shooting he said: "Reading, like picture shows is almost taboo, I've got to watch the old optics closer than anything else." Under strict orders from his trainer Artie McGovern, the Bambino, also got his beauty sleep. He was early to bed by 9 P.M. (it wasn't clear whether he was there alone or had company), and early to rise he was on there on the movie set no later than six A.M.
On Hollywood Boulevard, running three to five miles a day, George Herman winked and smiled at folks all along the way, truly a sight for all kinds of eyes. After the up and downing on the streets, Ruth was rewarded back at his Hollywood Plaza Hotel with a comforting and stimulating rub down by McGovern who had taken leave of his New York City gymnasium on 42nd Street and Madison Avenue to press the flesh of his most illustrious client still unsigned to a Yankee contract for the 1927 season. McGovern, in a comment praising himself and the wondrous work he was accomplishing remarked about his beginnings with Ruth: "He was as near to being a total loss as anyone I ever had under my care."
On February 22, six days before the first Yankees were scheduled to arrive in St. Petersburg for spring training, Babe Ruth mailed to Colonel Ruppert from Hollywood an outline of what he thought he should be paid for 1927, just another salvo in their continuing out in the public eye contract wrangling. The Babe was adamant as he spoke to reporters. He pressed the point that he would retire from baseball and organize a string of gymnasiums with Artie McGovern if his salary needs were not met. On February 25, the day before the big man left California for New York, his salary demands were published in the New York Daily News.
Two days later a letter he wrote to Colonel Ruppert appeared in The New York Times. The letter's tone was conciliatory. It was also forceful. "You will find enclosed contract for 1927 which I am returning unsigned because of the $52,000 salary figure. I am leaving Los Angeles February 26 to see you in New York and will be prepared to report at St. Petersburg but only on the basis of $100,000 a year for two years, plus $7,700 held out of my salary in the past.. . .
"In fine physical condition today I hope to play as good as last year or better. I have exercised all winter and for the past twelve weeks have been working out of doors. At my own expense I have brought Arthur McGovern from New York to condition me. "The New York club has profited from five of the best years of my baseball life. During that period my earning power to the club has greatly increased while my salary has remained unchanged. . ..
"During the winter season I booked my own exhibition games and without support from other players I have received more in three weeks than the New York club pays me in three months....
"I have refused to discuss my new contract or salary during the Winter but now that I have returned my contract unsigned an explanation will be expected, and I wish you would show this letter to any newspaper writer who wishes to see it"With best personal wishes, I amYours truly, BABE RUTH"After the long trip from California, Babe Ruth arrived on the second day of March at Grand Central Station in Manhattan at 9:40 A.M. on the first section of the Twentieth Century Limited. Half a dozen gate tenders, a squad of private police and railroad security were powerless to hold back more than a hundred of the more ardent and adoring fans who had broken through and gained access to the train platform. They roared at their idol, easy to spot in his brown cap and tan overcoat, as he got off the train. Outside the entrance to the train, more than two thousand more fans waited, excited, cheering as their hero came through, a wide smile on his big face.
Harvey Frommer is his 34th consecutive year of writing sports books.
The author of 40 of them including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball.".
Frommer sports books are available direct from the author - discounted and autographed. FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in excess of one million and appears on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
On Hollywood Boulevard, running three to five miles a day, George Herman winked and smiled at folks all along the way, truly a sight for all kinds of eyes. After the up and downing on the streets, Ruth was rewarded back at his Hollywood Plaza Hotel with a comforting and stimulating rub down by McGovern who had taken leave of his New York City gymnasium on 42nd Street and Madison Avenue to press the flesh of his most illustrious client still unsigned to a Yankee contract for the 1927 season. McGovern, in a comment praising himself and the wondrous work he was accomplishing remarked about his beginnings with Ruth: "He was as near to being a total loss as anyone I ever had under my care."
On February 22, six days before the first Yankees were scheduled to arrive in St. Petersburg for spring training, Babe Ruth mailed to Colonel Ruppert from Hollywood an outline of what he thought he should be paid for 1927, just another salvo in their continuing out in the public eye contract wrangling. The Babe was adamant as he spoke to reporters. He pressed the point that he would retire from baseball and organize a string of gymnasiums with Artie McGovern if his salary needs were not met. On February 25, the day before the big man left California for New York, his salary demands were published in the New York Daily News.
Two days later a letter he wrote to Colonel Ruppert appeared in The New York Times. The letter's tone was conciliatory. It was also forceful. "You will find enclosed contract for 1927 which I am returning unsigned because of the $52,000 salary figure. I am leaving Los Angeles February 26 to see you in New York and will be prepared to report at St. Petersburg but only on the basis of $100,000 a year for two years, plus $7,700 held out of my salary in the past.. . .
"In fine physical condition today I hope to play as good as last year or better. I have exercised all winter and for the past twelve weeks have been working out of doors. At my own expense I have brought Arthur McGovern from New York to condition me. "The New York club has profited from five of the best years of my baseball life. During that period my earning power to the club has greatly increased while my salary has remained unchanged. . ..
"During the winter season I booked my own exhibition games and without support from other players I have received more in three weeks than the New York club pays me in three months....
"I have refused to discuss my new contract or salary during the Winter but now that I have returned my contract unsigned an explanation will be expected, and I wish you would show this letter to any newspaper writer who wishes to see it"With best personal wishes, I amYours truly, BABE RUTH"After the long trip from California, Babe Ruth arrived on the second day of March at Grand Central Station in Manhattan at 9:40 A.M. on the first section of the Twentieth Century Limited. Half a dozen gate tenders, a squad of private police and railroad security were powerless to hold back more than a hundred of the more ardent and adoring fans who had broken through and gained access to the train platform. They roared at their idol, easy to spot in his brown cap and tan overcoat, as he got off the train. Outside the entrance to the train, more than two thousand more fans waited, excited, cheering as their hero came through, a wide smile on his big face.
Harvey Frommer is his 34th consecutive year of writing sports books.
The author of 40 of them including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball.".
Frommer sports books are available direct from the author - discounted and autographed. FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in excess of one million and appears on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
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