Friday, May 29, 2009

The Book Review: “Straw” and “’78”


Oh, how many times did I watch Darryl Strawberry do his thing especially as a member of the New York Mets. In so many ways he was the most talented of players I had ever seen. And in so many ways he was the biggest disappointment.

Now in “Straw” with John Strausbaugh (Ecco/HarperCollins, $26.99, 240 pages) Strawberry explains how the wheels came off his wagon, how and why he got violent, into drugs and alcohol, how being a celebrity got to be too much, how he overcame colon cancer. If you are into inspirational memoir – this is for you.


“’78: The Boston Red Sox, a Historic game, and a Divided City” by Bill Reynolds (New American Library, $24.95, 305 pages) is recommended reading for Red Sox fans delving as it does into that tale told many times about that special season and the sociological pressures that afflicted the city of Boston. Tighter editing might have made it a better read and an index would have been useful as a road map for what at times becomes a maze of material not totally sorted out.


For the younger sporting fans - - and there are so many of them – two books especially belong on the bookshelf - “Baseball Great” & “The Prince of Fenway Park”


“Baseball Great" by Tim Green (HarperCollins Children’s Books, $16.99, 250 pages) is geared to ages 8 and up. It is compelling, a thriller, a book that places its 12-year-old central character Ty Lewis is a precarious position in this football and pro gambling subject matter centered to me.

“The Prince of Fenway Park” by Julianna Baggott HarperCollins Children’s Books, $16.99, 322 pages) is aimed at ages 8-12. The book is especially appealing to me in the midst of writing REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK. Part fantasy, part legend, part reversing the curse, part baseball novel - - “The Prince of Fenway Park” is all about Oscar Egg, aged twelve. Potter-ish reading!










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 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." The prolific Frommer is at work on REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK (2010).

Frommer sports books are available direct from the author - discounted and autographed.
FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.


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