Review of "Play Ball!"

This book contained much more than just stories about soldiers playing baseball during the Great War - it was a nice lesson on just how much the doughboys loved the game.  Here is my review of "Play Ball!"

Title/Author:

“Play Ball! Doughboys and Baseball During the Great War” by Alexander F. Barnes, Peter L. Belmonte and Samuel O. Barnes

 

Tags:
Baseball, history, amateur

Publish date:

March 28, 2019

Length:

256 pages

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

The popularity of baseball as a participant sport in the United States as well as a spectator sport was very high during the time of World War I.  No matter where troops were stationed during the Great War, it was very likely that one could find a baseball game. This is illustrated in this book about the soldiers and their love of the game.

 

The authors performed a great deal of research, including items such as newspaper articles, cards and photos of soldiers, or “doughboys” as they were called during World War I, playing baseball.  Box scores and stories from soldiers give the book not only an air of authenticity, but also a personal touch as well.

 

It didn’t matter where these soldiers were stationed.  There were games between units on training bases, on the fields in France and also in Germany. These games were often played for diversion from the horrors of war and also for the morale of the troops.  A nice touch by the authors was to include women in this book as there were teams made up of women as well, mostly from the nursing corps. One other noteworthy item is that there were many desegregated games played by these men and women, unlike the professional leagues back in the United States.

 

The writing and narration is crisp and easy to read, nicely complementing the pictures and other items noted earlier.  Any reader who wants to learn more about the baseball games that the doughboys played during the Great War will want to pick a copy of this book. It is an excellent addition to anyone interested in the connection between World War I and the national pastime.

 

I wish to thank Schiffer Publishing for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

 

Book Format Read:
E-book (PDF)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Play-Ball-Doughboys-Baseball-during/dp/076435678X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1548867244&sr=1-1&keywords=Play+Ball%21+doughboys  

Review of "The Giants of the Polo Grounds"

With more reading time now available as I ride a bus one or two days a week for my commute, I can read longer books uninterrupted.  This one is one of those books and it was an excellent one on the history of the New York Giants baseball team.  

Title/Author:

“The Giants of the Polo Grounds: The Glorious Times of Baseball’s New York Giants” by Noel Hynd

Tags:

Baseball, professional, history, Giants

Publish date:

October 1, 2018

Length:

636 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

The baseball team currently known as the San Francisco Giants started its baseball life in New York City, moving west in 1958. During its stay in the Big Apple, which spanned over eighty years, the team had a rich history and played in a famous ball park, the Polo Grounds. This excellent book by Noel Hynd captures that colorful time the Giants played their home games in the borough of Manhattan.

Probably the most famous man to wear a New York Giants baseball uniform was John McGraw, the firey manager who first made a name for himself as a player with the original Baltimore Orioles franchise.  Hynd dedicates a significant portion of the book detailing the McGraw years of the team and explains in great detail how the franchise was really his team, even though he wasn’t the sole owner.  Practically every detail one would want to learn about Mr. McGraw and some of his star players like Christy Matthewson can be found in this book. 

This isn’t to say that other eras and people important to the history of the Giants are overlooked either.  This is especially true for the team in the 1800’s as a reader will learn much about not only the Giants, but the entire game itself during that time. Hynd talks about the 1890 players’ revolt, the Giants using other celebrities to entice fans to come to games, such as Gentleman Jim Corbett and even talks about other teams in New York City throughout the book.  One item this reader learned in this section of the book was that the current team playing in Queens was not the first baseball team named the New York Mets. A professional team was formed in the 1870’s called the New York Metropolitans, but that name was deemed too long and was shortened to Mets.

Coverage of the team after John McGraw retired is just as comprehensive, especially for the 1951 and 1954 seasons when the Giants were involved in one of the most famous pennant races ever (1951) and then engineered one of the bigger upsets in World Series history up to that point (1954) with the aid of a catch by Willie Mays.  It is one that a reader may have heard about before.  Just like with the early history and the McGraw years, Hynd writes with great detail about the ups and downs of the Giants, the key personnel and even about some of the other New York teams. 

The detailed writing doesn’t stop at just baseball as readers will learn about many famous events that took place at the Polo Grounds, such as legendary boxing matches. Legendary actors and actresses who either had some type of connection to the team or had other important connections to New York also received some mention in the book.  This makes the book that is an excellent source for information on anything remotely associated with the Giants and should be one that is included in the library for readers who are interested in the New York Giants at any time in their rich history.

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying Links:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/giants-of-the-polo-grounds-noel-hynd/1114475340?ean=9781727040975

https://www.amazon.com/Giants-Polo-Grounds-Glorious-Baseballs-ebook/dp/B07HXWM43T/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1548514253&sr=8-1&keywords=giants+of+the+polo+grounds

Review of "Phinally!"

Aside from the obvious play on words, I was interested in this book as it is a recap of a season I remember well, even if my favorite team had a bad year in 1980.  Here is my review of  "Phinally!"

­

Title/Author:

“Phinally! The Phillies, the Royals and the 1980 Baseball Season That Almost Wasn’t” by J. Daniel

 

Tags:
Baseball, history, Royals, Phillies

Publish date:

November 8, 2018

Length:

220 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

The 1980 baseball season was memorable for many reasons, both on and off the field.  The two biggest stories were the labor troubles that nearly resulted in a strike during the season in May and the first championship in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies.  Those stories and many more are captured in this excellent baseball history book by J. Daniel.

 

Something that sets this book apart from other books that tell the history of one year or season is that while the best teams from that year like the Phillies, Kansas City Royals and Houston Astros get their share of space, every other team is covered as well.  Teams that struggled that year such as the Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jays are also mentioned.  For example, the Twins had a player enjoy a 31 game hitting streak (Ken Landreaux) that was covered as well as the resignation in August of long time major league manager Gene Mauch.  Even noteworthy items such as these for losing teams are often ignored in similar books and including them in this one gave it an aura of completeness.

 

Of course, even with this coverage of all teams, the Phillies and Royals, the two teams who met in a competitive World Series that year, received the most amount of ink, and Daniel does a good job of covering both teams.  He included not only their team accomplishments and a game-by-game recap of their postseason results, but also includes individual accomplishments such as Phillies pitcher Steve Carlton winning his third Cy Young and Royals third baseman George Brett winning the American League batting title by hitting .390 – which today is still the highest average for a player since 1941. 

 

The writing is crisp and easy to read, the information comprehensive but not too densely packed and the stories range from very serious to downright funny.  In short, this book has everything a baseball fan interested in that season or that era would want to know or relive.  Phillies fans would especially enjoy this book as they either remember the joy they felt when they saw their team “phinally” win it all or will learn about that joy from this book if they are too young to remember. 

 

I wish to thank McFarland and Company for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

 

Book Format Read:
E-book (PDF)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Phinally-Phillies-Royals-Baseball-Season-ebook/dp/B07KQFWSFZ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/phinally-j-daniel/1128515332?ean=9781476633985

 

https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/phinally/

Review of "Hello Friends!"

Memoirs can be tricky - they may be about the author or they may be about the author's memoires.  This one can be classified as the latter as long time Blue Jays radio man Jerry Howarth shares many stories from his 36 years behind the microphone.  Here is my review of "Hello Friends!"

Title/Author:

“Hello, Friends! Stories From My Life and Blue Jays Baseball” by Jerry Howarth

Tags:

Baseball, memoir, broadcasting, Blue Jays

Publish date:

March 5, 2019

Length:

360 pages

Rating: 

3 of 5 stars (good)

Review:

When a broadcaster does the games for one team for a long time, that person will have a vast collection of stories to share. That is the case for Jerry Howarth, who was a radio broadcaster for the Toronto Blue Jays from 1982 to 2017. He shares many of those stories and some about himself as well in this memoir.

As one might imagine, a person who has had the same job for 36 years will have a wide variety of stories to tell. Of course, he shares his recollections on famous moments in Blue Jays history, such as Joe Carter’s walk-off home run to win the 1993 World Series and the famous bat flip by Jose Bautista in the 2015 American League Division Series against the Texas Rangers. However, what makes the book a little different from other collections of stories like this are all the personal connections Howarth had with so many Blue Jays players and personnel over the years.

Some of these stories will be sad, such as the death of Howarth’s long time broadcast partner, Tom Cheek. His telling of the last half inning Cheek called for the Blue Jays will make the toughest of readers generate at least a sniffle. But many, many more of them are uplifting and tell about the successes and positive accomplishments of the subject, especially if it was a player.  Howarth rarely has a bad thing to say about anyone in this book. 

The most interesting part of the book turned out to be the beginning as he tells his tale of how he sent tapes of college games he broadcast and his jobs in sports outside of broadcasting.  He worked for a few years for the Utah Jazz before starting his broadcasting career doing the games of the AAA Tacoma Twins.  While this read much like any other memoir, it was good material and advice for readers who may wish to pursue this profession.  The rest of the book with its storytelling is much like any other collection of stories, fictional as well as non-fictional – some good, some not so good (either very short or just telling the reader “Hey, I talked once to so-and-so). 

Overall, this book is one that Blue Jays fans will certainly enjoy and fans of other teams may like as well.  If nothing else, Howarth can say he has shared a treasure trove of stories that many generations of Blue Jays fans will pass along from generation to generation.

I wish to thank ECW Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Hello-Friends-Stories-Life-Baseball-ebook/dp/B07KBGZMMB/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Review of "Paul Brown's Ghost"

Having heard of jinxes and curses for sports teams, this book sounded interesting in two ways.  Not only does this affect two teams instead of one, there is a ghost behind the suffering of the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals.  Here is my review of "Paul Brown's Ghost."

Title/Author:

“Paul Brown’s Ghost: How the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals Are Haunted by the Man Who Created Them” by Jonathan Knight 

Tags:

Football (American), history, Browns, Bengals

Publish date:

October 2, 2018

Length:
208 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

 

Review:
Paul Brown is one of the most revered figures in professional football history.  He was responsible for creating two professional teams. First came the Cleveland Browns, who were named after Brown, in 1944, playing in the All-American Football Conference and later joining the National Football League (NFL).  Brown also was the man who got the Cincinnati Bengals up and running in the American Football League (AFL) in 1968.  They too joined the NFL when they and the AFL merged in 1970. As part of the merger, the Browns and Bengals were placed in the same division and that started an intrastate rivalry that has had its share of unusual moments and history.

 

So it is only fitting that when Brown died in 1991, his spirit would haunt both franchises, never allowing them to see much success. That is the premise of this book by author Jonathan Knight, who has written ten books on Cleveland sports and makes a solid case that both teams have been haunted (or cursed, jinxed, whatever the reader wants to call it) by Brown with events both on and off the field.  Knight makes a connection between Brown with most events that have occurred since them with the two teams – mostly negative.

While Knight’s experience may be with Cleveland teams, he doesn’t shortchange the Bengals in this book, giving both teams an equal amount of space and doesn’t show favoritism toward one or the other throughout the book.  Indeed, Knight writes about the Bengals with equally good knowledge and detail that he does about the Browns.  He adds plenty of humor in the book throughout as well, especially with his similes of something that happened between the two franchises. One of the examples that is laugh-out-loud material is when the Bengals hired Forest Gregg as its coach after he was fired by the Browns. Given the rivalry between the teams, Knight compared the hiring to dating the girl your brother had dumped. 

 

The book’s structure starts with Brown’s death, then follows the teams from that time through the 2017 season as well as providing historical information and descriptions of their seasons as well as their matchups.  These games were often played with one of the teams trying to get into the playoffs whereas the other one was out of the running and wanted to spoil the hopes of their cross-state rival.  Of note, the last time both teams made the playoffs was 1988, the year that Knight states the rivalry was at his best. His writing about that season was excellent, but the best story was when the first Browns team left after the 1995 season - not only for the description of Art Modell’s sneaking behind Cleveland’s back to negotiate with Baltimore, but also the Bengals’ role in the move as well too. 

 

While certainly fans of the two teams will want to read this book, they will probably be familiar with a lot of the material presented.  What makes this book an excellent one is that readers who are not fans of the teams will learn much about their history and rivalry without getting bogged down with too much detail – instead the most entertaining aspects of their histories and rivalry is highlighted and for that reason, any professional football fan will want to read this.

 

I wish to thank Sports Publishing for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

 

Book Format Read:
Hardcover

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Paul-Browns-Ghost-Cleveland-Cincinnati/dp/1683582446/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Review of "Ten Innings at Wrigley"

Wrigley Field was the site for one of the craziest games in baseball history in 1979.  I remember the game well, not only for the 23-22 score, but because it was the first game I watched on cable TV on WGN.  What a first game to see!  So when I saw there was a book written about it, I was very happy to receive an ARC and the book turned out to be just as good as I had hoped.  Here is my review of "Ten Innings at Wrigley"

Title/Author:

“Ten Innings at Wrigley: the Wildest Ballgame Ever, with Baseball on the Brink” by Kevin Cook

Tags:

Baseball, history, Cubs, Phillies

Publish date:

May 7, 2019

Length:

272 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

On May 17, 1979, the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies played one of the biggest slugfests in the history of the game, with the Phillies winning the game 23-22 in ten innings.  The two teams combined for thirteen runs in the first inning (Phillies 7, Cubs 6) and the Cubs came back from a 12 run deficit (21-9) only to lose the game in extra innings.  This game, along with some history and follow-up stories on some of the players in that game, is shared in this very entertaining book by Kevin Cook. 

The actual events of the game make up the bulk of the book, but Cook sandwiches the inning-by-inning description by first giving the reader a background history check on the two teams involved and finishes the book with stories about key players such as the Cubs’ Dave Kingman (who homered three times in the game) and Donnie Moore and the Phillies’ Bob Boone and Tug McGraw. 

These players are featured in the post-game writing but what is truly impressive about this book is that EVERY player who made an appearance in this game gets his just due.  Of course, there is more coverage of players who had a great game hitting (or had a terrible game on the mound) but no matter what contribution that player made to the historic game, Cook made sure to mention him. The reader will also get a true feeling of what it was like to see a game at Wrigley at that time – all day games, plenty of empty seats as Wrigley was less than half full on that Thursday afternoon, people waiting in the street on Waveland Avenue for home runs, fans camped on the rooftops - it’s all there and is a terrific trip back in time for readers who remember when only day games were played at Wrigley.

While the brief histories of the teams before the chapters on the game are enjoyable to read, the stories on some of the players following the game are even better.  What is really interesting is how intertwined the stories of that game became and Cook’s reference to them.  For example, it was interesting to read about how two Cubs teammates in that game, Donnie Moore and Bill Buckner, ended up crossing paths on different teams in the 1986 American League Championship Series.  Most baseball fans know what happened to both men after that season, so I won’t rehash it here, but Cook’s prose will leave the reader emotionally spent when reading about them, especially Moore. 

Any reader who is a fan of baseball of that era, a Cubs fan or a Phillies fan, this book must be added to his or her library.  With rich detail and a knack for easy-to-read prose, Kevin Cook has written another excellent baseball book.  It is certainly one that will stay in my library and will be pulled out when I want to remember the first Cubs game I saw on that relatively new industry called cable television.

I wish to thank Henry Holt and Company for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Ten-Innings-Wrigley-Ballgame-Baseball-ebook/dp/B07HF294MD/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ten-innings-at-wrigley-kevin-cook/1129504300?ean=9781250182036#/

Review of "The Fight"

While the bulk of my reading is newer books, it is refreshing to read a classic book every now and then.  That was the case when I picked up this book on the Ali-Foreman fight in 1974 written by Norman Mailer.  Certainly a different perspective on this legendary match.  Here is my review of "The Fight."

Title/Author:

“The Fight” by Norman Mailer

Tags:

Boxing, championship, history, classic

Publish date:

September 17, 2013 (original publication date: 1975)

Length:

237 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars  (Outstanding)

Review:

One of the most amazing and historic boxing matches in the colorful history of the sport occurred in 1974 when Muhammad Ali surprised the world and defeated George Foreman to reclaim the world heavyweight title in Zaire. Much has been written about this fight, including this book by renowned author Norman Mailer. 

Part historical, part play-by-play and part memoir (Mailer inserts himself in the book), the reader will get an interesting perspective of this fight and the setting in which it took place. Since the book was originally published in 1975, one can easily note that there are sections and passages that would not pass an editor’s eye today, such as when Mailer stated that “Africa is shaped like a pistol, say the people here, and Zaire is the trigger.” He also writes most of the book in a masculine point of view, sometimes a little too much that might make a reader uncomfortable.

At the beginning of the book, he does state that he is going to do this, so it is not unexpected.  This will also allow the reader, should he or she wish to continue, to get a different perspective.  One part that I did enjoy was when Norman (how he referred to himself throughout the book) went jogging with Ali when the boxer was doing road work. While the pace was slower and he didn’t last the entire length of the run, it was nonetheless something that is not typically found in other books on this fight.

The best aspect of the book are chapters 13 through 15, the fight itself.  Here, the “masculinity” of Norman’s writing shines best, as the reader will feel like he or she is ringside.  Not just from the punches or reading about Ali’s famous strategy by leaning on the ropes early, but also from what is said by each fighter and their corners.  There are similar segments earlier in the book when Mailer visits each fighter’s training and workouts.  Knowing how the fight ends before starting the book, it was amazing to see that some of the popular myths about that fight, such as that Foreman was not prepared, are simply that – myths, not actual events.

Some of the early portions of the book seem to drag, but this is an overall quick read and very entertaining.  As long as the reader keeps in mind the biases and the time period in which this is written, it should be able to be enjoyed by many readers.

Book Format Read:

E-Book (Nook)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Fight-Norman-Mailer-ebook/dp/B00ERTEPNI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-fight-norman-mailer/1002356794?ean=9780812985962   

Reivew of "The 'Down Goes Brown' History of the NHL"

The title of this book intrigued me, as I never heard of "Down Goes Brown."  Otherwise known as Sean McIndoe, he now has a new fan as I loved this book on some of the more wackier moments in NHL history. Here is my review.

Title/Author:

“The ‘Down Goes Brown’ History of the NHL: the World’s Most Beautiful Sport, the World’s Most Ridiculous League” written and narrated by Sean McIndoe

Tags:

Ice Hockey, humor, professional, history

Publish date:

October 30, 2018

Length:

272 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

Having just recently celebrated its 100^th anniversary, the National Hockey League (NHL) has had an interesting and colorful history. Sean McIndoe, also known as “Down Goes Brown” with his popular hockey blog, writes and narrates an excellent book on this history, highlighting some of the more strange moments.

While the book follows the history of the league in a chronological format, that is about the only thing that is “regular” about this book.  Sure, the reader will learn about the origins of the league and how it began with four teams, nearly folded when it was down to three, the Original Six era (which nearly became the Original Seven in the early 1950’s when the league nearly added the Cleveland Barons), the Great Expansion of 1967 and the future expansions to the current league of 31 teams. 

There is also mention of equipment, great players of each era, the styles of play from the wide open offenses of the 1980’s to the trap defensive style made popular by the surprise Stanley Cup championship of the New Jersey Devils in 1995. BUT…and this is a big BUT…this type of writing is not what sets this book apart from the rest.

What DOES make it memorable and one that every hockey fan should read, whether or not they know about “Down Goes Brown”, are the quirky stories that fill every chapter and also serve as a segue between each chapter.  Most likely, many fans have not heard about these occurrences or near-occurrences in the league’s history.  One of my favorites occurred in 1970 when two new teams, the Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks, entered the league.  One of them would be able to get the first pick in the entry draft. The best player in the draft that year was Gilbert Perrault by far and away. So, to try to be fair, the league decided to use a wheel with various numbered slots to determine which team gets the pick – each team had an equal number of slots.  But how to determine who spins?  Well, that was easy – flip a coin.  Now, you may ask, why didn’t they just use that coin flip for the pick?  As the book notes time and time again, this is the NHL – they don’t do anything the easy way.  For the record, the Sabres won the pick and Perrault enjoyed a Hall of Fame career playing 18 seasons in Buffalo. 

This was just one of the many crazy stories told with humor (mostly – the discussion on the violence in the sport certainly was not).  For a funny line, try this on for size – but first a little background.  In 1984, the Montreal Canadiens and Quebec Noridques had a huge brawl that became known as the Good Friday Massacre.  Then in 1991, the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues had a similar melee known as the St. Patrick’s Day Massacre.  They got their monikers because of the holidays on which these took place.  McIndoe wrote the “The NHL – the only sport where you make reference to a holiday-themed massacre and you have to ask to be more specific.”

This book is a must-read for all hockey fans no matter their interest level or their favorite teams or eras.  Very entertaining, very easy to read and informative as well, it is one that is sure to be added to many hockey libraries.

Book Format Read:

Audiobook

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Down-Goes-Brown-History-NHL/dp/B07JVGYGT4/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-down-goes-brown-history-of-the-nhl-sean-mcindoe/1128472746?ean=9780735273917#/