Review of “Don Drysdale: Up and In”

With spring training in full swing, it’s time to start reading the new baseball books coming out this year. This one that was published in February is a good look at Dodger great Don Drysdale. 

Title/Author:

“Don Drysdale: Up and In” by Mark Whicker

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:  

Baseball fans in the 1960’s saw some very good Los Angeles Dodgers teams and some of the best pitching in the history of the game, capped off by the “year of the pitcher” in 1968. A pair of Dodgers pitchers were among those pitchers who enjoyed much success and this by Mark Whicker tells the career of one of them, Don Drysdale.

Drysdale was the last player from the Brooklyn Dodgers to retire after the team relocated to Los Angeles. That move, along with a lengthy section on Walter Johnson’s scoreless streak for pitchers (why that’s included will be noted later) and many shorter passages about the many political and social issues of that time are interspersed in the book along with some excellent coverage of Drysdale’s baseball career. That is the bulk of the text Whicker includes in this book, so it doesn’t feel like a full biography but there’s still enough material on his life off the diamond to give a reader a good feel for the type of person he was.

While Drysdale was a California native and thrived after the team moved to his native state, he was gaining a reputation as being difficult as well as a pitcher who was more interested in hitting batters than throwing strikes. For the former, there are many examples of this in the book. This can range from mild, such as his frequent complaints about the dimensions of the baseball configuration of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (the home stadium for the Dodgers before Dodger Stadium was built in 1962), to the dangerous, such as the accusation by his first wife Ginger that Don had beaten her “30 times.” This is the only time in the entire book that any hint of domestic violence is mentioned. It is a good example to show that much of the book was dedicated to Drysdale’s activities on the diamond (although there are nice stories about his second marriage to basketball Hall of Famer Ann Meyers).

The baseball sections are excellent. Whicker writes about Drysdale’s successful accomplishments in great detail, and even some of his less than stellar days. For the latter, the best example is when he became the starter in game 1 of the 1965 World Series after Sandy Koufax famously refused to pitch that day as it was Yom Kippur. After the Minnesota Twins roughed up Drysdale to win the game 8-2, Drysdale quipped to manager Walter Alston “I bet you wish I was Jewish.”

However, as one would expect from a Hall of Fame pitcher’s career, there was much more good than this type of bad. He won a Cy Young award in 1962, pitched and won games on three World Series championship Dodger teams (including 1965 where he won game 4) and setting a new scoreless inning streak for pitchers of 58 ⅔ innings in 1968. This is his most famous accomplishment, the one that likely ensured his place in the Hall of Fame and is the best section of this book. It is where Whicker starts off with the passage about Walter Johnson, takes the reader through Drysdale’s amazing streak, and later illustrates the similarities between him and the Dodger pitcher who broke Drysdale’s record, Orel Hershieser. 

Lastly, while Drysdale mostly played second fiddle to Koufax during this stretch of Dodger greatness (and otherworldly pitching by Koufax) the two would always be linked as teammates and of course for their famous holdout for new contracts in the spring of 1966. This event is also covered in the book and with good detail, especially on Drydale’s role. This is a book that any Dodgers fan will want to read to learn more about “Double D” and the legacy he left on one baseball’s most storied franchises.

I wish to thank Triumph Books for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Don-Drysdale-Life-Dodgers-Legend/dp/1637275749/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0 

Review - A.J. Foyt Volume 1

Lately, there have been several interesting books on auto racing, and this is certainly one of them.  A.J. Foyt has had a long and successful racing career, and this book does his work justice - at least until 1977.  This is just the first volume of his storied career.  Here is my review of this volume. 

Title/Author:

“A.J. Foyt – Volume 1: Survivor, Champion, Legend” by Art Garner

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review:

When an athlete’s name is recognized by people who are not fans of that sport, it says a lot about that athlete’s talent. A.J. Foyt is a name many people will associate with auto racing, mainly because of his four victories in the Indianapolis 500 in the 1960’s and 1970’s.  But there is SO much more to the man than just his victories.  This book, the first of two planned volumes about Foyt’s life and racing, is Art Garner’s complete biography of the famous racer.

It is clear early in the book that Garner is going to devote most of the text to Foyt’s racing and how that shapes the man he becomes.  Even his childhood revolves around racing.  The story of him racing around his parents’ house in a small car was a prelude to what his life would be like for the next several decades.

It doesn’t matter what level or which circuit Foyt would be racing in, his years in the sport are covered in excellent detail by Garner.  Volume 1 ends after the 1977 season in which Foyt won his 4^th Indy 500, the first driver to do so.  He has since been joined by Al Unser, Rick Mears and Helio Castroneves but it is Foyt whose accomplishments at the Brickhouse are fondly remembered.  It should also be noted that Foyt isn’t an Indianapolis legend solely for his driving.  Garner also documents his involvement in designing, building and testing the cars as well as Foyt’s involvement in many decisions that affect the teams, such as who will be the drivers for either the second car the team runs or who will be backup drivers. 

This is where Foyt’s legendary stubbornness or principals, whichever view one prefers, is on display quite well.  Even though he did not graduate high school, Foyt has a sharp eye for business contracts, details to every aspect of race cars and of course, how to drive one of the cars. It should also be noted that all of these traits, on and off the track, were also on display in other racing circuits.  Foyt was also the first driver to win three of the biggest events in motorsports – the Indianapolis 500, the 24 hours at Le Mans and the Daytona 500.

One last comment about this book.  Something that race fans should note, especially those who have followed the sport for many years, is that it is scary to read about all the deaths to drivers in the 1960’s and early 1970’s in this book.  Nearly every year covered has multiple drivers who succumbed to injuries in crashes. While reading this, it did feel macabre to reading about so many men dying in their prime, but as Foyt mentions often in this volume, it’s a part of the sport and he did have some fear every time he stepped into a race car.

A well-researched and well-crafted biography, this book is one that every race fan of every level should pick up.  I know that I will be eagerly awaiting volume 2.

I wish to thank Octane Press for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link: Amazon.com: A.J. Foyt: Volume 1: Survivor, Champion, Legend eBook : Garner, Art, Andretti, Mario: Kindle Store