Review of "Moses and the Doctor"

Luke Epplin’s Moses and the Doctor is a smart, lively, and deeply researched look at Julius Erving and Moses Malone—two Hall of Fame greats who helped shape the NBA’s rise but rarely get their due. Epplin blends history, personality, and humor as he traces their ABA roots, their contrasting paths to stardom, and their unforgettable partnership on the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers. Basketball fans of any era will find new insights and plenty of joy in these pages.

Title/Author:

“Moses and the Doctor: Two Men, One Championship and the Birth of Modern Basketball” by Luke Epplin

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review: 

Luke Epplin’s Moses and the Doctor is a rich, deeply researched, and thoroughly entertaining reconsideration of two Hall of Fame giants who helped shape professional basketball’s rise in the 1980s: Julius Erving and Moses Malone. While Bird, Magic, and Jordan usually dominate the conversation about the NBA’s boom years, Epplin makes a compelling case that Erving and Malone deserve far more credit—both for their brilliance and for the ways their careers bridged the ABA’s renegade creativity with the NBA’s emerging mainstream appeal.

Epplin traces their early paths through the ABA, where Erving became a cultural phenomenon with his soaring, improvisational style, even if few fans actually saw him play on television. Malone, meanwhile, broke barriers as the first player to sign professionally straight out of high school, grinding through unstable franchises while quietly developing into one of the most intelligent and relentless centers the sport has ever seen. Epplin’s portrayal of Malone is especially strong, dismantling long‑standing misconceptions about his personality and intellect.

Once the ABA folded into the NBA, their trajectories diverged—Erving becoming the polished superstar of the Philadelphia 76ers, Malone bouncing from Portland to Buffalo before blossoming into a two‑time MVP in Houston. All of this background sets the stage for the book’s most compelling section: the unlikely pairing of these two contrasting stars when Malone signed with Philadelphia in 1982 for a then‑record contract.

Epplin shines here, capturing the humor, tension, and surprising evolution of their relationship. The book is filled with laugh‑out‑loud quotes, sharp reporting, and memorable anecdotes, including Malone’s famous “Fo’, Fo’, Fo’” prediction (accurately rendered as “Four, Four, Four”) that nearly came true during the 76ers’ dominant 1983 championship run. Epplin also illustrates how both men subtly swapped public personas—Erving becoming quieter and more introspective, Malone stepping into a more vocal leadership role.

For fans of that era, this is a wonderfully nostalgic trip, but even die‑hard basketball junkies will learn something new. I certainly did—I had no idea Malone nearly backed out of the deal to join Philadelphia because Caldwell Jones was no longer on the roster. Details like that make this book a standout.

I wish to thank Grand Central Publishing for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link:  Moses and the Doctor: Two Men, One Championship, and the Birth of Modern Basketball: Epplin, Luke: 9780306833496: Amazon.com: Books

Review of "Out at the Plate:

Dot Wilkinson’s life was far bigger than the record books that put her in two different Halls of Fame. Lynn Ames captures not just the softball legend and championship bowler, but the trailblazing woman who built a business, lived authentically, and shaped generations around her. It’s a remarkable story of talent, courage, and a life fully lived.

Title/Author:

“Out at the Plate: The Dot Wilkinson Story” by Lynn Ames

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review: 

Not many athletes, no matter their sport, can claim they’ve made the Hall of Fame in two different sports. The first female athlete to do so, Dot Wilkinson, has her story told here by author — and longtime friend of Wilkinson — Lynn Ames.

The two sports in which Dot achieved her fame were softball and bowling. Softball is where Dot truly made her name and became a legend not only as a catcher and later a manager, but also throughout her native Arizona. She started playing at age 10, and by 16 she was starring for the Ramblers, an amateur team that went on to win multiple championships thanks to the play of Dot and her teammates.

She was also an accomplished bowler, and after her softball career slowed down, she devoted more time to the sport. Her talent quickly drew the attention of the WIBC (Women’s International Bowling Congress). After winning the WIBC Queens tournament, she eventually earned induction into their Hall of Fame as well.

However, what makes this book stand out goes far beyond her accomplishments on the diamond or the lanes. Dot was a woman ahead of her time in countless ways. She became the owner of a real estate company after her mentor left the business to her when he could no longer run it. When repairs or renovations were needed, she handled the contracting work herself, often alongside her longtime life partner of 48 years.

That partnership is significant, because Dot lived in an era when gay men and lesbians were not accepted as they are today. She knew early on that she was attracted to women. She lost her first true love to breast cancer, then spent nearly five decades with her next partner. Yet she did not come out publicly until that woman’s funeral.

All of these parts of Dot’s story may not have been told if not for the immediate friendship she and Ames developed when Ames first felt inspired to write this book. Because of that bond, Dot opened up about her remarkable life, and Ames captured those stories in a way that would make Dot proud. It’s a book anyone can enjoy, whether they know Dot Wilkinson’s name or not. An extraordinary woman like Dot deserves to have her story read by everyone.

Link:  Amazon.com: Out at the Plate: The Dot Wilkinson Story eBook : Ames, Lynn: Kindle Store

Review of "So Young, So Great"

Bob Feller’s early career remains one of baseball’s most astonishing stories, and Jim Ingraham’s new book focuses squarely on how it unfolded. It’s a sharp look at the rise of a pitcher who became a star almost overnight.

Title/Author:

“So Young, So Great: Bob Feller Electrifies Baseball and America” by Jim Ingraham

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (Very Good)

Review: 

Very few, if any, other baseball players have taken Major League Baseball by storm as a teenager the way Bob Feller did when he first appeared in a game for the Cleveland Indians in 1936 at the tender age of 17.  That is the premise of this book by Jim Ingraham about the first six years of the Hall of Fame pitcher’s career.

This cannot really be labeled as a biography as Ingraham does not write very much about Feller’s youth or his family.  At least not in the way many sports biographies are written in which there are several pages about the subject’s parents, grandparents and siblings.  Instead, after a brief description of his baseball success in rural Iowa, it jumps straight into the day when Indians scout (and later Vice President) Cy Slapnicka approached Feller and his father and told them he would be in Des Moines watching Bobby pitch his game that day.  Afterward, Feller was under contract (signed by his father since he was still a minor) and property of the Fargo-Moorhead Twins, a farm club of the Indians.

From there, it was a whirlwind of moves, protests by other clubs and some fancy paperwork by Slapnicka that resulted in Feller making his debut in 1936.  And what a debut that was, as Feller struck out 15 St. Louis Browns on his way to a 4-1 victory. Ingraham does a good job of recapping this game and showering praise on Feller.

This was a good preview of what the rest of the book would be like as in each chapter, each successive season, Feller became the best pitcher in baseball as shown by either the traditional statistics used at the time or the advanced metrics favored by baseball analysts today.  The writing about his pitching was good, the coverage of what other players thought about his was better and Ingraham’s musings about the use of Feller in those first six years so that attendance would be better for both the Indians and other American League teams was great.  On that latter part, Feller was often called a “cash cow” in the book since average attendance at games he would pitch would be nearly triple that of all the other games at all American League cities, including Cleveland.

Other aspects of Feller’s life away from baseball during this time frame, even if they are only mentioned briefly, make the book feel like a more complete description of his life during this time frame.  Of course, his decision to enlist in the Navy instead of waiting to be drafted soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor is a major decision in his life.  As was the death of his father and the resignation of Slapnicka from the Indians, all around the same time. 

It was notable that other major parts of his life, such as his wedding to his wife Virginia, didn’t get as much notice in the book as did other events that were covered by the press – events that would otherwise not even be mentioned. These are events that many young men would have, but because this was Bob Feller, the best pitcher in baseball, the press covered them. These included his high school graduation and when he had his wisdom teeth removed.

There is quite a bit of repetition in the book, of which the most noteworthy is the frequent mention of the title – so young, so great.  That is understandable, especially when one considers how much Feller accomplished before the age of 23.  But for other aspects, such as the recollections of how Slapnicka found Feller, they don’t feel like they are part of the story.  However, this does not detract from the excellent writing about the accomplishments of a pitcher at such a young age. 

Looking at this part of Bob Feller’s career is a very good choice to give a reader an excellent look into his baseball life. If you want to understand why Bob Feller became a Hall of Famer before he became an adult, this focused look at his early career makes the case as well as anyone ever has.

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

Link:  So Young, So Great - Nebraska Press

Review of "The Cooperstown Casebook"

This book is perfect for a baseball nut like myself.  One, it ranks Hall of Fame players - always a good topic for spirited debate.  Two, it helps explain some of today's advanced statistics and breaks them down in a manner easy to understand.  Three, it makes a compelling argument about why certain players whose stats are worthy of the Hall of Fame but are not getting the votes required due to suspicions of using performance enhancing drugs should be in.  All in all, a great book for serious baseball fans.  Here is my review of "The Cooperstown Casebook."

Title/Author:

“The Cooperstown Casebook: Who’s In the Baseball Hall of Fame, Who Should Be In and Who Should Pack Their Plaques” by Jay Jaffe

Tags:

Baseball, professional, history, Hall of Fame

Publish date:

June 27, 2017

Length:

368 pages

Rating: 

4 ½ of 5 stars (excellent)

Review:

One topic that is certain to ignite debates among baseball fans is the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Pick any year, and the voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) will certainly draw praise and criticism. Similarly, there are arguments whether certain players who are already inducted truly belong there.  These types of debates will be conducted as long as there is a Hall of Fame.

While this book by Jay Jaffe is not intended for casual fans, it is one that every serious baseball fan should pick up. There is statistical information on every player currently enshrined in the Hall and a brief career bio on each one that explains why Jaffe believes whether or not the player is a worthy inductee. He uses advanced statistical analysis to make these decisions with a formula he names JAWS (Jaffe War Score). The score is primarily derived from the Wins Above Replacement (WAR) statistic, using each player’s peak performance and allowing for factors such as different ballparks and eras where either offense or pitching may be more dominant than at other times. It isn’t perfect, but certainly a fair method to evaluate each player.

However, before ranking each player within his position (and, spoiler alert, there are some big surprises on the rankings of some of these players) Jaffe does his best work in the book in two areas.  One is that he does a very nice job of breaking down some of the advanced statistical categories such as WAR, OPS+ and other statistics so that fans can better understand them. There is also a full chapter devoted to the argument the author makes on why players who have been suspected of using performance enhancement drugs, such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, should not be kept out of the Hall of Fame.  The only part of this argument that seemed flawed to me was not about these players, but he does not allow the same type of leeway for the inclusion of players who have been banned from the game for gambling, specifically Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson.  This isn’t a criticism of his opinion – just that the two specific situations seem to be approached differently when they may not be all that different.

One other aspect of the book’s structure that I appreciated was that each chapter on the players inducted at a specific position gave an example of a player that should be inducted but has not been voted in by either the BBWAA or a committee, of which there have been several throughout the history of the Hall. (Note: there is also an excellent chapter on the flaws of the voting over the years by both the committees and BBWAA.) Using JAWS, traditional statistics and some old-fashioned logic, Jaffe makes a good case for each of these players.  That was a nice touch to add to each chapter as a lead-in to the breakdown of each player’s write-up at each position.

The Hall of Fame may be a source of debate among baseball fans as long as it exists, but there should be no debate about the worthiness of this book.  Every serious baseball fan should read this for a better understanding of some of the advanced statistics that have been used to bolster the chances of some Hall of Fame players such as Bert Blyleven and Tim Raines as well as just gain some valuable information to use the next time an argument breaks out about the worthiness of some player who supposedly doesn’t belong there.

I wish to thank St. Martin’s Press and Thomas Dunne Books 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/gp/product/1250071216/ref=x_gr_w_bb?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_w_bb-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1250071216&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-cooperstown-casebook-jay-jaffe/1124362819;jsessionid=94225F0F6C7DCDEE2C2D5071A0B2712F.prodny_store01-atgap02?ean=9781250071217&st=AFF&2sid=Goodreads,%20Inc_2227948_NA&sourceId=AFFGoodreads,%20IncM000004

Review of "Pete Rose: An American Dilemma"

Having been an avid reader of Kostya Kennedy's Sports Illustrated articles, I was eager to pick up this book on one of the most polarizing figures in baseball history, and the book was everything I had hoped it would be.  Here is my review of "Pete Rose: An American Dilemma."  

Title/Author:

“Pete Rose: An American Dilemma” by Kostya Kennedy

Tags:

Baseball, biography, Reds, Hall of Fame

Published:

March 11, 2014

Length:

362 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

Pete Rose has been one of the most polarizing figures in baseball for the last 25 years.  In that time, he signed an agreement that permanently banned him from associating with Major League Baseball, has admitted in a tell-all book that he bet on baseball after denying so for over 15 years, spent time in prison for tax evasion, hawked as much memorabilia and as many autographs as he could and yet still have a lot of support to win reinstatement and enshrinement into the Baseball Hall of Fame.   All of these topics and more are covered in Kostya Kennedy’s outstanding book on Rose.

This isn’t a typical biography in which the story of the subject is told from birth to present day.  Oh, sure, there are pages about Rose’s youth, his relationship with his father and his climb from the minor leagues to the Cincinnati Reds.  However, the focus of the book is on Rose and the manner in which he handles himself with the ban from baseball. 

There are several chapters interspersed throughout the book on his presence in Cooperstown, New York during the weekend in 2012 when two players were inducted into the Hall of Fame.  These stories of Rose and his presence in the hamlet selling anything he can while at the same time being banned from enshrinement in the museum less than a mile away on Main Street smacks of part irony, part melancholy.  Kennedy makes the reader feel like he or she is experiencing induction weekend in Cooperstown during these chapters.  When Barry Larkin, one of the players inducted that year, mentions Rose during his acceptance speech, the reader cannot help but feel Rose is there, thanks to the prose of Kennedy.

Other topics which are captured and vividly described by Kennedy are Rose’s relationship with his oldest son, Pete Jr.  Here another emotional event is illustrated well when Pete Jr. makes his major league debut with the Reds in 1997, but cannot enjoy the moment with his father in the clubhouse because of the ban.  

However, my favorite chapter in the book was chapter 17, simply titled “Gate Keepers.”  The first paragraph in this chapter is all you need to know in order to understand the title.  It ends with the phrase “Keep Pete Rose out of the Baseball Hall of Fame.”   This was the meeting in 1991 when a special committee met and drafted the rule that became known as the Pete Rose rule – simply that a person on baseball’s ineligible list shall not be eligible to be elected to the Hall of Fame.  Kennedy can barely hide the contempt for this rule, calling it “the greatest disservice to be inflicted upon the Hall of Fame induction process…”  and further stating that nothing else “has so deeply stained the procedure, nor delivered such a blow to the integrity of the process as a whole.”   This shows that not only has Kennedy done his research, but that he has a deep passion for the topic.  His writing is a reflection of that passion.

No matter how the reader feels about Rose and whether or not he belongs in the Hall of Fame, this outstanding book should be read by every baseball fan. The stories are rich, the research through, the interviews with other players and Rose’s family members riveting and the entire book is a fine work by Kennedy.

Did I skim?

No. 

Pace of the book: 

Excellent.  Kennedy’s writing keeps the reader engrossed and the pages turning, whether the topic is Rose hustling to third base on a hit, the gambling investigation, Pete Jr. or the latest sale of Rose merchandise in Cooperstown.

Do I recommend? 

This is a must read book for any baseball fan.  It doesn’t matter whether you like Rose or not, nor does it matter how the reader feels about whether or not Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame, this book will keep the reader riveted.

Book Format Read:

e-book (Nook)

Buying Links:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pete-rose-kostya-kennedy/1115995299?ean=9781618939548

http://www.amazon.com/Pete-Rose-American-Kostya-Kennedy-ebook/dp/B00HDSQR68/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1396023709&sr=1-1&keywords=pete+rose

Review of "Harmon Killebrew: Ultimate Slugger"

Growing up in the Twin Cities and spending many days and nights at Metropolitan Stadium, I was excited to read this biography of Harmon Killebrew.  It brought back some nice memories.

Title/Author:

“Harmon Killebrew: Ultimate Slugger” by Steve Aschburner

Tags:

Baseball, biography, historical, Twins, Royals, Hall of Fame

Published:

May 2012

 

Length:

238 pages

Rating:

3 of 5 stars (good)

Review

It isn’t too often that a person will be able to read a biography of a childhood hero, but I got to do just that when this biography on Harmon Killebrew was written shortly after his death in May 2011.   Growing up in Minnesota during Killebrew’s playing days, I would often make sure I was near a radio or television whenever he came to the plate as there was always a good chance that another majestic blast would leave the ball park during that at-bat.   I was hoping to relive those days while reading this book.   While there were a few moments, they were few and far between.

That doesn’t mean the book was a bad one.  The author has been a writer covering many teams on the Minnesota sports scene for many years, and his knowledge came across in the book.  He told Killebrew’s story from his time on the Idaho farm to his early days of languishing on the Washington Senators’ bench as a “bonus baby” of that time to his heyday of home run hitting in the Twin Cities, through his last season in Kansas City and his post-baseball life.  It was written in a manner that was easy to read and comprehend.  The style will appeal to all levels of baseball fans, from hardcore to casual, as it is neither too complicated nor too easy.

My major disappointment could stem from being a lifetime Twins fan, as I didn’t glean much new information on Killebrew’s life – even his post-baseball life, as it was all the highlights told from a different point of view.  There wasn’t a lot of depth to these stories – that kept the reading easy, but the level of knowledge gained by a reader also suffers because of this style.   That didn’t keep me from enjoying this good, quick read.

Did I skim?

No

Did I learn something new?

Not a lot of the material was new or a surprise to me.  Even most of his life after baseball was familiar to me and this book didn’t share anything new.  Again, keep in mind I have followed the Twins and Killebrew since I first knew what a baseball was, so others may learn new information about Killebrew.

Pace of the book:

Excellent – moved along very quickly.  I finished this in less than three hours of total reading time. 

Positives:

The timeline of the story went well – it stayed on track and didn’t stray too far off course. That is a preference I have because if there is constant back and forth, I find the book hard to follow.  There are also some more advanced statistics cited for Killebrew that were not used during the time he played, such as on-base percentage.   Seeing those statistics and how they measure against other players in the Hall of Fame was interesting.

Negatives:

Even though the book is 238 pages (in a smaller size than most hard covers), I thought the entire book skimmed through Killebrew’s career and the teams he played for a little too much.  Not enough that I thought I was reading a Cliff Notes version of his life story, but it still seemed that it could have been a little more detailed.  

Do I recommend?

Yes, for baseball fans that don’t follow the Twins or Killebrew regularly, it is full of good information that a casual fan will like and understand.

Book Format Read:

Hardcover

Buying Links:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1600787029