Reviews for Baseball when the grass was real : baseball from the twenties to the forties told by the men who played it

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A self-confessed follow-up to Lawrence Ritter's The Glory of Their Times (1966)--this tome provides bits and pieces of oral history highlighting those golden days of the '20's, '30's and '40's. In the potpourri are: Wes Ferrell remembering the last weeks of his dying teammate Leu Gehrig; Billy Herman profiling his enigmatic manager Leo Durocher or entertaining us with the tale of how a sloshed Ernest Hemingway nearly did in Brooklyn bullpen ace Hugh Casey; legendary Cool Papa Bell reflecting on his barnstorming days in the Negro Leagues; scout Clyde Sukeforth recalling the signing of Jackie Robinson; Rip Sewe describing how he became the inventor and exclusive practitioner of the blooper pitch (the result of a leg injury). Gehringer, Grove, Mize, Feller, Reiser, et al. resurrect just about enough magic moments for the informed bleacher crowd. Five score photos make the grass a little greener for the time being. Copyright ŠKirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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