No comments about Branch Rickey: A Biography.

2 comments about Hammering Hank: How the Media Made Henry Aaron.

1. I challenge even the most dedicated fan of 1960s and 70s baseball and Hank Aaron to read this book and not come away with an entirely new appreciation for the times that Hank had to endure while he was shattering baseball's most revered record. Mssrs. Kennedy and Stewart have crafted a thoroughly researched and wonderfully written book that baseball fans, especially Hank Aaron fans, will enjoy and refer back to.
   
   A master work.



2. After reviewing the title and inside jacket, this book seemed like it would provide a critical look at an American hero and a personal favorite of mine. However, the book is a mere rehash of topics that have already been covered in other publications-- most notably, Hank Aaron's own autobiography, I Had A Hammer. This book offers no new insights into either the man or his career. Ironically, the authors state one of the reasons for doing this book is because Hank's previous books lacked sufficient insight into the man. I would stick with his 1991 autobiography and skip this. One last thing state that Hank's portrait somehow lacks substance and he is a caricature. These words are no only unfair and also I found no substantiation in the book for this conclusion. Interestingly enough, for a man supposedly lacking substance he was somehow selected as the Black Enterprise Magazine's Auto Dealer of the Year in 2004.

3 comments about Last Time Out: Big League Farewells of Baseball's Greatest.

1. This is a gem of a book and one to be savored. I recommend you read a story and put the book down for a day or two before you read the next story. Every one of these players is worth reflecting on for a while before you dig into the next one.
   
   John Nogowski knows and loves baseball, and has created a keeper for any sports library.
   
   Ned Foster



2. As a life long baseball fan who is relegated to watch major league baseball in a poorly constructed football stadium, where you lose sight of the ball the second the ball goes higher than the short stops head at the laughing stock of MLB, the Metrodome. I am naturally drawn towards reading baseball books reminiscing about a game where baseball was played outdoors on grass. The problem is there are just so many on the shelf it's hard to pick one to read. I came about finding this book by listening to the radio. One night, AM1500 talk show host TD Mischke conducted as usual another fantastic interview with that nights guest John Nogowski where he discussed this book. His knowledge, passion and insight about the game sparked my interest and I went out and picked this book up. It really is a fantastic book about the greats of the game, most of which I never got to see play.
   
   It's really an interesting and unique look at the great players of the past where Nogowski focuses on their final games. Having always had an interest in Joe DiMaggio, because of his desire to have a perfect image, which made his final games difficult since he was not up to his usual standards of perfection. Also growing up watching Cal Ripken achieve so many accomplishments in the Metrodome when he came into town it really made a great read and interesting read. I can't recommend this book highly enough for fans of every age.



3. "Last Time Out" is a unique baseball book in that it captures some long forgotten moments in the magnificent career of baseball giants like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Willie Mays and Ted Williams. Using newspaper accounts from the day, author John Nogowski finds a magical way to bring you back to those days of yesterday, so it seems as if you're sitting in a first base box seat as Joe DiMaggio rips a double off Larry Jansen or as Ty Cobb pinch-hits and pops out before a raucous Yankee Stadium crowd. Crammed with career statistics as well as the very last box score that carried the great players' name, "Last Time Out" offers 25 of baseball's greatest on the way out. Their very last time - out.

1 comments about Eddie Collins: A Baseball Biography.

1. When I finished reading Rick Huhn's excellent and comprehensive biography of Eddie Collins, one of the top secondbasemen and batsmen (.333) of all time, I was left with one burning question. Why has it taken so long for this story to be told?
   
   That the tale is worth telling is obvious. Eddie Collins was an educated man with baseball braininess to boot -- not the first, but a standout in his era. His ML playing career spanned over two decades, and his seasons climaxed six times with a World Series. He was one of the game's top base-stealers, and simply a shoo-in for Cooperstown, when that honor came along.
   
   Collins also had great supporting casts: he was a member of the $100,000 Infield, the first Mack Dynasty in Philadelphia, the White Sox dynasty of the late teens and 1920. He lingered in the game long enough to be part of Mack's Second Dynasty, too. So why is he not the subject of the small library of biographies that he seems to deserve?
   
   Huhn's book represents the answer. First, Eddie's baseball story spans a quarter of a century, just on the MLB diamonds, and to set the stage, you need to look at his days of college ball. But there's more, he was not just a player, but a manager, coach, scout (without that title), and then General Manager with yet another team, the Boston Red Sox, sandwiched between Tom Yawkey and Joe Cronin, and a force in more World Series in the Ted Williams era. In other words, this guy may not have covered as much territory in the field as a Mazeroski or Morgan, but he covered over four decades of baseball history, from 1906 until his death in 1951.
   
   That's just part of the answer. Telling his story requires an understanding of various baseball eras, as well as the events and economics that shaped each -- both World Wars, the Depression, the dramatic transition from Deadball Era to Lively. While many biographies fit into one or two periods, Collins runs the gamut. And along the way, there is a stumbling block.
   
   And that is "the Black Sox scandal" -- an event in which Eddie Collins and each member of the 1919 Chicago White Sox, like it or not, played a role. It would be easy to simply declare Collins a member of the "Clean Sox" and distance him from the fixed World Series, but to his credit, Huhn tackles this complicated and mysterious (even today) occurrence head on. Not only that, but he looks even closer at the shady business in 1917, and during the seasons of 1919 and 1920, a treat for readers who know that The Big Fix of October 1919 was hardly "baseball's single sin" (in Voigt's phrase).
   
   This book leaves so many impressions, it is hard to recall them all. First there is the relationship with Connie Mack and the A's -- Mack being one of the few figures to cast a shadow in the game, that is longer than Collins'. Under Mack, Collins bloomed into an All Star worth the small fortune he was paid each season -- $15,000, when other stars earned a third of that, or less. I do not believe his next team's magnate, Charles Comiskey, was an exceptional Scrooge; I think Commy continued those high wages year after year because Collins was always more than a player -- he was a leader, a steadying influence, always a coach and teacher, and a "company man" -- always learning, preparing for a role in management.
   
   Huhn's book is chock full of Eddie's own words -- he was also a writer, and apparently never employed a ghost -- and these words are almost "other-worldly" compared to the language common among ballplayers then and now. They reflect his college education, and a kind of gentle refinement; they are often peaceful and thoughtful, and the reader feels as if he is sitting beside a fireplace while Eddie puffs on a pipe after a day of hunting. They are a treat.
   
   So is the balanced tone of the book. It is never hero-worship, or too-harsh criticism. Huhn himself is thoughtful and reflective, as if in the time he has spent with Collins, something has rubbed off. Eddie Collins was the quintessential Quiet Man, before, during and after the Babe Ruth comet blazed across the game. He was a ballplayer first and foremost, letting his bat and glove and spikes do most of the talking. Perhaps this is another reason his biography appears so late.
   
   Huhn asks great questions all along the way (317 pages, plus end notes worth reading). How to assess the silence of the Sox who knew the Fix was in, but said nothing to the press? For insiders like Collins and Ray Schalk, it was more than suspicion, and the public silence of their manager Gleason and owner Comiskey in the year that followed the tainted Series comes in for examination, too. There is another kind of silence, too, when Collins is GM in Boston. We know now that the Red Sox had a look at Jackie Robinson before he signed with Brooklyn, and Huhn cannot resist observing that Eddie Collins' life might have been crowned with the heroism that surrounded Branch Rickey. But it wasn't, and the BoSox would not sign their first black player until long after Collins passed away.
   
   It is tempting to use both silences to underline Collins as a bureaucrat, one who refused to make waves that might upset the boat he wanted to steer someday, or the sport that prides itself on unchanging tradition. But Huhn does not do that -- he gives readers the context, the bigger picture, looks at the options, and reports the facts. Collins probably had no leverage to move the stone of the cover-up of the Fix in 1919 and 1920. And he probably was no racist in the 1940s. It was not that simple, and longer, deeper looks are needed. Huhn takes those looks.
   
   If they make a movie of the life of Eddie Collins, it just might need that old title, It's a Wonderful Life. Like the character Jimmy Stewart played in the Christmas favorite, Eddie's life touched and influenced many others -- take it away and there would be a huge hole in baseball history.

No comments about Randy Johnson and the Arizona Diamondbacks: 2001 World Series (World Series Superstars).

2 comments about Puck! Kirby Puckett: Baseball's Last Warrior.

1. The book is a very basic story of Kirby Puckett that leads much to be desired by the more mature fan. The book while a good read, seems to be written more for kids. As the other reviewer mentioned, a good read but for a better biography we will have to wait for Puckett to come out with his own later in life.

   The story of the man before his image was permanently tarnished. Brings you back to his simpler days when people smiled when you mentioned his name.




2. If baseball star Kirby Puckett were a biblical figure, he would be a cross between David, of David and Goliath and Samson, of Samson and Delilah. Unfortunaely Puck: Baseball's Last Warior doesn't approach the telling of the whole story. It is too much of an abreviation of his life and efforts. It may be that the public will have to wait for Kirby Puckett to publish his own more autobiogrphical life story for us to know what makes the man so generous, likable and thus so tragic to have had to leave baseball playing in his prime. Until such a book is published Puck will have to do for those interested in an abreviated look into the life of Kirby Puckett.

2 comments about Baseball's Good Guys: The Real Heroes of the Game.

1. The writers do an excellent job of reminding the reader of why we like sports. In this Post-Mitchell Report Era, it's nice to see examples of heros who aren't so driven by personal glory at the expense of others. Overall, a nice read.



2. I think Jack Walsh, and Marshall Cook have captured the heart and soul of Baseball's greatest players. Baseball Good Guys is a book that will inspire the reader to learn more of the Character and Integrity of these players. The statistics are there, but their ability to overcome adversity, personal problems, prejudice and more, will inform the readers of the real skills of these players.

   Be forewarned, some of the pages come to life, in such a way that splinters (possibly from the bats) seem to leap into your eyes.

   Good book, should be a must read for school athletes and those of us who lived during some of those years.

5 comments about Baby Bull: From Hardball to Hard Time and Back.

1. THIS IS THE STORY OF ORLANDO CEPEDA FORMER MLB PLAYER. ORLANDO TAKES US THRU HIS LIFE IN PUERTO RICO, BASEBALL CAREER, JAIL TIME AND HIS COMMITMENT TO BUDDAHISM. ALONG THE WAY, HE HAS MANY INTERESTING STORIES AND OPINIONS. AMONG HIS STORIES IS A THE FAMOUS BRAWL IN WHICH ORLANDO WAS ABOUT TO TAKE A BAT TO USE ON SOMEONE UNTIL WILLIE MAYS TACKLED HIM AND ENDED THAT THREAT. HE ALSO HAS SOME BAD OPINIONS OF ALVIN DARK, WILLIE MAYS, AND RUBEN GOMEZ. WHETHER ORLANDO IS TELLING THE TRUTH IN ALL OF THESE INSTANCES IS DEBATABLE. BUT HE IS HONEST ABOUT HIS ADULTERY AND DRUG USE. ORLANDO WAS A VERY TALENTED AND COLORFUL PLAYER. I FOUND HIS BOOK TO BE BOTH ENTERTAINING AND INTERESTING. I RECOMMEND IT FOR ALL BASEBALL FANS.



2. I found the book very boring, as is typical of most books by former ballplayers. I should have known better. Orlando talks about his life growing up in PR, briefly about the minors, the majors, and his post-career life. He is very frank about his life. Orlando didn't care for Al Dark or Willie Mays. OC was the first SF Giants hero, as Willie was considered a NY guy.



3. I tend to prefer my baseball books pure, untainted by "larger" themes (as though there were any).

   I knew that this book, billed as a frank autobiography of Orlando Cepeda, would deal with his conviction for smuggling marijuana. But I am interested purely in his baseball career and was planning not to take much interest in what happened afterwards.

   And yet, it must be confessed that Orlando's story of the disgrace that he suffered among his fellow Puerto Ricans after his arrest and conviction and how Buddhism helped him to overcome his difficulties and make peace with the world and find his way back into major league baseball was a moving one. Especially touching is the story of his reunion with a son sired out of wedlock.

   But the story of his personal experience with weed is uncomfortably vague. He acknowledges having smoked it as a youth in Puerto Rico and that he picked up the habit again in 1965, while still with the Giants, to relieve stress after a particularly bad run-in with The Evil One, Manager Herman Franks.

   Yet Orlando appears to have become as happy as a clam after having been traded to the Cardinals in 1966, and this is certainly reflected in his performance while with the Cardinals and in the championship seasons that "El Birdos" compiled with him on the roster.

   So with the stress gone, did he continue to smoke pot as a Cardinal? And with the teams that he played on afterwards? How did this affect his performance at game time? Orlando simply does not tell us.

   Still, it's "Baseball Forever", and baseball purists will be glad to know that most of this book is set in between the foul lines. This is a familiar-sounding story of a youngster who grew up in poverty, despite having been born the son of Puerto Rico's most celebrated ballplayer, the great Perucho Cepeda. Perucho was known as "The Bull", and Orlando's nickname, which is the title of this book, was naturally passed onto him.

   He used his natural ability (presumably also inherited from his father) and effort to overcome prejudice in the United States and build a storybook career.

   The year-by-year recapitulation of his performance and that of the teams he played on is interesting but unremarkable and gives the reader a chance to reacquaint himself with the players from that era. What I primarily wanted to hear was Orlando's version of his alleged refusal to move from first base to left field in order to enable the Giants to get both his big bat and that of Willie McCovey into the lineup in a way which would not sacrifice too much defense (McCovey was not mobile enough to play left field effectively).

   It is remarkable that a team laden with as much talent as the San Francisco Giants of the 1950's and 1960's won only one National League pennant, and many blame this on Cha-Cha's alleged refusal to make the switch to left.

   In interviews conducted by Steve Bitker for his book, "The Giants of `58", Herman Franks repeats this charge, and Orlando sidesteps it. But even Bill Rigney, revered by Orlando as a father figure, states that he thinks that the Giants would have won the pennant in 1959 (McCovey's Rookie of the Year season) if Orlando would have been more cooperative.

   Again, Orlando is uncomfortably vague in dealing with this issue, stating only that by 1966, he was ready to try to become the best left-fielder in baseball but that Herman Franks was already set on getting rid of him. But McCovey and Cepeda had played together for six years before 1966 (Cepeda was hurt for virtually all of 1965). What of those years?

   The statistical comparisons from those years of how often Orlando played the outfield and of McCovey's at-bats and Orlando's might provide a slightly better defense of Orlando than he does of himself.

   After 1959, 1962 seems to be the only year in which McCovey, while healthy, might have been deprived of at-bats because of Orlando's possible resistance to playing left field. Yet the Giants won the pennant that year and so this resistance appears not to have cost them.

   But while McCovey does not appear to have been deprived of at-bats during those other years, he mostly played left field in 1963 and 1964, and played it poorly, while Cepeda was anchoring first. Would a switch have made enough of a difference to mean a Giants pennant? The statistics show that Orlando played creditably in left field in 1960 and 1961.

   Cepeda also responds to Herman Franks's charge that he was a poor clutch hitter by pointing to his 553 RBI's garnered over his first five seasons. It's an astounding number, but it includes a monstrous 1961 season in which Orlando produced 142 "ribbies", which staggers the five-year total somewhat. From 1958 to 1960, he averaged slightly under 100 RBI's a season.

   100 RBI's is usually a sterling number, but RBI's, by themselves, do not a clutch hitter make. Runs batted in during the early stages of a close game might make a difference later but are not the stuff that heroes are made of.

   And runs produced when one's team is hopelessly ahead or behind are meaningless. But situational statistics weren't kept in Orlando's day so the case for him having been a good or a bad "clutch" hitter can only be made through anecdotal evidence, which is lacking in both the Cepeda and Franks accounts.

   So to this day, it remains unresolved whether Orlando's complaints about being under-appreciated are valid - or just a lot of Baby Bull.




4. Orlando Cepeda is one of the greatest baseball players of our time. His personal life story is even more inspiring than any of his professional achievements. I was so moved by his accounts of overcoming drug addiction and other tribulations. I was also inspired by his encounter with Soka Gakkai and Buddhism. I recommend another book filled with wise quotes from the Buddhism Orlando Cepeda practices titled "Open Your Mind, Open Your Life: A Book of Eastern Wisdom." by Taro Gold. Wonderful.



5. I saw Orlando Cepeda play throught his career (mostly in person during the time he was with St. Louis). He was my hero then, he is a hero now. The book captures it all. I just wished that its publication could have waited to include a chapter on his 1999 induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame (maybe the paperback will). But with all the times he just missed out on the honor, who can blame the man for writing his story now.

3 comments about One Of A Kind.

1. There are a lot of baseball biographies out there but this one provides a unique twist. Kathryn "Katie" Conley, the author of the book, is Gene Conley's wife and it is as much her story as it is his. You learn about their young lives, their courtship, Katie's devotion to the teaching of the Seventh Day Adventist church, and Gene's rise to play two professional sports, starting with the Boston Braves and later with the Boston Celtics. Gene would go on to win a World Series ring with the Milwaukee franchise in 1957 and then an NBA championship with the Celtics the year after (Conley would repeat to win two more consecutive NBA titles with the Celtics). Katie Conley is proud of her husband's achievements and she gives him his due.
   
   The author doesn't gloss over her husband's shortcomings with alcohol abuse while playing ball. Both would admit that this, as well as arm trouble, brought his baseball career to an end much sooner than if he had taken better care of himself. Money is a major topic of the book. The chronic shortage of money when they first started life together, the contract disputes and issues around playing two professional sports,
   and even the phone being removed because of mounting long distance bills
   are some of the problems faced by the couple as Gene was, for a while, gone year 'round, playing basketball after baseball season was over and then diving into baseball in late spring (he went on to play baseball for the Phillies and the Red Sox and the Knicks in the NBA).
   
   You are more likely to read about the horrid hotels and motels in which they would stay than you would about what it was like to pitch in the World Series. There is a distance in the telling of the story, since it is not written by Gene himself. There are glimpses into the goofiness that went on in baseball like the "Braves Playboys" where Gene at 6'10" is on the floor Indian wrestling someone and he ends up knocking he legs out from under a piano. Of course, the gendarmes were brought in, which later caused Gene a paucity playing time under manager Fred Haney.
   
   Perhaps one of the starker topics that threads its way through the biography is all of the injuries that he suffered playing two sports: fingers, hands, ankles, hip, feet, shoulder are all mangled or abused or damaged sometime during his career and like many others of the time, he played when he was hurt...as much out of fear being replaced as loyalty to his team.
   
   Also, in this book, you get the full account of why Gene Conley (after having been bludgeoned by the Yankees in game in the Bronx) decided after tying one on to catch a plane to Jerusalem. This AWOL action caught everyone off guard, even his family, who didn't know where he was.
   
   Katie Conley does a good job explaining what it was like as a baseball wife and mom, trying to bring up three children and this adds a personal touch that pages of stats won't provide. It is also obvious that she is proud of her husband's accomplishments, not only on the mound or court, but also his work with NBA pensions. (Both of them founded organizations to lobby the NBA to provide pensions to older NBA players who were receiving little or no pension money.)
   
   This book will not give you a pitch by pitch or jump shot by jump shot view of the professional careers of pro baseball and basketball. It does provide enough highlights of his career and a glimpse into his family's private life to provide well-rounded enjoyable reading.



2. There are a lot of baseball biographies out there but this one provides a unique twist. Kathryn "Katie" Conley, the author of the book, is Gene Conley's wife and it is as much her story as it is his. You learn about their young lives, their courtship, Katie's devotion to the teaching of the Seventh Day Adventist church, and Gene's rise to play two professional sports, starting with the Boston Braves and later with the Boston Celtics. Gene would go on to win a World Series ring with the Milwaukee franchise in 1957 and then an NBA championship with the Celtics the year after (Conley would repeat to win two more consecutive NBA titles with the Celtics). Katie Conley is proud of her husband's achievements and she gives him his due.
   
   The author doesn't gloss over her husband's shortcomings with alcohol abuse while playing ball. Both would admit that this, as well as arm trouble, brought his baseball career to an end much sooner than if he had taken better care of himself. Money is a major topic of the book. The chronic shortage of money when they first started life together, the contract disputes and issues around playing two professional sports,
   and even the phone being removed because of mounting long distance bills
   are some of the problems faced by the couple as Gene was, for a while, gone year 'round, playing basketball after baseball season was over and then diving into baseball in late spring (he went on to play baseball for the Phillies and the Red Sox and the Knicks in the NBA).
   
   You are more likely to read about the horrid hotels and motels in which they would stay than you would about what it was like to pitch in the World Series. There is a distance in the telling of the story, since it is not written by Gene himself. There are glimpses into the goofiness that went on in baseball like the "Braves Playboys" where Gene at 6'10" is on the floor Indian wrestling someone and he ends up knocking he legs out from under a piano. Of course, the gendarmes were brought in, which later caused Gene a paucity playing time under manager Fred Haney.
   
   Perhaps one of the starker topics that threads its way through the biography is all of the injuries that he suffered playing two sports: fingers, hands, ankles, hip, feet, shoulder are all mangled or abused or damaged sometime during his career and like many others of the time, he played when he was hurt...as much out of fear being replaced as loyalty to his team.
   
   Also, in this book, you get the full account of why Gene Conley (after having been bludgeoned by the Yankees in game in the Bronx) decided after tying one on to catch a plane to Jerusalem. This AWOL action caught everyone off guard, even his family, who didn't know where he was.
   
   Katie Conley does a good job explaining what it was like as a baseball wife and mom, trying to bring up three children and this adds a personal touch that pages of stats won't provide. It is also obvious that she is proud of her husband's accomplishments, not only on the mound or court, but also his work with NBA pensions. (Both of them founded organizations to lobby the NBA to provide pensions to older NBA players who were receiving little or no pension money.)
   
   This book will not give you a pitch by pitch or jump shot by jump shot view of the professional careers of pro baseball and basketball. It does provide enough highlights of his career and a glimpse into his family's private life to provide well-rounded enjoyable reading.



3. I know Katie and Gene, and they are wonderful people. Gene's sports life was terrific, to say the least. He played 2 national league sports, at the same time, basically; basketball and baseball. Not many can say that. This book highlights his life, his family, and him. God bless him, Katie, and their family, and those who read the book.

5 comments about Rogers Hornsby: A Biography.

1. Just like his book on Cobb, Alexander's bio on Hornsby is excellent. What I especially like about it is that the author provided considerable info. on Hornsby's personal life during and after his career as a player. I don't feel that Hornsby was "colorless." He had an abrasive, stubborn insensitive personality and his interests were generally confined to baseball and horseracing. Still he managed several major league teams and married three times. I think Alexander really captured the essence of Hornsby. you were actually able to feel Hornsby's one track obsession with baseball and human failings that his contemporaries saw. If Hornsby had been able to contain his horseracing gambling addiction, he would have become a wealthy man after he retired as a player instead of struggling. Yet Hornsby was always able to find someone- in baseball or out to hire him.
   
   The author's writing style makes for an easy read. Alexander's research is excellent. This includes interviews with players who played for him. There's just enough detail about his career to make the chronology of his baseball career complete- without a boring recitation of every game he played. And in contrast to one reviewer, I don't find the author's omission of Hornsby's baseball statistics or discussion of his saber metrics a problem at all. There are many other sources for such information.



2. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I thought the author did a marvelous job of capturing the essence of Rogers Hornsby's personality, warts and all. By the time I finished it, I felt that I really knew what Hornsby was like.
   
   I also had a small personal connection to Hornsby that served to increase my enjoyment of this book. When I was ten years old in 1960, living in the Chicago suburb of Lincolnwood, my grandfather, who was retired and living with my family, somehow became friends with Rogers Hornsby. What was the one common interest that brought these two guys together? You guessed it - playing the horses! Almost everyday, from the time they met in 1960 until Hornsby died in 1963, he would drive his car to our house, and then ride together with my grandfather in my grandfather's car to Arlington Park Race Track. Knowing of my love for baseball even at the age of ten, my grandfather introduced me to Mr. Hornsby and even had him sign a baseball for me - unfortunately long since lost! I also spoke to him numerous times on the phone when he called our house.
   
   Mr. Alexander makes it vividly clear that, other than his love for baseball, the major constant in Hornsby's live was his addiction to playing the horses. It's now very clear to me why these two old codgers became fast friends - their love of horseracing.



3. This is an outstanding biography of the hitting machine, Rogers Hornsby, perhaps the greatest right-handed hitter in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB). The story that Charles C. Alexander tells explores the rise and fall of this remarkable baseball player, an individual who could work magic on the diamond but had real difficulty off of it.
   
   Signed out of Texas to the St. Louis Cardinals, he had a "cup-of-coffee" with the team at the end of the 1915 season, hitting a measly .246. Hardly a stellar debut, but after working hard all winter the next year Hornsby made the Cardinals and batted .313 while becoming the everyday second baseman. He went on to compile a career batting average of .358 and established the highest single season batting average when he hit .424 for the Cards in 1924. Indeed, from 1921-1925, Rogers' overall batting average was .402, a truly amazing accomplishment. In 1925 Hornsby became player-manager of the Cardinals and the next year his team captured its first National League pennant by edging Cincinnati in the final week of the season after an August spurt had shot them into pennant contention. The season was made perfect by the Cards' first victory in the World Series, coming at the expense of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and the rest of the New York Yankees.
   
   Always an abrasive force on the Cardinals, the year after his World Series success the owner shipped him off to the New York Giants for Frankie Frisch and Jimmy Ring. It was only the first time in which Hornsby's personality led to adversity for him. But there was room for only one massive ego on the Giants and within a short time manager John J. McGraw shipped him to the Boston Braves. From there he went to the Chicago Cubs, back to the Cardinals, and then to the St. Louis Browns. He finally retired in 1937. Hornsby lived another 26 years after retiring from MLB, always hovering around the fringes of it but never truly a part of it. He eventually died in 1963, bitter about his fate.
   
   Charles C. Alexander is an outstanding historian, the author of several other books on baseball as well as on other subjects. This is a superb addition to his path-breaking series of studies on a range of subjects.



4. This is the third book I've read by Alexander, which I suppose is evidence that his books are readable.

   In the end they all share the same strengths and weaknesses.

   For a straightforward narrative of the key points of Hornsby's career and life, this is perfectly OK.

   But the book really stays on the surface. For example, there is never any in-depth discussion of techniques of batting or fielding. It's like reading a book on Napoleon without finding anything about the nature of warfare in the period.

   Also, there is very little meangingful discussion of Hornsby's relative baseball greatness. Alexander doesn't need to become a zealous SABRmetrician, but some basic statistics about Hornsby and others (beyond saying what the average batting average for the league was in a given year) seems called for. Alexander doesn't even include a table or appendix with Hornsby's basic statistics.

   I've given this 3 stars, because for the general reader it's OK. If I were rating it as serious history, I'd give it a 1. You come away from this book unaware that there have been lots of serious books written about baseball and its relation to society. Alexander's attempts to provide historical context are embarassing--on the order of, "The same continued hot, dry weather than made the Great Plains a Dust Bowl was present on Opening Day 1936 [my paraphrase, to be honest]".

   In short, there is the same strain of intellectual laziness in this book that I saw in his others.




5. Alexander captures Hornsby and his times perfectly. While not as readable as the author's previous "Ty Cobb", this is due more to Hornsby's general colorlessness than in Alexander's writing. As enigmatic as Hornsby was, Alexander does a great job in telling the life of the man who hit for the highest average in the 20th century.