No comments about Carwyn: Prince of Coaches.

1 comments about Ozzie Smith: Road to Cooperstown,, Limited Edition.

1. I bought this for my son who is a baseball fan and enjoys reading about baseball legends!! It is a joy to tell the story of the first baseball game I went to in Saint Louis and I saw Ozzy flipping around on the field...it was so exciting and it is such a joy to see my son reading about a fine baseball legend!! Enjoy the book, my son and I did!!

3 comments about Crossing: The Extraordinary Story of the First Man to Swim the English Channel.

1. THE CROSSING is the biography of daredevil sailor Matthew Webb who in 1875 became the first man to swim The English Channel...a feat which brought him acclaim and indirectly contributed to his demise by the trappings of notoriety. This is an absorbing (and sad!) study of the emergence, glory, descent, and eventual debasement of an icon...as well as an interesting commentary on the addictive nature of fame. THE CROSSING is also noteworthy as a chronicle of the birth of modern swimming and a satisfying glimpse into mid-Victorian culture and social mores. Well written, insightful, and quite fascinating.



2. An intriguing title and the book more than lived up to the promise. Matthew Webb was a sportsman, a dreamer and a true eccentric. Kathy Watson gets under the skin of the man and his world. You share his triumph in crossing the Channel and feel his pain at his later decline. I've already given this book as presents to friends and family and it's always been much appreciated even by people who aren't interested in swimming or who don't usually like biography.



3. Captain Matthew Webb was the first person to swim the English Channel in 1875. This book tells us the story of that amazing feat and gives a little insight into both the man and the society in which he lived.

   It has proved difficult for the author to give the full account of Captain Webb due to the scarce amount of material on him both before and after his most famous swim. Frequently, Watson uses a combination of hearsay contemporary biography by those who knew, well or otherwise, Captain Webb and her own gut instinct when recreating certain scenes and issues central to the story. I think she has made an admirable if undistinguished attempt at this. The pity of the whole book is that it is ill-proportioned. Watson chooses (obviously rightly) to spend a good deal of time on the Channel swim but is rather too hasty in describing what became of the man afterwards. It appears from this narrative that Webb was a virtual recluse during the year after his swim (and at the height of his fame). The next we hear of the man is his sudden dive into obscurity and the many ill advised attempts at recreating his fame with more outlandish and obscure endurance swim records and races. These are equally divided between his time in America as well as Britain. The years after Webb's swim are glossed over rather quickly, losing the opportunity to develop the character of Webb as well as the times in which it all happened. I do not attribute this failing to the author particularly as there does seem to be a dearth of information pertaining to the man. But I do still think more could have been made of those years, and similarly the rather rushed manner in which his death is portrayed with little serious effort to understand what was going on in the mind of the man, to provide a more detailed study.

   I also found it infuriating the way in which the author described certain events with little or no dynamism through choice of word or phrase. The prime example being how the band "play "See the Conquering Hero Comes" during his fame but that it is merely "strained" when performed during his fall from the public eye. On top of this, we have to put up with the author's almost schoolgirl admiration for Webb rather like the reaction of today's teen to today's teen band. I can fully appreciated the amazing achievement of the man without having him placed on a pedestal as the idol that Kathy Watson portrays him as.

   In my opinion it is very fortunate that the subject is of such interest on its own that no amount of poor writing can spoil it. What Captain Webb did all those years ago, both for swimming and for himself, stand alone as remarkable. This book should be read as an education of man's stamina and resolve as well as an example of how easy it is to fall from grace.

No comments about Our Sportive Origin: An Archetype for Healing (A Personal Story).

3 comments about Chris Von der Ahe and the St. Louis Browns.

1. This is a fine book telling the story of the first genuine "character" to own a major league baseball team. Chris Von der Ahe owned a beer garden and boardinghouse in St. Louis near the Grand Avenue baseball park where teams played their games. He realized that his bar always picked up before and after baseball games, and he decided to merge is primary business with a secondary one, baseball. He soon owned the American Association's St. Louis Browns. Mustachioed, Roman nosed, and speaking with the Dutch accent that betrayed his birth in an obscure Germanic province in 1851, Von der Ahe became the prototypical spotlight grabbing major league baseball team owner. He referred to himself, in his thick accent as "der poss bresident," and the fans loved it. He spent freely, indulged his players, and built the Browns into a baseball dynasty in the 1880s. Von der Ahe loved the celebrity his ownership brought him, for now he was not just a prosperous businessman but both a prosperous businessman and a public figure. It was an unbeatable combination, perhaps the real attraction for baseball ownership up to the present, and something repeated many times by many different owners since. In a city rich in baseball history, no one has been more significant in shaping the game in early St. Louis than Chris Von der Ahe.
   
   Von der Ahe adored publicity for his baseball exploits, even going out of his way to garner it. He made every detail of running the team as a media event. For instance, immediately after each game the departing fans could watch Von der Ahe, flanked by armed guards, trundle a wheelbarrow containing bags with the day's receipts from the team's office to the bank. When the team's new press agent, Harry B. Martin, tried to persuade Von der Ahe that the fans should really hear more about the players in the daily newspapers, the Dutchman responded, "Martin, you was a good press agent but [predecessor George] Munson was the best press agent. Now you make the mistake of thinking that the people wish to read about them ball players. Martin they don't. What the American people like to read is about me."
   
   Von der Ahe's Browns were an excellent team and dominated the American Association throughout the 1880s. Indeed, the Browns ran away with the pennant in 1885 and it won the championship each year between 1885 and 1888 under the leadership of manager-first baseman Charles Comiskey, later the owner of the American League's Chicago White Sox. When he first came to St. Louis from the Dubuque Rabbits minor league team, Von der Ahe paid Comiskey a measly $90 a month. Comiskey worked wonders with the team then demanded, and received, top pay of $5,000 per year. But Von der Ahe thought this a small price to pay for Comiskey's services since the team made him some $75,000 a year during its glory years.
   
   The St. Louis franchise did not fare well in the 1890s, in part due to poor management by Von der Ahe. It was not entirely his fault, however. The combination of poor investing and economic depression as a result of the Panic of 1893 sent his resources into a downward spiral. This led to his drinking excessively and that, coupled with a succession of mistresses that infuriated his wife, prompted her to sue for divorce. By 1898 Von der Ahe was a hollow shell of what he had been a decade earlier. The final blow, and the other owners enjoyed levying it because of the animosity they had for both Von der Ahe's lifestyle and showmanship, happened when the league forced him to sell the club to more stable owners.
   
   "Chris Von der Ahe and the St. Louis Browns" is an excellent baseball biography of a significant figure in the development of nineteenth century baseball. Enjoy!



2. I can't help but wonder whether I would have grown so fond of historic baseball had I not moved to St. Louis some years ago. Between that and reading Tom Hetrick's books on 19th century baseball, I have come to appreciate the fascinating history of America's game where the Missouri meets the Mississippi. And like his "Misfits!" chronicling the Cleveland Spiders, "Chris Von der Ahe and the St. Louis Browns" is meticulously researched, a fascinating story of one of baseball's most flamboyant owners ever and his colorful charges, and yet somehow a very human, very cautionary tale. I've commented before on Tom Hetrick's knack for turning an historic baseball phrase. Von der Ahe, after releasing a weak catcher in 1891, says, "He could not catch a string of sausages, nor hit a dead elephant with a club." The book is loaded with them. From the triumphant years where the Browns were world champions to the years when they stunk up the cellar, Hetrick's narrative unfolds quickly, competently, and with great entertainment. I could not stop turning the pages. Congratulations to Tom Hetrick on another fine outing!



3. Major League baseball has had its share of controversial owners. But after reading "Chris Von der Ahe and the St. Louis Browns," I never thought I could meet a gent who could build a ballclub to prominence like Ted Turner, then break the team up quicker than Wayne Huzienga did with the Marlins. Von der Ahe also possessed the innovative streak of Charles O. Finley (what other owner, besides Chris, had a ball park with both a horse-race track and a "Shoot-the-Chutes" ride?), could fire a manager quicker than you can say "Steinbrenner," and may have known even less about the game than Marge Schott.

   Tom Hetrick's biography vividly takes us to the wild and wooly days of late-19th century baseball, when 10 home runs could get you the home run crown, pitchers never heard the term "pitch count," and umpires had good days if they could go the entire game without getting pummeled. This is the milieu for German immigrant Von der Ahe, as we follow his rags (a modest grocer and back-of-the-store saloon keeper) to riches (real estate magnate and self-proclaimed "Boss President" of the 4-time American Association champion St. Louis Browns franchise) to flaming rags (scandal, prison, bankruptcy and his Browns' ownership wrested away from him) story.

   Hetrick presents meticulous research on the largely obscure Von der Ahe. As a lover of baseball history, I liked his outstanding treatment into the history of the American Association, the league that, for ten years (1882-1891), challenged the established National League and ushered in the precursor of today's World Series. But this book is not just for "seamheads." Hetrick presents a rich portrait of St. Louis in its golden era. He also breathes life into the bombastic and often-outrageous Von der Ahe -- fractured English and all. I laughed out loud as Von der Ahe tells his team's press agent, Harry B. Martin, "Now you magke der mistake of drinkin [thinking] dat der beable [people] vish to read about dem bum ball players. Mardin, vot der American beable like to readt is aboudt me, Chris Von der Ahe." To this reader, "Der Poss Bresident" seems to have enough hot air to inflate a Zeppelin.

   As biographies go, Tom's book is a home run. A lively and fast read, it is a great account of the game as it was played in the 19th century as well as a portrait of a common immigrant who became a great success -- only to allow that success to eventually destroy him. And don't forget, the next time you're at the ballpark with a cold beer, make a toast to Chris Von der Ahe - the man who put beer and baseball together.

3 comments about Chris Pronger: The Captain (Sport Snaps Series).

1. If you were like me and were looking for a good Pronger book, your search ends! This had a lot of great information on Pronger. Let's Go Blues!



2. This book was really good - it showed his whole life. The pictures were great and the tips accurate. It really shows the life of a player and how hard you have to try to make it big. It was a great thing for me---you should check it out.



3. The worst thing about this book is it doesn't have enough pages...I found myself wanting to read more. There are a lot of tips for young players and some bio information which is interesting. The pictures are great, espescially the younger ones. Thanks to Chris for sharing them with all of us.

2 comments about Jackie Stewart: Triple-Crowned King of Speed.

1. Stewart was the master, the first F-1 driver to see and explore the prospects of profits in F-1 racing and also the first to really concern about F-1 security in races. It's a shame this book is so expensive.



2. Stewart was the master, the first F-1 driver to see and explore the prospects of profits in F-1 racing and also the first to really concern about F-1 security in races. It's a shame this book is so expensive.

No comments about Hard Man: Hard Game.

2 comments about Tony Stewart: Hottest Thing on Wheels (Racing Superstar Series, 4).

1. This book covers Tony's stellar racing career to this point. It has some interesting facts and lots of cool B & W pictures (including one of him hugging "friend" Jeff Gordon *LOL*). A must own for any Stewart fan!




2. Who finished fourth in the 1999 Winston Cup Championship and as a rookie? Tony Stewart that's who. In this Racing Superstar Series book you'll follow along as only after 25 starts Tony Stewart capture his first checkered flag.

   As with the other books in the series, this one is also a very quick read. Like the others the book gives a look into the short but promising career of one of the brightest and most talented rookies on tour.

   As a part of Joe Gibbs Racing, Tony Stewart amassed over $2.6 millions in winnings in his first year and the future looks even brighter. Pick up a copy and take a look into the life of the new millennium of racing superstars.

No comments about Stories Of Survival: Mountaineering & Exploration.