Game of My Life: Phillies

by Bob Gordon

More than 20 former and current Philadelphia Phillies players share their fondest single-game experience and memories with author Bob Gordon. Many of the moments celebrate the extraordinary events that have shaped the Phillies rich heritage in Philadelphia. Robin Roberts, Curt Simmons, John Vukovich, Kevin Jordan, Mitch Williams, Greg Luzinski, Darren Daulton, and Del Unser are just a few of the legendary Phillies stars who discuss the games of their lives. Even Phillie Phanatics I and II and Hall of Fame announcer Harry Kalas join in the fun. This book is the ticket for Philadelphia Phillies fans everywhere to travel back to many of the big games and moments that have shaped the team and franchise during its 126-year history in the City of Brotherly Love.

Genres: Baseball

223 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2008

Reviews

[Roger Heinemann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is light reading matter for Phillies fans. 31 former players and other associated with the organization (coaches, broadcasters, mascots) recount their most memorable game as a Phillie. A 6 or 7 page chapter is devoted to each player consisting of a few words by the player recounting how and why they selected a particular game, a brief bio of the individual, a description of events leading up to the game in question, a transcript of the individual's recounting of the game with some occasional editorial insertions to provide details imperfectly recalled, and then an epilogue of what transpired after the game. I thought this was a good structure both for readers unacquainted with the subject matter and for those like me who are being entertained with a new perspective into remembered events.

I must have read a different version of the book than the one described in the Goodreads summary since a number of important figures they mention as having been included like Roberts, Luzinski and Kalas were not in the book I read. On the other hand, some of those included were very obscure (Hasenmayer) or had more significant careers with other teams (Duren, Shantz). A number of the games recalled are consequently historically inconsequential (although I was personally thrilled to discover that Duren's selection was a game I attended as a 16 year old) and fail to resonate very much. However when a game is selected that highlights an important event in Phillies history, the insights are much more fun to read and relive. It would have been a much better book had the author been able to include more familiar names and/or selected more exclusively examples that retold important games from Phillies history.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fun reading some of the players "game of their lives" or more like "their most memorable/one they enjoyed the most". The backstories on some of the players and the lead-up to the games in question were a nice touch, especially for the eras before I was born. Sadly a lot of the players in this collection (as well as the two Phanatics and Chris Wheeler) are kind of inconsequential players/people in the grand scheme of things (sadly no Ashburn, or Bowa or Rose or Maddux or later years like Kruk, Dalton, Eisenreich, Utley, Howard, Rollins, etc), but published in 2008 (originally and then republished in 2013) some of that is understandable, and seeing as how this is a smaller print run style book, also understandable that some of the "big names" of Phillies history weren't around for this.

There was also a few factual and typographical errors in this as well.

It was a nice touch to end on Tug McGraw.

[Martin May · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting book, but there are numerous typos and incorrect information throughout.