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Baseball's Finest
Sports Heroes Library
383 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1996
4 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 25, 2022
Editor Dan Peary gathered tales from writers, celebrities and other athletes about their favorite baseball players in this collection. While some are clearly not writers (the one on Roy Campanella by his son is somewhat painful to read), other shine.
There are the takes on famous players like Tony Kubek's piece on Mickey Mantle. There are also features on Ernie Banks, Joe DiMaggio and Willie Mays. But the book shines, in my opinion, on the lesser-known players. Terry Pluto, a landmark sports writer in Cleveland, writes about Joe Charboneau and his ability to drink beer through a straw in his nose. There's an interesting one on Moe Berg, the catcher turned spy, and a nice article about Bob Uecker by former teammate Tim McCarver.
And, one of the best ones is the end interview Peary did with Vic Power. In that, Power had the immortal line about segregation in the south in the 1950s. While traveling through Little Rock once, a waiter at a restaurant barred Power from coming in. "We don't serve Negroes," he said in the parlance of the times. "That's okay," Power replied. "I don't eat Negroes."
We all have our baseball heroes; some may not be the superstars, but favorites for any reason. I loved Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins. We shared the same birthday, I grew up in Minnesota and his initials were the inverse of mine. A more obscure guy I could have written about is Dennis Hocking, a first baseman for the Twins who, in 1999, hit seven home runs for the season. I saw hit one in St. Louis in July that year with my father-in-law. He was a player who did his job and made an impression on me.
That's the theme of Peary's collection. These players all made lasting impressions; some kept scrapbooks. One had a huge crush on Lou Pinella and wrote about meeting him and actually touching him once.
Some of the stories are written less than stellar, but it's a nice group of stories from fans of all kinds.
There are the takes on famous players like Tony Kubek's piece on Mickey Mantle. There are also features on Ernie Banks, Joe DiMaggio and Willie Mays. But the book shines, in my opinion, on the lesser-known players. Terry Pluto, a landmark sports writer in Cleveland, writes about Joe Charboneau and his ability to drink beer through a straw in his nose. There's an interesting one on Moe Berg, the catcher turned spy, and a nice article about Bob Uecker by former teammate Tim McCarver.
And, one of the best ones is the end interview Peary did with Vic Power. In that, Power had the immortal line about segregation in the south in the 1950s. While traveling through Little Rock once, a waiter at a restaurant barred Power from coming in. "We don't serve Negroes," he said in the parlance of the times. "That's okay," Power replied. "I don't eat Negroes."
We all have our baseball heroes; some may not be the superstars, but favorites for any reason. I loved Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins. We shared the same birthday, I grew up in Minnesota and his initials were the inverse of mine. A more obscure guy I could have written about is Dennis Hocking, a first baseman for the Twins who, in 1999, hit seven home runs for the season. I saw hit one in St. Louis in July that year with my father-in-law. He was a player who did his job and made an impression on me.
That's the theme of Peary's collection. These players all made lasting impressions; some kept scrapbooks. One had a huge crush on Lou Pinella and wrote about meeting him and actually touching him once.
Some of the stories are written less than stellar, but it's a nice group of stories from fans of all kinds.
January 15, 2021
Some good stories. It provides a window into the creation of idols at a young age. Enjoyed learning stories that aren't commonly known about certain stars. Not all are professional writers so some stories are a little painful to read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews