Slick: My Life in and Around Baseball

by Whitey Ford, Phil Pepe

Whitey Ford tells the story of his rise from the sandlots of New York to national prominence at Yankee Stadium, describing events from the Yankee past and the golden age of baseball

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Autobiography

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Don LaFountaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, but given the fact that I am a Yankee fan, and always love reading biographies/autobiographies of Hall of Fame Players, my rating for this book may be a little biased.

This is an autobiography of The Chairman of the Board, Whitey Ford. Starting with his youth, the reader learns how Whitey grew up, played sandlot baseball and tried out for the Yankees as a first baseman. Fortunately, one of the coaches at the tryout noticed that he had a strong arm and asked him if he had ever pitched. From there, Ford became a pitcher who would become arguably one of the best pitchers in Major League baseball during the 1950's - 60's.

Whitey's journey covers how he came up during the 1950 pennant race and went 9 - 1 for the Yankees. In his first game, the opposing 1st base coach was able to see he was tipping his pitches. After a little bit of work, he overcame this flaw in his delivery and was a very important pitcher down the stretch, helping the Yankees win the Pennant and the World Series.

Whitey also talks about many other things, like how he met Mickey Mantle, how he, Mantle, and Martin got along so well, what happened at the Copacabana, how he felt playing for Casey Stengel, and what it was like to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He also discusses what it was like for players to have work during the offseason in order to support there families and how they were prey to a number of scam artists who took their money and quickly left town.

This is a book for baseball fans, especially Yankee fans. Whitey Ford is a very good story teller, and it was fun to read the book. The book was engaging and so the pages turned quickly. The one drawback is if fan has seen any of the Yankeeographies that are out prior to reading the book. A number of the stories that Whitey tells in the book are found in those Yankeeographies, and so it does take away from the enjoyment of reading about them for the first time. On the other hand, having watched the Yankeeographies a number of times, when I was reading the book, it was Whitey's voice that I heard.

[Marshall Merims · Rating 4 out of 5]

My latest baseball book read was about the Yankees 1950’s and 1960’s star pitcher Whitey Ford. He was a dominating lefty pitcher who twice had 20 win seasons and retired with the highest pitching winning percentage (69%) in the modern era. He went 9-1 as a rookie, but then spent two seasons serving in the military. He returned with 4 straight seasons with 16-19 wins each. He didn’t lose often and only lost 10+ games in just 2 of his 16 seasons. He shared a story about Mickey Mantle being asked to pinch hit in a game where he was being rested and was coincidentally hung-over from a long night of drinking. Mickey hit a chin high fastball over the fence for a home run on the first pitch. Upon returning to the dugout, Mickey told Whitey that “Hitting the ball was easy. Running around the bases was the tough part.” These two were part of what made the Yankees so dominant for so many years. They both retired in the late 60’s and were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame together in 1974. Career wins totaled 236 with an ERA of 2.75. "Slick" gets 4 baseballs of of 5.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really was a great baseball biography of one of the best pitchers to play the game. A HOFer and multiple World Series champion who played on some of the greatest teams ever. The book was a pleasant read, very conversational, it was like sitting down next to him as he told stories of his life and career. He skips around a bit but that just makes it more authentic. Ford is an entertaining storyteller and nothing seemed over told, just a nicely paced book.

Highly recommended, he had an interesting life and career for sure.

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

read some time in 1988