The Baseball Book Club discussion

This will be the discussion thread on the January book of the month, The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship

To start the discussion, I will ask this question: Of the four men portrayed in the book, whose story was the best one and why? For me, it was Bobby Doerr and it was because of the way he carried himself off the field and the love he showed for his wife, even late in their lives. While it has been a couple of years since I read the book, I did remember that even the author was moved because Doerr missed the interview sessions in person to care for his wife.

My full review is here: http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...

Lance wrote: "To start the discussion, I will ask this question: Of the four men portrayed in the book, whose story was the best one and why? For me, it was Bobby Doerr and it was because of the way he carried h..."
I too read it a few years ago. I found it touching and a bit depressing but I agree that Doerr's story was the most admirable.

Halberstam is a master at stringing together anecdotes and rolling them into a great story. I loved the way he wrote the books on 1949 and 1964.

I can never get enough stories about Ted Williams. It's interesting to contrast Ted and Joe D. near the end. For all his bombastic anger and ego, Ted could be very loyal to friends, both inside and outside of baseball. He often went out of his way to make friends with average people. It's interesting that all the years after playing together these four still shared a fondness for each other. Joe D, on the other hand, was so cold and unforgiving of any slight that when he died the only person close to him who had any emotion was his blood-sucking lawyer who kept trying to wrench more and more signatures out of his dying hands.

I just finished the book yesterday. I have to agree about Bobby Doerr. It even seemed at times there was more about him in the book. The story of game 7 in the 1946 World Series represented for me the reason why fans continuously debate and relive plays and games. The injuries described were heartbreaking. I didn't realize how many years pitchers went for as long as 9 innings. Ouch. Details about the changes in treatments for injuries also interested me. Management changes and devaluing of players shouldn't have surprised me, but they did. Overall, good portrayals, writing, and history.

My review is done!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I felt there was something missing but couldn't pinpoint it. Maybe halberstam tried too much into a short book.

Brina wrote: "I felt there was something missing but couldn't pinpoint it. Maybe halberstam tried too much into a short book."

It seemed to be a somewhat daunting task to write this book so many decades after these guys played. The story focused solely on the four, and little else. Nevertheless, it pretty much was about what it promised.

And he could have written 400 more pages and not run out of material

Brina wrote: "And he could have written 400 more pages and not run out of material"

I bet! On the other hand I appreciated the shortness. I haven't read the Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero bio because it's 400 pages. And I want to read it.