Harvey Frommer on Sports
The Book Review:
DEADBALL STARS of the American League and other spring reads
Even the nearly 600 foot winding driveway that leads to my home is becoming more and more bearable as winter's bad weather memories recede and the "Boys of Summer" books make their way up to the house by sometimes cheerful and careful UPS and FedEx drivers.
"DEADBALL STARS of the American League" edited by David Jones (Potomac Books, $24.95, 812 pages, paperback) is a mother and father lode of data offering nearly 140 bios of players and personalities from that long ago time. The whole deal was put together by more than 85 members of SABR's Deadball Era Committee.
For fans of the Red Sox of Boston -here are two for you.
The reissued "Fenway" by Dan Shaughnessy and Stan Grossfeld (Houghton Mifflin ($29.95, 190 pages) hits a home run again! It is billed as a bio of the Fens in words and pictures and that it is.
"The 1967 Impossible Dream Red Sox" edited by Bill Nowlin and Dan Desrochers (Rounder Books, 382 pages) is a fabulous collection of images and writing about the 100-1 BoSox team that went all the way. Authoritative, entertaining, entrancing, this book belongs on your sports bookshelf.
From Yale University Press comes "Bart Giamatti A Profile" by Robert P. Moncreiff ($35.00, 219 pages with 22 black and white photos) which of course focuses on the life and times of the former baseball commissioner. Vivid, touching, perhaps not having as much baseball stuff in it as fans would like and a bit pricey - this nevertheless is a highly worthwhile read.
Highly Notable: "A Great Day in Cooperstown" by Jim Reisler (Carroll and Graf, $15.95, 241 pages, paper) is a splendid slice of Americana and baseball history told by a writer who knows the score.
"The story of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a triumph of public relations, organization and old fashioned persistence," Reisler writes. And from there on we are captivated by the twists and turns and politics of the time and the event. Buy the book!
Harvey Frommer is now in his 33rd consecutive year of writing sports books. He is the author of 39 sports books, including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball." His FIVE O'CLOCK LIGHTNING: BABE RUTH, LOU GEHRIG AND THE GREATEST TEAM IN BASEBALL HISTORY, THE 1927 NEW YORK YANKEES will be published by Wiley fall 2007. Frommer is at work on REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) an oral/narrative history to be published in fall 2008.
Frommer sports books are available direct from the author - discounted and autographed.
FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in excess of one million and appears on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
