The Baseball Guru - "The Wizard of Waxahachie" Review by Harvey Frommer

Harvey Frommer on Sports

The Book Review

"A Game Plan for Life" by John Wooden (Bloomsbury, $25.00, 208 pages) is all about as its sub-title proclaims the power of mentoring. Nearing 100 at his next birthday, the the famed former UCLA basketball coach, the Wizard of Westwood, serves up three pointers with a special focus on seven figures who helped shape his outlook on sports and life. If you are into Wooden and life lessons from a long lifer, this is for you.

"The Wizard of Waxahachie" by Warren Corbett (SMU Press, $24.95, 428 pages) evokes the life and times of Texan Paul Richards and his world of baseball in the fifties through the seventies. The first manager to track on-base percentage, the first to monitor pitch counts, Richards also invented the giant mitt for catchers of knuckeballs. Fascinating read. "The Wizard of Waxahachie" now has to stand as the definitive book on the subject.

Harvey Frommer is his 33rd consecutive year of writing sports books. The author of 40 of them including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his acclaimed REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball." The prolific Frommer is at work on REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK (2010).

Frommer sports books are available direct from the author - discounted and autographed.

FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.

"The Catch" by Gary Myers, (Crown $26.00) is all about the fabled moment in NFL history when quarterback Joe Montana threw the TD pass to Dwight Clark and all of San Francisco rejoiced. It is a book about that team but also about the team the catch defeated, the Dallas Cowboys. Myers has outdone himself in this breathtaking account that focuses on much more than a single catch. It is filled with compelling stories that take us into the inner workings of NFL franchises. MUST READ for pro football fans.