Book Description

Ever wonder what it would take to turn all of your dreams into reality? In The Life You Imagine, All-Star New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter shows how you can use the same game plan that helped an eight-year-old boy who fantasized about playing baseball for the Bronx Bombers grow up and become MVP of the 2000 World Series. With the help and support of both of his parents, Derek developed a practical program that would assist him in achieving all of his personal and professional aspirations-and now he shares his secrets to success so that you can get closer to living your dream, too.

In this inspiring, information-packed book, Derek provides you with the ten lessons that have guided him throughout his life on and off the field, from his dream of being a gifted, hardworking athlete to his goal of becoming an active community leader. Using personal stories from his own life as a student athlete in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and as a Yankee team player, Derek writes about the simple steps that put him on course for success, including:

* Setting your goals high and finding the right role models
* Being serious but still having fun
* Challenging yourself daily and not being afraid to fail
* Surrounding yourself with a strong supporting cast

Filled with rare family photos and pictures of Derek playing for the Yankees, The Life You Imagine is an intimate look into the life of a superstar athlete -- including the remarkable relationship he has with his family, what it's like to play with the Yankees, and how he's used his baseball celebrity to found the Turn 2 Foundation, a drug and alcohol prevention program for kids. ... Read more

Reviews (28)

An inspirational book from a true role model
Derek Jeter is young by most all standards. At 26 years old he has his whole life ahead of him, but the story he has lived so far is incredibly rich in inspiration. As an athlete in the dawning of the 21 st century the way he chooses to live his life in the spotlight is even more commendable considering the alternative routes he could have chosen to go down. Instead of a money hungry, media blasting, bitter ball player, Derek Jeter has become a man we all can admire because of the little boy with a dream that he was... someone we can all identify with. This story solidifies his standing as a great role model for young and old alike. In this book you will see Derek's childhood and his ongoing journey through this life he has imagined. You will find out how deeply his family has grounded him and how wonderful a job they did. This story is great if you want to be inspired by a truly wonderful young man!

The Life You Imagine: Life Lessons for Achieving Your Dreams
Who wouldn't want to be Derek Jeter? The money, fame, and women. The truth is, Jeter never really had it this good. This book, The Life You Imagine: Life Lessons for Achieving Your Dreams, talks about Jeter's struggles growing up, and his inspiring life-long dream he fulfilled when he reached the major leagues. In this book, Jeter talks about setting goals no matter how high, and striving hard to accomplish those goals. This is a book about life lessons, and using perseverance to get passed any stumbling blocks that may occur in one's life. Jeter encourages kids to dream, and believe they can accomplish their dreams. Even Derek Jeter faced difficult problems he had to overcome. In this book, Jeter gives a positive message to everyone, to believe in yourself, and you can do anything!

This book is unlike any other. Sure other books give positive messages about life, but this book gives lessons about life also. Anyone could tell a person that the problem they're facing is common and will work out, but it helps to hear from a professional athlete that experienced that same problem. Another thing that sets this book apart from others is its mood. The mood in this story is changing often. One chapter the story could be sad because of a bad situation Jeter faced, and the next chapter of the story could be happy because Jeter overcame his problem. The story goes back and forth, with Jeter facing a problem, then solving a problem. In the end Jeter is always able to persevere enough to get past whatever situation he faced, big or small. This book gives positive messages to everyone, but especially to kids. It talks about not using drugs, making right decisions, and being a good person. Derek Jeter is a great role model for any kid, not because he's a great baseball player, but because he's a great person.

My favorite book of all time..
I'm about to read this book for the third time and I'm sure I'll love it just as much as the last. Reading this book always refreshes my outlook on life, it makes me see things in a more positive life. Jeter not only shines on the field, but off the field as well. He is one person that I will look up to for the rest of my life.

Best book you can buy.
This book is incredible. I bought it 2 years ago thinking it was just about baseball, but it was much more then that. He talks about achieving your dreams. As a kid little Derek Jeter wanted to play Shortstop for the New York Yankees. Look where he is now. Short Stop for the Yankees. This dream wasn't just handed to him. He had to overcome a lot of challenges he dealt them in different ways. His parents where very supportive of anything he and his sister wanted. They deal a big part of his success.

This book was very useful to me. When I read it back in 8th grade I didn't want to put it down. SSR became my favorite part of the day so I could read it. I don't know how it happened, but the book was so inspiring. As I read it I would think, "Hey if Derek can do it so can I." Being in Special Ed. I though, "I'm not as smart as other people so why bother." After reading it I began to focus on my grades a lot more. I did all my homework and suddenly I had all these good grades. In the middle of the year I got moved up to regular classes and at the end of the year I was moved out of Special Ed. I now think anyone in Special Ed. can do well they just have to work hard and focus on school.

I'm now in 10th grade and I'm working hard to graduate and get into college teachers have asked me what encouraged me and I always say, "Derek Jeter." For some teachers that I have loved I bought them a copy of this book and they loved it. Because of this masterpiece book my whole future has been changed. I now know what I want in life. There have been so many wonderful things that have happened to me just because I focus in school and I owe it all to Derek Jeter.

Jeter should be #1
This book was well written and made you want to be a part of the jeter houshold!!! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Leigh Montville's Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero is the definitive biography that baseball fans have been waiting for. Montville, who was a sports columnist for the Boston Globe and then a senior writer for Sports Illustrated is an admitted Red Sox and Williams fanatic, and his passion for his hero rings clearly from every page, along with his clear baseball expertise. But Montville does not hide Williams's flaws. The young Williams was temperamental and justified bad behavior with batting prowess that could excuse just about anything. Quick to anger, "the Kid" had a gift for foul language, too.

Montville's study offers insides accounts of Williams's obsessive development as a hitter and his constant struggle to perfect his swing (mistakenly called "natural" by sports writers with little understanding of his extensive preparation). The chapter on 1941, perhaps the greatest year in his career, draws on research and interviews never before published. Montville lets whole passages stand uninterrupted--from Williams's manager, Joe Cronin, from his teammate Dom DiMaggio, and from other players and baseball officials who tell the story of Williams's quest for a .400 batting average. The tale of the final day of the season (when he refused to be benched and went six for eight in a double header to jump from .39955 to his final total, .406) is as pulse-pounding as any thriller.

Alongside its essential focus on Williams's baseball life, the book also delves into his military service during both World War II and the Korean War, his passion for sports fishing, and his commitment to helping children through the Jimmy Fund. Finally, Montville devotes a chapter to the controversy after Williams's death, exposing the back-and-forth among Williams's heirs in the bizarre decision to freeze his body in a cryogenic warehouse in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Montville's biography makes a good case that Williams was, if not the greatest hitter ever to play the game, certainly among them. For his focused, scientific approach to hitting, Williams is unmatched in the history of the game. His life, marred perhaps by a temper and occasional immaturity that soured his reputation in Boston, is one of true sports greatness. Early in the book, Montville argues that Williams is less appreciated today than he might be because he played out most of his 19-year career in the era before televised highlights. But with Montville's efforts to capture first-hand accounts of Williams's achievements, The Splendid Splinter's legacy is assured. --Patrick O'Kelley ... Read more

Reviews (19)

The Life Of Ted Williams
Ted Williams is one of the greatest baseball players of all time. His .406 batting average stands as of the game's greatest accomplishments and is still the benchmark average that modern players aim towards. Leigh Montvale's Ted Williams: The Biography Of An American Hero is the most extensive book about the Splendid Splinter. Despite the fanfare, the book is a disappointment. Mr. Montvale spends far too much time on Mr. Williams' life after baseball than his time within the game. To any reader of any sports biography, the most important aspect of the book should be the subject's athletic career. No one wants to read just an expanded stat sheet, but Mr. Montvale concentrates too much of the book on Mr. Williams' life outside of baseball. The 1941 season has some detail, but the 1946 is almost written as an afterthought. That season ended in Mr. Williams' only trip to the World Series in his long career. His two Triple Crown seasons of 1942 & 1947 are mentioned in passing. Mr. Montvale does do an excellent job of explained the bitter rivalry between Mr. Williams and the Boston sportswriters. But again, he spends too much time into the background of the writers (one doesn't really care about the life history of Mr. Williams' fiercest critic, Dave Egan, but we get that). Mr. Montvale does go into great detail about Mr. Williams' three marriages and his fishing life on the Florida Keys and Canada. This is interesting, to a point, but these aspects of his life should have been given the secondary nature that his career received. Mr. Montvale also conveys Mr. Williams as an impetuous, foul-mouthed crank and relays countless stories from acquaintances and loved ones who hammer this point home. Included is a word for word interview with Mr. Williams' third wife Dolores that was conducted in 1969 but never released that makes this point abundantly clear. Mr. Montvale ends the book with a sort of biography within a biography as he details the life and exploits of Mr. Williams' only son, John Henry. Again, this is interesting and shows how sad of an end that Mr. Williams' life had, but he goes overboard in his tales of John Henry's transgressions. This book is not without merit as it does provide some detailed insights into one of the 20th Century's greatest athletes, but it falls short of its potential greatness.

Great biography, depressing ending
This is a fascinating and illuminating book about a talented baseball player, a military hero, and a cantankerous curmudgeon - Ted Williams. Montville does a terrific job of encapsulating the Splendid Splinter's eventful 83 years into a fascinating 500-page book, complete with nearly a hundred black-and-white photographs, many never before seen. If you're looking for a biography of Ted Williams this is probably the one to get; it covers his entire life, something that his 1969 autobiography doesn't do (obviously).

Montville doesn't shine much new light onto the Public Ted - any true baseball fan is already familiar with his battles with the media, his 406 average in 1941, his weak performance in the 1946 World Series, the two military interruptions to his baseball career, his storybook home run in his final at-bat, etc. We already knew that stuff. Where the book truly shines is in illuminating the Private Ted...

The selfish Ted, who'd drag uninterested wives along with him on fishing trips, and who'd rather be alone in a boat somewhere than be present for his children's births; his lustful enjoyment of his hobbies was more important than his family. The angry and blasphemous Ted, who'd spit at fans and frequently (and colorfully) take the Lord's name in vain with a smattering of the f-word and his favorite modifier, "syphilitic." The lonely Ted, who married three beautiful trophy wives, had teammates and friends all over the country, yet still lacked the unconditional love he desperately needed. Somehow Montville manages to paint Williams as sympathetic, lovable, and even heroic, while still telling the story of a bitter and cranky man.

Thankfully, there were at least a few caring people in Ted's life to help diffuse his negativity and give him unconditional love: Louise Kaufman, the grandmotherly woman who became Ted's longtime companion after his three failed marriages to younger women, and the male nurses who took care of him during his final decade on Earth.

Sadly, the book (like Williams's life) ends on an unavoidable down-note. Montville frightens us with the awful tale of Ted's money-grubbing son, John-Henry. Here the author fairly throws objectivity aside, painting the younger Williams in tones reminiscent of Shakespeare's Iago. John-Henry's underhanded machinations and obvious treatment of Ted as a meal ticket rather than a beloved father left me feeling sad and depressed at the story's end. Junior was more concerned with his progenitor's ability to sign and sell valuable autographs than his comfort and welfare during his declining years. The demon seed of Ted Williams kept his father's friends and loved ones from calling and visiting, and then - in an act which violated Ted's wish for cremation, as per his will - John-Henry had his father cryogenically frozen after his death. Thus began the fighting and infinite court proceedings between Ted's offspring - an embarrassing and surreal coda to a life otherwise lived with integrity and dignity.

A great book about a great man. As sports biographies go, it's surely one of the best - just like Ted.

(News update: John-Henry Williams, 35, died of leukemia in March 2004. Perhaps now the legal maneuvering will stop; perhaps Ted can at last be cremated and have his ashes spread across the waters of Florida, just as he wanted. Meanwhile, thanks to John-Henry, the decapitated head of Ted Williams remains in a frozen vat in Arizona.)

A must read for Williams fans...
This book is a must read for Williams fans, Red Sox fans and baseball fans in general. I felt this book was one of the most balanced books I have read aboout Williams. Not only does it pay tribute to his success on the field and in the air during WW II and Korea, but also decribes his many faults. I have always been a fan of Montville and this book, simply put, is a great one.

A good, honest look at a good, honest man...
I recently read Cramer's bio of Joe DiMaggio and thought this would be a good complement. And it was. While the more one finds out about DiMaggio during and after baseball, the less one likes him; the more one reads about Williams, the more one likes HIM. He was the anti-Joe with his time and genuine concern for people, especially those less fortunate (in particular, children and the Jimmy Fund in Boston).

For baseball fans, this book is not too deep on his accomplishments on the field. But then again, his career is so well-documented that baseball fans are probably very familiar with it. Montville does shed light on his early days in the minors, the majors, the .400 season, the service years, his bad relationship with the Boston sportswriters and his refusal to tip his cap when he homered in his last career bat. All things that we are familiar with, but about which it was good to know more.

For those who are not baseball fans, the book offers more of a look at this man who had achieved so much in his profession, served his country in the middle of his career (in two separate wars) and delved into the complex relationship he had with his family yet how easy it was to be his friend...on his terms.

I think the author gives a good and balanced account of how this man went from a not-so-popular player in his own hometown and even with some of his teammates, to the much-adored icon he was in the last 10-15 years of his life. There are some truly touching passages about his innate goodness that was sometimes overshadowed by occasional and irrepressible bouts of anger. Looking around at today's ballplayers, once hopes for someone like Barry Bonds to have the same fate. To be misunderstood and unpopular while putting up one of the best careers even seen in the game and to be redeemed in the later years of his life. Might be too much to hope for in that case...

What a life Teddy Ballgame had!
This book describes greatness, a quest for perfection, deep and long-term friendships between men; heroism and personal sacrifice for country; some of the inside details of baseball, a deep love for the game, betrayal and exploitation; and ultimately one of the most bizarre aftermath's to the life of a legend. There is no doubt that Ted Williams was one of the best hitters who ever lived. In fact, it can be argued, something that I often do, that he was the best hitter to ever play the game. On that note, while he was blessed with incredible skills, like so many successful athletes, he practiced as if he was a religious fanatic and that was his daily devotions. He was also a very intelligent man, some of the facets of hitting that Williams discussed had never been considered before. He studied pitchers with a precision that probably has never been duplicated.
Under the social classifications now used, Ted was a Hispanic, his father was Mexican and his mother Caucasian. Growing up in San Diego, he was worshipping baseball and making it his field of study at a very early age. Unfortunately, his skill at hitting a baseball did not translate into maturity. He became a star at an early age, and he never managed to mellow a ferocious temper, which many of his friends said was the key to his success. Like so many people who accomplished so much, he was a perfectionist. He would hit a homerun and then criticize himself for swinging at a pitch that was not in the strike zone. Montville criticizes Williams for this, but it is not totally justified. A mistake that turns out right is still a mistake, and if you are satisfied with that, then over the long haul, the mistakes will sum to a point that will overwhelm you.
It is amazing to think that he pulled two tours of duty as a Marine Corps pilot, flying combat missions in the Korean War and having a plane shot out from under him. There is no greater testament to his hitting ability than what happened after he returned from Korea at the age of 35. Having almost no time to readjust to the baseball world, he managed to hit over .400 for the remainder of the season and have a slugging percentage over .900. A close second is when he hit .388 at the age of 38, which put him within a few hits of .400. Over the course of the season, that many hits would have been generated by legs even a few years younger.
His later years were spent in and out of baseball, fishing, hunting and enjoying himself. It is here where we also see the consequences of celebrity. His relationships with women were strained, often a consequence of the fact that he could have so many. Women seemed to roll in and out of bed with him at a regular pace and there is a somewhat substantiated rumor that he caught an STD while in Korea. His relationships with his children were poor, which led to his being exploited, manipulated and mistreated in his last years. Those who knew him best and had looked after him were shut out of his life when he needed them most. After his death, his body was frozen, something that was almost certainly the consequence of a forgery that was somehow accepted as legal.
Ted Williams did many things at the highest level. He lived fast, enjoyed the good life of women, fame, adulation and monetary rewards. At the end, it seemed that his only regret was that he did not build familial relationships. Which is probably correct, because he maintained close relationships with friends for decades, old buddies to shoot piles of BS with.
Montville captures Ted Williams as a great man with great flaws. Some criticized him because they could and because it sold papers. Nevertheless, Williams often went out of his way to antagonize others, spitting at and cursing fans and sportswriters when he felt like it. As is so often the case, the very qualities that make someone great also make their flaws great. However, he was also willing to help people in need. There are many stories of his charity work and how he would stop and give a total stranger a tip on hitting. This is a book that all baseball fans should read. ... Read more

Book Description

"From the acclaimed author of Dino: a brilliant biography of the man who embodied menace for midcentury America.Sonny Liston was the anti-Ali, a boxer whose strength needed no gloss. His rise to the world heavyweight championship was a march of unambiguous victories that left opponent after opponent crushed, but to many Americans in the early 1960s, he was their worst dream come to life--a thug, an illiterate, a criminal who was not, in the saying of the time, a credit to his race.

But he hit harder than any man alive. And in the pages of Nick Tosches's remarkable biography of Liston, hitting hard was the only recourse for this man who essentially lived his entire life as a slave.

The Devil and Sonny Liston is Nick Tosches's brutal and stunning illumination of that life. Digging into the darkest corners of police files, fight tapes, Congressional investigations, and the memories of those who know, Tosches reveals the true course of Liston's story. Birth into a huge family on a modern plantation, criminal life and imprisonment, a fight career under the scarcely concealed control of the mobsters who ran boxing--every stage of Liston's life is revealed as a new subjugation. The truth of Liston's infamous losses to Cassius Clay in 1964 and to the newly christened Muhammad Ali in 1965 is revealed here in the inescapable words of Liston himself and those who knew him best. And in these pages the mysteries of Liston's death in Las Vegas are unfolded at last.

Written with a passionate intensity and an unrivaled knowledge of the workings of organized crime, The Devil and Sonny Liston is an instant classic of American biography by a man who has been hailed by the Dallas Observer as "one of the greatest living American writers." ... Read more

Reviews (45)

Sonny Liston a Guest In His Own Biography
3.5 Stars

I liked most of this book, but do not consider it a biography.

I think too much time - too many pages - were dedicated to the mob figures and peripheral issues and people - and it took away from Sonny - ironically - like they did.

It seemed the writing style was trying too hard to be tuff and every now and then a swear would pop up - oddly - like it was just there to be there.

The last 50 pages are unquestionably powerful. Toshes writing style and way work perfectly here.

I think Sonny deserves more.

I would not consider this a biography of the champ, but I'm glad I read it. I'm glad I got to learn some parts of Sonny Liston that I didn't know before - so that alone is worth reading it - as long as you realize that Sonny is only a bit player in what is supposed to be his biography.

In addition to this I'd recommend David Remnick's King of The World - it's a fantastic book surrounded by Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali.

Read both and you get somewhat of a view of Sonny Liston.

Rest in Peace Champ!

Tosches hits it
"The Devil and Sonny Liston" is a spellbinding tale about one of sports most misunderstood characters. The insight and detail Tosches presents are void of political correctness and give an intriguing portrait of one of professional boxing's most feared competitors and the sport's underlying corruption of the 50's and 60's. Muhammad Ali worshippers are in for an education. No punches are pulled. A great book!

Tosches takes a dive
A truly talented writer is one who can write about a subject in which I have no interest and keep me interested. Tosches is a talented writer because I find boxing a bore. "The Devil and Sonny Liston" (or "Night Train," Tosches' preferred title which was used in the UK) held my interest, yet if I came to the book as a fan of either boxing or the title subject, I think I'd be disappointed.

As he did in his superior biography of Dean Martin, the author uses the central figure more as a starting point to cover a wider terrain, in both cases, the influence of organized crime in 20th century America. But whereas Dino came alive on the page, Liston takes a few valiant swings before he's knocked to the canvas, a supporting character in his own life. If Liston took a dive in the famous match against Cassius Clay, and Tosches is convinced he did (and makes a convincing case despite a lack of objectivity - Tosches obviously despises Clay as a triumph of style over substance), Tosches did the same here by writing this book strictly for the cash (an admission he makes in "In the Hand of Dante"). I don't condemn that, after all, the book is still a good read, but that doesn't change my feeling that Liston and his fans got shortchanged.

Tosches botches it
Sonny Liston was one of the real bad boys of boxing, although the term "bad boy" is undersized, like the gloves Liston had to wear until he could afford a custom-made pair to cover his massive fists. One of the baddest of bad men, then, one of the three truly fearsome heavyweights of the last fifty years, a brutal ring warrior who dispatched his opponents with ease until his career was clipped by Cassius Clay under what many view as suspect circumstances. Subsequently overshadowed, his reputation has been revised recently and a growing minority now view him as the greatest heavyweight of all. Nick Tosches' biography is certainly aptly timed.
Liston's early life was mysterious. His birth date is unknown, but was apparently some time between 1928 and 1932. His father, Tobe, was born four years after the abolition of slavery in the almost unfathomably distant year of 1870. Next to nothing is known of Sonny's childhood, but it was evidently hard. He came to St Louis as a young man who couldn't read or write and followed the all-too-well-trodden path of petty crime, prison and boxing. He turned out to have outstanding ability, including tremendous punching power. Opponents described his blows as paralyzing or excruciatingly painful. By the late 50's he was a leading heavyweight contender. He finally got his championship shot against Floyd Paterson, whom he demolished in two fights in a total time of four and a half minutes.
Liston's career by this point had been severely tarnished. He was managed by the Mob, drank heavily, had run-ins with the police, even during his tenure as champion, and apparently settled his way out of being charged with sexual assault. In February, 1964 his 18-month reign as champion ended when he refused to rise from his stool at the start of the seventh round against Cassius Clay, claiming that his left arm was numb and thereby becoming the first champion since 1919 to go out sitting down. In the rematch Liston was knocked out by one punch in the first round. The fight film (surely the second-most scrutinized strip of film from the 60s) has failed to satisfy fans that a blow of any force was delivered. But real or not, the "Phantom Punch" didn't just stop Liston, it ended his career. An attempt to get into movies was a complete failure (although his commercial spot for Braniff Airlines, co-starring Andy Warhol, sounds memorable). Sonny mounted a comeback bid in the late 60's but it was derailed when he was KOd by Leotis Martin (although the fight also ended Martin's career, as he suffered a detached retina). In his last fight, in 1970 (100 years after the birth of his father), Sonny banged up Chuck Wepner. His shady life ended in shady circumstances. He was found dead at home by his wife in January, 1971. As he had already been dead several days, however, the precise date of death is unknown. The cause of death, likewise, could not be established with certainty.
While Liston and his times are fascinating - not least Liston's role as the godfather of all subsequent bad-ass African-American sports and music celebrities - their treatment by Tosches is decidedly pedestrian. There is little about boxing, with almost no description of any of Liston's fights and little about the overall scene or the other leading contenders. Tosches' main focus is on organized crime. Unfortunately, most of this material is second-rate. Apart from the problem of a relative lack of documentation, the would-be Mob historian writing of decades-old events is also confronted by the fact that many of the principals are dead, while the survivors may be afflicted by (genuine) memory loss and were all habitual liars to begin with anyway. Tosches wastes space with transcribed filler from various public inquiries (does anyone really want to read about Blinky Palermo or Barney Baker taking the fifth a dozen times?). But he fails to tackle the big question of the narrative - were the fights against Ali fixed? Tosches has his opinions, but adds no new evidence. Nor does he address the obvious fact that the motive for a fix was highly problematic. Allegedly, Liston's owners deliberately gave up a valuable, high-prestige and revenue-generating property - the heavyweight championship. For what - so they could bet on a fix at 8-1? And then how did they get Sonny to take a dive? While it might be rational to throw a fight in pursuit of a title shot, as Jake LaMotta admitted to having done, the championship itself is what fighter live, train and suffer for, the rewards are enormous and the alternatives bleak, as most fighters have neither skills nor interests outside the ring. The notion that a fighter would throw away the title, his lifetime goal, simply to satisfy his manager's machinations requires a little explanation. And even if the first fight was rigged, why not recapture the crown in the second, where the 8-5 odds offered a much less lucrative payoff? The evident dive against Ali notwithstanding, the fix theory raises as many questions as it answers.
Tosches' investigation of Liston's death is similarly inconclusive. Tosches states at the outset that Liston was murdered, but later admits that there is no evidence to support this; nor is there much evidence for any other cause, such as drug overdose.
Tosches success is in drawing his subject as a man who never escaped servitude, who could handle himself in the ring but not in life, but who, for all his bad side also maintained a kind of dignity. At the same time, the portrait of Liston is sketchy and unsatisfying. The main research effort having been wasted on minor Mob figures, and the writing style being classic blowhard, this is a book with some shortcomings. But its subject is a remarkable figure, and the photos are good, especially the cover and the last one. Bad as he was, Sonny Liston deserves a better biography.

This is one for the Bargain Bin
"The Devil and Sonny Lisaton," does not deal with Liston very much. The book covers mob trivia and rehashed info on mobster influence in boxing during the fifties, but contains very little interesting info on Liston, on his fight career, his opponents or anything else about the man. This is one of the worst boxing books ever published! ... Read more

Book Description

"There’s a fly ball out to right field...that ball is going, going...it is gone!" The voice was unmistakable. From the 1930s until his death in 1996, Mel Allen riveted generations of sports fans with his resonant Southern tones on radio and television. His signature calls of "How about that!" (after a spectacular play) and "Going... going... gone!" (to frame a home run) made him an American icon.

How About That! The Life of Mel Allen is the first biography on perhaps the most famous sports broadcaster. Author Stephen Borelli, who, like his father and grandfather, attentively followed Allen’s on-air accounts, traces the announcer from tiny towns in Alabama to the glares of Yankee Stadium and the Rose Bowl. You brush shoulders with legendary college football coach Bear Bryant, famous radio host Ralph Edwards, and a lineup of New York Yankees legends that includes Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Casey Stengel. Allen had a fan following as frantic as theirs, including legions of female admirers. You experience baseball’s glorious radio days, when announcers like Allen and his Brooklyn rival Red Barber gave listeners sight and sound and their depictions made ballplayers seem larger than life. Through Allen’s folksy words, you follow a Yankees dynasty at its height, from the intensity on the field during a feverish 1949 pennant race with the Boston Red Sox and numerous "Subway Series" to the camaraderie in the clubhouse and on overnight train rides. You learn about Allen’s fade from the national eye after the Yankees mysteriously dismissed him in 1964 and his second broadcasting life in the late 1970s through mid-1990s as host of the groundbreaking television show This Week in Baseball. During this period, a unique friendship with George Steinbrenner allowed Allen to call one last no-hitter as he became the voice of baseball again.

How About That! is the story of the American dream. A boy raised by Russian Jewish immigrants who face Ku Klux Klan persecution and Depression-era hardship rises to national fame with a magical voice and a touch of chance. He stays on top with a relentless drive to succeed that leaves him a lifelong bachelor, though always a devoted family man. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The Grain of the Voice...
Mel Allen's voice echoes throughout the pages of Borelli's book. Considering Allen's biography within the history of the game and its mass-mediated transmission, HOW ABOUT THAT! is a real pleasure for fans of the game of calling the game...

a home run
a resonant,affectionate detailed chronology of the voiceof thebronx bombers. especiallyenjoyed the segments discussing his relationship with his peers- both within as well as remote to- the Yankee broadcast booth. evokes fond memories of my baptism as a fan,Jersey summer nights, and transistor radios under the pillow.

a must have Book for a Baseball fan
Mel Allen truly made Baseball must see TV just for His Signature voice alone. I grew up watching this week in baseball which was always a Saturday must no matter what was going on.this Book also explores the hardship&various things that Mel Allen went through in his early Journey. He truly is one of the Spirits of Baseball as we know it.a Very Detailed Book that pays tribute to One of the Greatest voices in Sports History. ... Read more

Book Description

When Casey Stengel was named the manager of the Yankees in 1949, baseball wags were stunned. What had Stengel ever done? His work managing the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves had been long on personality and remarkably short on success. They thought the Yankees would never be able to compete with the Red Sox or Indians with that broken-down old man in charge. At the All-Star break, the Yankees looked like a banged-up bunch of also-rans, not like a team about to embark on five straight championships. Yet Stengel seemed confident of success. As Steven Goldman explains, people had forgotten that Casey knew how to come back.

How did he know? Goldman refutes claims that anyone could have won with the Yankees. Casey knew how to win because of the years of struggle and ignominy, because he’d learned how to manage by running two of the game’s worst sad-sack franchises, because he had learned through failure. To understand Stengel’s formative years, Goldman retraces Stengel’s baseball education in playing for the great John McGraw, from whom he also learned that success permits no room for nostalgia. Goldman follows Stengel through his years with the Dodgers and Braves, his return to the minors, a spat with Bill Veeck, and his success as a businessman away from the diamond.

Forging Genius gives insights to Stengel’s irrepressible love of the game and his incorrigible desire to entertain. As Casey put it, "Because I can make people laugh, some of them think I’m a damn fool." His humor camouflaged a relentless hunger for success, glory, and the respectability he desperately sought. Goldman gives readers an unprecedented vision of one man’s lifelong pursuit of genius on the baseball diamond. ... Read more

Book Description

Life was one big act for wrestling super star Steve Borden, a.k.a. Sting. On the home front, however, his marriage faltered on the brink of failure while he took the fast track in his wrestling career—and to a radical entertainer lifestyle, including an addiction to prescription drugs. Confessing his problems to his wife was the beginning of a process that brought the prideful, self-sufficient champion to his knees. It was to be the greatest wrestling match of his life, and God was taking him to the mat.

God had been planting seeds in Borden's life from the time he entered professional wrestling—his brother and sisters's conversions and witnesses, his family's prayers, the witness of wrestler Ted Dibiasi—and the peace and joy he saw in the lives of other Christians. Now, the confrontation by his wife, whom he didn't want to lose, plus the fear of life without his two young sons, made his fame and fortune worthless. He was humbled. That was in August 1998. Sting became a new man in Christ and his marriage was restored. Today, he drops scriptures into conversation as easily and naturally as he once dropped opponents in the ring. He still loves a challenge, but where he once relied on a fluorescent face and shocking stunts, he now tackles each challenge with a firm faith in Christ alone.

Book Description

Award-winning literary journalist Chip Brown tells the story of the life and death of a brilliant, complicated man-an outdoorsman with a troubled soul, a pioneer of the New England wilderness, who sought rebirth in nature only to end his own life on a snowy mountaintop in a gesture of chilling premeditation.

Guy Waterman checked out of his former life as a Capitol Hill speechwriter and father of three at midlife to pursue the passion that promised to deliver him from his demons: mountain climbing. Along with his second wife, he built a cabin nestled in the mountains of Vermont, without modern conveniences of any kind, in order to live purely on the land and for the land, and thereby to redefine himself in the extremes of frontier life. An accomplished jazz pianist who could recite hours of poetry, a genuine eccentric beloved by many, Waterman became the dean of the homesteading movement and the foremosthistorian of the mountains of the northeast. So when he methodically carried out his mountain suicide, those who loved him were left to wonder whether it was the action of a noble man, painfully aware of the encroachments of age and determined to die with dignity, or that of a tragic figure doomed by the code of the Hard Man-a man who could not find the strength to be weak and forgive his own limitations.

Chip Brown writes with exhilarating clarity about the thrill of mountain climbing and with compassion and intelligence about the mystery that begins when a life ends. Good Morning Midnight is a gripping story of survival in nature, with an existential heart. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Disappointing biography of a fascinating man
I had read an article about Guy Waterman some time ago and was anxious to know more about him. So, when I learned of Chip Brown's book, I was eager to read it. At the end, I was frustrated. I wanted to know how Waterman LIVED his life; Brown was intent on focusing entirely on why he chose to DIE. Brown makes clear that Waterman was enormously respected and loved by many people. But he fails to explore his relationships with anyone other than his family. Waterman was the legendary man of the mountains in New Hampshire, but Brown tells us very little of why that was true - other than telling us how many times he climbed all the 4,000'+ peaks and writing some books about them, books he describes only very cursorily.
Waterman and his second wife, Laura, chose to live, like Helen and Scott Nearing, a very basic, really primitive lifestyle back in the woods in Vermont, but again Brown describes their lives only minimally.
I love mountains and forests. I love hard physical effort (I was a serious, competitive long distance runner for more than 40 years until arthritis stopped me.) Like the Watermans, I hate the materialistic way of life favored by almost all Americans. And, like Guy Waterman, I completely believe that a person should have the choice of when to exit this world, if old age and decreptitude make life not worth living.
In short, this should have been a made-to-order book for me. But I became weary of Brown's endless psycho-analyzing of Waterman, and in time I skimmed the psycho-babble, looking for the occasional passages which provided information about how he - and Laura - actually lived.
Ironically, Brown failed in the one task he assigned himself - to give a clear explanation for Waterman's suicide. Yes, he couldn't do all he had once done, but he still was very fit, fit enough to climb to the top of that mountain in brutal winter cold to end his life. And he left behind - DESERTED - a woman he seemed clearly to love greatly. Why did so many love such a man?

A well-penned epilogue
This very artfully told tale was truly page turner for me. Thick with literary references, Brown's story of Guy Waterman reflects the complexity of a multi-talented individual, appreciated by many, but omniouly least of all by himself.

I came away with a very strong feeling that Guy Waterman was truly a unique individual. His successes far outweighed his failures. But his ultimate failure was to recognize that hardmen mature into wisemen. Old Men of the Mountain types, who regale their friends and cohorts with lessons and values of challenging and living amongst the mountains. No matter how far flung the challenge, a mountaineer's ultimate objective is to return from his/her adventure to share the experience; the cold, the hard breathing, the colors, the wind and their intimate feelings of wonder or survival. Regretfully, Guy's inner-self, his demons, contested his own outwardly generous, steadfast and friendly personality.

For me, Brown's story reacquainted me with several names and places familiar in mountaineering circles. It also cleard my long held confusion between John Waterman the highly acclaimed, albeit daring alpinist, Guy's son and Jonathan Waterman the prolific author of Alaskan mountaineering.

HOWEVER, as an end note the publisher editorial and Author INCORRECTLY stated that Krakauer wrote about John Waterman. The book Into the Wild was the story of Chris McCandless, by J.Krakauer.

A beautiful glimmer of a man's interesting life
After just finishing the book I found myself wanting to write the author and thank him for letting the reader into another world, a very personal one, of a man who had experienced so much in the ways of life, love, and death. The book flows with it's constant references to Guy Waterman's own writings as well as great literary works. I felt a part of the waterman clan ,without intruding, after reading the book. It has been a long time since a book made anything so real with out being too heavy handed. The adventures are amazing, both in the outdoors and with the human emotions. A fantastically orchestrated work; Chip Brown has proved himself as an outdoorsman and writer.

Total disappointment
I can only hope that Guy Waterman's final freezing hours atop Mt. Lafayette were less painful than trying to get through this book.

If there's a good story in here somewhere, it will take a search and rescue party to find it among Mr. Brown's endless rambling and superflous language. Here's an example, lifted randomly from the third chapter: "Although the Farm was only eight miles from downtown New Haven, where Professor Waterman taught physics at Yale, it seemed a world apart, a kind of Connecticut Shangri-la exempt from the privations of the Great Depression and far from the portents of the Second World War, and impossible, really, to separate from the enchantment of childhood itself, part place, part time, part the memory of that theater of spirits where Mother is forever calling you home from the woods with a silver whistle and Father is ushering you to bed with a lullaby on the grand piano."

Despite his impressive credentials, Brown writes like a novice who is more concerned with constructing elaborate sentences and displaying vocabulary than capturing the reader's interest and telling the subject's story. Shame on this book's editor for not hacking it to shreds.

Deadly Silence?
Chip Brown's biography of Guy Waterman is a depressing read. It is also a fascinating, well written biography. Overall, I agree with the review posted here by Lawrence Hauser, which is excellent. In particular, I concur with Hauser's praise of the chapter on Waterman's son John.
What most captivated me about Guy Waterman's story was his refusal to seek help, his belief that somehow his life was uniquely different. He seemed to live with all kinds of denial, including his alcoholism, even though he did manage to stop drinking. His ultimate denial had to do with his reason's for killing himself -- the argument that impending old age would be unbearable. 67 and in perfectly good health? Of course, the only health Waterman had was physical. His deep depression and inability to communicate emotionally with his wife suggest a gravely ill man. But Waterman, an otherwise very intelligent person, refused to seek help. As Brown tells it, Waterman's life was truly tragic. ... Read more

Book Description

I thought, Pfft, come on. People from Australia are world champions ... But a world champion from Florida? Fuhged-daboudit.

Cocoa Beach, Florida, isn't exactly a breeding ground for surfing world champions -- the waves are tiny. So when Kelly Slater was growing up, the furthest thing from his mind was becoming a world champion. He was a Florida grommet whose biggest goal was to one day make it out far enough to catch the two-foot waves his dad and brother were riding -- anything more was a dream.

Life in the Slater household wasn't perfect, and as his parents' marriage fell apart and his father battled alcoholism, Slater escaped to the beach and found peace on a surfboard. He devoured surf magazines, sat spellbound while watching surfing movies, and worshiped the gods of the sport who threw themselves into thundering walls of water along the North Shore of Hawaii and around the world. Slater never thought he'd move beyond the Florida shore breaks, but his insatiable thirst for competition and uncanny -- almost innate -- understanding of the physics of surfing destined him for waves and events much bigger than anything Cocoa Beach had to offer.

In Pipe Dreams, Slater takes you inside a churning Pipeline tube and lets you experience the rush of adrenaline and danger. He pays tribute to close friends who lost their lives surfing big waves and tells what life on the World Tour is really like, from schmoozing with celebrities to running from stalker fans to the insane competition and off-the-wall antics of the world's most famous surfers -- including Tom Curren, Tom Car-roll, Gary Elkerton, Mark Occhilupo, Rob Machado, and Shane Dorian. Slater also explains his various career moves, such as his stint as a regular on Baywatch, and the ups and downs of his love life -- from his on-again, off-again romance with Pamela Anderson to Bree, his first love, and their broken engagement.

Pipe Dreams offers unprecedented access to the globetrotting lifestyle and the rarely seen private life of the man who destroyed every record in a sport long dominated by people who thought world champions didn't grow up in Florida, himself included. Slater holds nothing back, because after six world titles, there is nothing left to prove -- not to himself or to anyone else.

Reviews (16)

A Surfer's kind of Autobio
This book is a great insight into the champion surfer, Kelly Slater. As a surfer myself, I found the book compelling and interesting, but I don't think that the writing is particularly good. The narrative focuses on his personal life and seems to struggle to synthesize the various chronological phases of his life.

If you're interested in the life of Kelly Slater outside of what he does on the WCT then this is definitely a great book to look into. However, if you plan on picking up a well-written book, and you're really not interested in the particular subject of surfing, it might not be what you're looking for.

Pipe Dreams : A Surfer's Journey (Kelly Slater)
I never was interested in surfing until recently. And if you don't like surfing, give it a go. Pipe dreams: A surfer's journey is a powerful and touching and now Kelly is my new idol. This book shows you that everything is possible. He tells us all about his life story and holds nothing back. Everyone should read this book, the most beautiful book of the year... Kelly... I admire you.

Pipe Dreams, may haunt you
For readers expecting the champ to keep pace with the ever-increasing quality of surf literature, you are in for a disappointment. The only conclusion I can come to is that this was written for pre-teens. I believe even they would be left wanting more. I felt as if I was reading a chronological timeline of surf contest results while sprinkled in were tidbits of interesting relational, or situational, anecdotes that were never developed or cut short. This man's story could have gone into so many interesting directions but one direction was never made clear. So why the three stars anyway? Because he has given us the first roughly hewn look into some personal experiences that shaped him.
All the raw paragraphs did expose the champ as someone less enviable, maybe a little less balanced out of the water, but with one internal drive: his competitive nature. Between these pages are the things he cares about most. We are witness to a man in developement and someone still searching. This biography leaves the reader feeling they have received an unedited glimpse into Mr. Slater's life. An interesting segway that needs to be explored further is the story of the changeing of the guard. I know that Kelly Slater was at the heart of a revolution in the way competitors viewed each other, as friends, as fellow artist and musicians, and as renassaisance men. This revloution changed the face of surfing forever. I know because I have seen the difference in surf literature and films and in the water. Mr. Slater, thanks for the effort, but you still have more to offer us, in and out of the water.

Surfing Stephanie's Book Review
Wow what an amazing book! Kelly really took surf autobiography to the next level. Kelly and Jason (Borte) really dug deep to tell a perfect story of the best surfer of all time(personally). As someone who has quite alot of knowledge about surfing and books, it really topped the cake for me. I can honestly say that I have a new favorite book for 2003, and well into 2004. Now all we need is for Rob Machado to write a book of his own :)...

Not a surf book
The book is a candid, linear, journalistic account of Slater's life to date, with an emphasis on his competitive success. It reads like a long surf magazine article, which should come as no surprise since the vast majortiy of Kelly's reading time is spent on surf mags (he admits it in the book). In the appendix is a list of every single pro contest result. If Kelly where not a surfer he would be a good accountant with his talent for analyzing heat results for inconsistencies and patterns.
This book wants to appeal to non surfers, so there are annoying explanations of common sense surfing facts (how a heat works, what is tow in surfing, the priotity bouy etc.) Yet the ASP tour gossip will be of no interest to someone not familiar with the characters.
Kelly is arguably the best surfer of all time, but in a sport of mad men and larger that life characters he comes across as a bore. In the book, Kelly alludes to his plans to write about his discoveries of techniques allowing him to reach his mind bending levels of performance. Wait for this book and skip this long winded story of Kelly being the good guy. If you want a great surfing book, check out Alan Weisbecker's novels. ... Read more

Book Description

The Anything You Can Do series is unprecedented in its concept of offering real stories of new heroes to young girls. The premise of the series is to profile a variety of young athletes, from a variety of ethnic, socio-economic, geographical and family backgrounds who have grown up to achieve excellence in Olympic and professional sports. Series Foreword by Julie Foudy, Member U.S. Women's World Cup-Winning Soccer Team Series Introduction by Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olympic Track & Field Superstar and Sports Illustrated for Women's Athlete of the Century ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Inspiring role model
I love this book! It's a great story of how sports can shape your life in a positive way. Swimmers and non-swimmers alike will be inspired by Jenny's story. This great book is now available as an e-book for those of you who can't find a copy of the original printing. You can order here from amazon.com, the isbn is B0001GDOUQ.

How Jenny dealt with the negative peer pressure
Fast Lane To Victory is the third in Wish Publishing's outstanding "Anything You Can Do...New Sports Heroes For Girls" series and the story of swim champion Jenny Thompson. Swimming was what Jenny like best, but when her friends at school started to tease her and call her "tomboy" and "Too Tall Thompson", she felt the pressures placed on a lot of young girls to conform to social norms of what was "proper" for girls. Jenny dealt with the negative peer pressure and became so successful as an athlete that she came to be called the "Fastest Swimmer in the World". Also very highly recommended for school and community library collections are the first two volumes in this superbly presented and inspiring sports oriented series for girls: A Drive To Win: The Story Of Nancy Lieberman (40-8, ...) and Sword Of A Champion: The Story Of Sharon Monplaisir (39-4, ...). ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (4)

Four-Minute mile...slow?
A great story about a great runner! You keep reading only wishing that he had put more about his career. It reads really slow and much of the book could be skipped over. I recommend the book if you are looking for a background of Bannister starting from birth. I was looking for something about his running.

True Perspective on Life & Running
Roger Bannister sets about telling the story of his historic record 4 minute mile but in the process he reveals that there is more to life than just running. This book is quite unlike most running books I have read in that Bannister strives to keep things in perspective amid spectacular and historic events. It could just be his British demeanor, but I found narrative rather enjoying.

Fascinating
This is a very interesting bk but maybe he should talk more about the running (after all it is the 4 min mile) and introduce his characters before he starts to talk about them.

Bannister was the epitome of a great man.
Bannister not only was the greatest runner of his time, he also was a incredibly thinking and balanced man. He was an amatuer because he understood running was only a means to a better life. ... Read more

Book Description

Murray "Moe" Norman has always been a little different. When he took up golf, at the age of 12, he spent hours hitting balls, swinging the club until his hands bled. He soon became a phenomenon on the amateur golfing circuit. Humbly aware of his special gift, Moe went on to set 33 course records, including three 59s, and has shot 17 hole-in-ones. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Brilliant Golfer!! Moe Norman Rules!!
The reknowned author,Stan Sauerwein has written a great biography of a brilliant golfer,Moe Norman.He rules!! ... Read more

Book Description

3 Volume set with slipcase, 1,100 pages, 409 photographs and illustrations, all black and white, weighs 11 pounds, indexed.

Smokey got the idea for writing a history of stock car racing after giving a talk to explain racing to a group of kids at Lowe’s Motorspeedway, around 1995. He realized that all the people who were a part of the early days were dying and most of the ones who were still alive were too involved with racing to be able to tell the real stories. He started writing this book as a history of stock car racing and ended up with look at American history of the past 60 years through a very unique set of eyes.

The first volume, Walkin’ Under a Snake’s Belly, covers Smokey’s life outside racing, beginning with growing up in Neshaminy, Pennsylvania on a farm, dropping out of high school to take care of the family and going off to World War II as a B-17 pilot. The war stories are told through the eyes of a young man who believed all that the Army Air Corps taught him, but he had a mind of his own and was also hell-bent on having fun at all costs. (If that meant irritating a few generals, then that was just par for the course.)

After the racing years, Smokey ended spending most of his time working on his inventions and working in the oil and gold fields of Ecuador. Along the way, Smokey had a knack for finding fun and adventure everywhere he went. Alcohol, women and speed were his main addictions - he eventually gave up alcohol, but never did give up the other two.

The second volume, All Right You Sons-a-Bitches, Let’s Have a Race, chronicles the stock car racing years in living color. The warning on these books, that they are not to be read by those under 18 unless they are with a grandparent who can translate the social and moral implications of the stories, is not to be taken lightly. (Smokey even includes his own dictionary to explain the terms that racers used in the early days to the uninformed.) Smokey and his band of merry compatriots were racers and there were only two things on their mind when the sun went down – women and booze. Smokey had his share of both during 15 years of racing, when racers were looked down on as the dregs of society. Nothing could stop his dream of being the fastest at the sport he loved, no matter what happened along the way – the sign of a true racer.

During his years in stock car racing, Smokey fell in love with a mistress that he would visit every May for over 20 years – The Indianapolis 500. The first half of the third volume, Li’l Skinny Rule Book, covers his love of this famed event and the wonderful stories of the days before the big corporate sponsors; when it was just men and their machines, sleeping on the floor in the garage and most times coming home with nothing. As the title implies, Smokey loved Indy because the rules were so simple. His inventive mind and knack for thinking way outside the box were at their best when Indy was involved.

The second half of the third volume, Eatin’ an Elephant, covers his years of inventing inside and outside of racing. Smokey’s 10 patents don’t begin to cover the breadth and depth of his inventing. His work with the car companies and on the racetrack led to a host of developments that have improved surface transportation for everyone. The value of some of his ideas and inventions, like his famous hot vapor engine, were never fully realized.

Many books have been written about the last 50 years of American history, but few are this entertaining, revealing and introspective all at the same time. Real stories from World War II, stock cars, the automotive industry and the Mexican Road Race are just a few of the elements in Smokey’s autobiography. They combine to make Best Damn Garage in Town…The World According to Smokey one of the most interesting books in a long time. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Tellin it like it is
Smokey tells it just like he sees it. No political correctness here. If he thinks something stinks, he says so. He has no love lost for Bill France and company, but respects many others.

His writing style is straight to the point, amusing and raw. But it's the way he sees things...and he repeats that point...that it's just his opinion and urges the reader to make up their own mind.

I highly recommend this set. And I salute you, Smokey.

Know Racing. Know Smokey!
Smokey Yunick, as many know, was a no non-sense guy who not only loved and lived cars and racing - he WAS cars and racing.

Whether you were a backyard teen-mechanic from the 60's, or a professional mechanic or racer, your entire life was -and still is- influenced by Henry "Smokey" Yunick.

I never met Smokey, but because of my older brother's avid passion as a mechanic and certified 'car nut', I heard all about him for years.

My brother told me about the book: hinting real hard that, "..he'd love to have it!" So, I hustled a copy of this book for my own reading from a 'grease monkey' friend. After only the first brief review, I knew this would truly be a life-time gift for my brother.

He loves it! Reading this tome on the history of the 'gas engine racing legend': Smokey Yunick; especially because it's in Smokey's own writing and words; is a treasure to him. Every week he thanks me for the gift.

Get the book - before you can't find it. It's not cheap now .. and will only get more expensive with time. The really good stuff does this, you know!

This is an heirloom - not just a book. Even if you're not 'into reading' a 'typical book' .. this is like picking up the ultimate Chilton's! You won't be able to put it down. And besides, with this book you'll learn more than you've already forgotten!

Enjoy !!!

Thinking outside the box
Don't let Smokey's style of storytelling stop you. When you finish all three volumes you will have probed the mind of a true hero. I wish Smokey had written this book sooner. I met Smokey, at Indy, in the early 90's. Today I would have much more to talk to him about. Smokey was the example of "Thinking outside the box"

Best Damn Book To Have In Your Racing Collection
When Smoke said he'd tell like it is, he didn't lie! The history lesson he gives you is worth its weight in gold.There is so much to learn and appreciate from his book. He was a unique man, with a colorful history and not just in racing. I have attended numerous lectures and roundtable discussions he held at the annual PRI shows, they were always one of my favorite things to go to. Only way to desribe Smokey in my book is, he was one smart cat! Whether some of his "Associates" will admit it or not, they will definetly miss his insight,his wisdom, and his courage to step over the line. Thank You Smokey for All That You Have Done.

I have never laughed so hard...
I couldn't believe that one man could do so much in one lifetime. He was a B-17 pilot in WWII, raced in the early days of NASCAR, won at Indy, served as a consultant to the big car companies and drilled for oil and mined for gold in Ecuador. There is not much he didn't do and he is such a great storyteller that it is impossible to put down.

His style is very much stream of consciousness and his language is straight out of the garage, but these stories would not be believable if the text was polished and cleaned up. When I first read these books, I didn't know anything about Smokey, but by the time I was finished, I felt like I knew how his mind worked on everything from engineering to chasing women.

I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in cars, racing, war history or just learning more about a great time in the history of this country through a set of eyes that saw much more than their share. By the way, the chapters on his wife and his dogs will take you competely by surprise. ... Read more

Book Description

Nobody ever threw a baseball better than Sandy Koufax. He dominated the game -- and the ball, making it rise, break, sing. Then, after his best season, in 1966, he was gone, retired at age thirty, leaving behind a reputation as the game's greatest lefty and most misunderstood man. The Brooklyn boy whom the Dodgers signed as "the Great Jewish Hope" will forever be known for his refusal to pitch the opening game of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur. Forty years later, Koufax stands apart and alone, a legend who declines his own celebrity. In Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy, Jane Leavy dispels the mystery to discover a man more than worthy of the myth.

Reviews (87)

Perfect
"Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy" is one of the best baseball player biographies I've read in years. Author Jane Leavy blends a brilliant mix of Koufaxian fastballs (interviews) and curveballs (unexpected historical finds) in following the course of the Dodger ace lefty's perfect game against the Chicago Cubs on September 9, 1965.

"Koufax" gets off on a shaky note, as Chapter 1 is devoted to a mind-numbing study of the mechanics of Koufax's overhand pitching delivery. Then again, in two of Koufax's most famous performances, both well-detailed in this book, Sandy had a rough first inning as well. The rest of the book takes off pretty quickly thereafter and becomes absolutely un-put-downable.

The straightforward biography tells the curve (all right, I'll stop with the puns now) of Koufax's career, from his childhood in Bensonhurst to his surprise retirement from the game shortly after his 27-win 1966 campaign. Leavy draws on background interviews with Koufax (but doesn't quote him directly), and on many other interviews with his friends and teammates, from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Along the way she uncovers a surprising mixture of statistics and modern-bay baseball interpretation, quoting from two websites dear to the current baseball cognoscenti, Retrosheet and the Baseball Prospectus. There's also, as you'd expect for any book that spans the 1950s and '60s, a decent canned social history of the era. I don't think even Leavy believes that Koufax's retirement marked the defining point between the end of Eisenhower's and the beginning of Nixon's, but the parallels are there if you want to play with them.

Interspersed with the biographical chapters is an inning-by-inning account of Koufax's perfect game, pitched at night in Los Angeles in the twilight of his career. These chapters are mind-blowing. Spending a book describing a single ballgame is a risky proposition (all those endless asides turned "Nine Innings" into something nearly unreadable), but Leavy paints a compelling you-are-there freshness, thanks in part to the serendipitous discovery of the final 7 innings of that game on audiotape. Wisely, Leavy allows Vin Scully's play-by-play to describe most of the late action, and Vin makes for remarkable reading in the same way that he makes for remarkable listening. His extemporaneous game descriptions are brilliant and the quotes here make it easy to see why, like Koufax, he's regarded as being at the top of his league.

The book ends with a brief overview of Koufax's retirement (best line of the book: Koufax briefly handed out business cards describing himself as a "Peregrination Expert"). Leavy balances the prevailing view of Koufax (sullen, baseball-hating) against the reality she's uncovered, and Koufax comes away a healthy, well-rounded character. No hagiography, "Koufax" is instead an respectful portrait of a unique man.

No description of Sandy Koufax is complete with discussion of his Judaism, and his seminal decision to skip Game 1 of the 1965 World Series, which fell on Yom Kippur. Leavy indulges in some detective work to show that Koufax didn't even go to synagogue that afternoon, but she offers enough anecdotal evidence to almost make you believe that Koufax alone ended most of the anti-Semitic stereotypes that prevailed in America through 1965. Almost. I remember learning about Koufax in Hebrew day school as a child (in a pamphlet about Jewish sports legends only marginally bigger than the one in the movie "Airplane!"), but his significance to the religion makes a lot more sense as Leavy tells it. There's even an interview with Shawn Green, the latest Jewish All-Star to sit on Yom Kippur.

Leavy leaves no stone unturned, and now I'm as close as I'll ever be to actually becoming a Los Angeles Dodgers fan. Well, not even close... I'm genetically bred to loathe them, even as I reluctantly root for the team now mismanaged by Koufax's childhood pal Fred Wilpon. But I will be reading this book again, the sooner the better.

Koufax: Hall of Famer and Gentle Man
I would just like to echo the many positive reviews of Jane Leavy's biography of Sandy Koufax. The author has crafted a well-written account of the life and times of the former Dodger great. I was particularly taken by the way the book is organized, with chapters presenting a fairly straight-forward biography alternating with chapters dealing, inning by inning, with Koufax's perfect game in 1965.

Koufax, in Leavy's assessment, is a very private man, but not the aloof individual that so many perceive him to be. This supposed aloofness, together with his perceived "intellectualism" (the man read books, go figure) is pointed to as reflective of the subtle antisemitism that Koufax had to deal with throughout his career (and afterwards), an argument that Leavy makes effectively. Also convincing is her interpretation of Koufax's continuing symbolic importance to the Jewish community.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in Koufax, the Dodgers, and baseball and its social context in the 1950s and 1960s.

Readable but not much more
I found this book moderately interesting but it suffers from three significant shortcomings:
1)One, as stated in previous reviews, the author is overly fixated on Koufax's Jewishness. Although this is clearly an aspect of Koufax, his history and make-up, and impact on the Jewish community that should not be overlooked or downplayed, it did not need to be the overiding theme of the book, and as such it overshadowed his on-the-field accomplishments.
2)Koufax did not agree to personally contribute to the book, so many of the incidents are told from the viewpoint of other observers whose memories (reason