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"Big-league baseball is subtle; cloaked in summer languor, moving
with the slow, supple grace of a ballerina practicing backstage,
yet taut and technical in its skills. To view a baseball game and
appreciate it takes concentration." So begins Baseball's Best Ever.
Encompassing a selection of some one hundred columns and featured
stories written over 50-plus years, Pulitzer Prize-winning
journalist share stories on some of the greatest baseball players
to ever grace the diamond. But rather than snippets and information
known to anyone following the game, Berkow, shares insights on
these men: men dealing with tragedy, struggle, highs and
lows-showing that while they we at the top of the game, at the end
of the day they are mere mortals. With stories from Satchel Paige
throwing his "bow tie pitch" close to a batter's brow, the humorous
side of Phil Rizzuto and Casey Stengel, a rookie Carl Yastrzemski
battling through a slump, and Ted Williams talking about is
favorite subject-no, not hitting: fishing. Arranged by decade,
Berkow shares his interactions with those at the top of their game.
We all know their stats and accolades, but not many fans truly know
the person under the uniform. Offering an inside view as to who
these men truly are, readers will be able to better understand
their favorite ballplayers. While they have accomplished things we
only do in our dreams, you will see that these men, under the
surface, are no different than any of us. Though we may never hit
like Joe DiMaggio or Babe Ruth, play the outfield like Willie Mays,
or run the bases like Jackie Robinson, Berkow offers us a view of
these stars that only an acclaimed journalist can. And with a half
century of reporting under his belt, Baseball's Best Ever will let
readers onto the field, in the dugout and locker room, and at home
with their family and friends.
Memorable Stories From a Half Century of Sports Journalism For the
last half century, Pulitzer Prize-winning sportswriter Ira Berkow
has been at the center of some of the most memorable moments in
sports history. From the World Series, NBA Finals, and Super Bowl,
to Heavyweight Title Fights, the Olympics, and The Masters, he has
seen and covered them all. After fifty years covering sports, with
more than twenty-five as a journalist for the New York Times, How
Life Imitates Sports shares how these events--and their
participants--have significantly shaped how we as a nation have
come to understand and perceive our culture (and even our
politics). They are a historical record of one significant sphere
of our life and times: sports. From Muhammad Ali to Mike Tyson,
Michael Jordan to LeBron James, Jackie Robinson to Derek Jeter,
Billie Jean King to Tonya Harding, O. J. Simpson to Tiger Woods and
beyond, this collection is a historical record of our times over
this past half century, in terms of society, race and gender,
politics, legal issues, and the fabric of our sports passions and
human condition, ranging from pathos to humor, from introspection
to perception. Including additional commentary on when these events
first occurred and how they have impacted us today, Berkow shares
the knowledge of someone who sat ringside, in the press box, and on
the sidelines for some of the most notable moments in our history.
So whether you're a fan of baseball and basketball, or tennis and
soccer, How Life Imitates Sports shows you our history from someone
who witnessed it first-hand; a worthy collection for anyone who
appreciates the highest quality sports journalism.
The corporal was left for dead, along with the 11 others of his
squad, after a German mortar attack in the freezing, unforgiving
mountains of northern Italy on December 7, 1944. But hours after
the Nazi infantry had retreated, one member of the American army's
Graves Registration Unit picking up the corpses, turned over a body
in a ditch and called to his officer, "Hey, this one's breathing."
It was 20-year-old Lou Brissie, from the small town of Ware Shoals,
South Carolina. He was taken to a makeshift medical tent behind the
front line and told that with such extensive damage his left leg
would have to be amputated to save his life. He pleaded with the
medics: "Please, you can't take my leg off. I'm a pitcher. I've
been promised a chance to pitch in the big leagues." He explained
that he had a letter from Connie Mack, owner-manager of the A's, as
proof. By a series of remarkable circumstances, including a
talented doctor in the major U.S. hospital in Naples where Brissie
was transported, and his being the first recipient in the
Mediterranean theater of the new wonder drug penicillin, his
leg--though in shreds--was indeed saved. The decorated corporal
couldn't walk on his own strength for nearly a year and would
undergo upwards of 23 operations. He eventually began to throw a
baseball while on crutches. All the time, he kept dear the dream of
pitching in the major leagues. Not only did he realize that dream,
but in virtually implausible, genuinely inspirational pursuit of
his goal, the left-handed Lou Brissie--wearing a huge brace on his
left, partially immobile leg and now a strike-out ace--made the
1949 American League All-Star team on merit, along with such stars
as Joe DiMaggio, TedWilliams, and Bob Feller.
Once in a great while there appears a baseball player who
transcends the game and earns universal admiration from his fellow
players, from fans, and from the American people. Such a man was
Hank Greenberg, whose dynamic life and legendary career are among
baseball's most inspiring stories. The Story of My Life tells the
story of this extraordinary man in his own words, describing his
childhood as the son of Eastern European immigrants in New York;
his spectacular baseball career as one of the greatest home-run
hitters of all time and later as a manager and owner; his heroic
service in World War II; and his courageous struggle with cancer.
Tall, handsome, and uncommonly good-natured, Greenberg was a
secular Jew who, during a time of widespread religious bigotry in
America, stood up for his beliefs. Throughout a lifetime of
anti-Semitic abuse he maintained his dignity, becoming in the
process a hero for Jews throughout America and the first Jewish
ballplayer elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
"Baseball's Natural" is John Theodore's true account of the
slick-fielding first baseman who played for the Cubs and the
Phillies in the 1940s and became immortalized in baseball lore as
the inspiration for Bernard Malamud's The Natural. Eddie Waitkus
grew up in Boston and fought in the Pacific theater in World War
II. Following the war, Waitkus became one of the most popular
players of his era. In 1949, with his career on the rise, his life
changed dramatically in a Chicago hotel when a nineteen-year-old
shot him in the chest. Waitkus's dramatic recovery the next year
inspired his teammates as the Phillies won the National League
pennant. Although Waitkus survived the shooting, he could never
outlive it.
Through interviews with Waitkus's family, fellow servicemen,
former ballplayers, and childhood friends, and aided by fifteen
photographs, Theodore chronicles Waitkus's remarkable comeback as
well as the difficult years following his Major League career.
Best-selling "New York Times" writer Ira Berkow presents a unique
look at America's premier sport--and its fans--through interviews
with a remarkable cross section of widely known and extraordinarily
accomplished individuals in a variety of fields, who explain what
the lure of basketball is for them. Berkow talked with Chris Rock,
Woody Allen, Tom Brokaw, Saul Bellow, Johnnie Cochran Jr., Walter
Matthau, Nikki Giovanni, Donald Trump, Julia Child, Frank Stella,
Erica Jong, Grover Washington Jr., Seiji Ozawa, and Sharon Stone,
among others, to uncover fresh, funny, controversial, and often
surprising opinions about the teams and players who make the game
intriguing.
New York Times writer Ira Berkow presents a compelling account of
the life and career of Hank Greenberg, the first Jewish ballplayer
to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. (Ages 10 and
up)
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Carew (Paperback)
Rod Carew, Ira Berkow
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R473
Discovery Miles 4 730
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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When Rod Carew retired in 1985, following twelve seasons with the
Minnesota Twins and seven with the California Angels, he had
amassed seven batting titles, more than three thousand hits, and
eighteen All-Star selections and was considered one of the best
pure hitters to ever play the game. While his baseball career is
well documented--Rookie of the Year in 1967 and a first-ballot Hall
of Fame selection in 1991--this compelling chronicle of Carew's
life extends far beyond the baseball diamond. "Carew" is the candid
autobiography of a baseball legend--from his years growing up in a
segregated barrio in Panama to his move to Harlem at the age of
fourteen, from the sandlots of the Bronx to the highest ranks of
major league stardom. Working with noted "New York Times"
sportswriter Ira Berkow, Carew writes memorably of his baseball
career and his philosophy and approach to hitting--including his
historic quest as a Minnesota Twin in 1977 for the first .400
season since 1941--but he also deals frankly with his early
poverty, an unhappy relationship with an abusive father, and the
racial discrimination that became more pronounced due to fame and
an interracial marriage. First published in 1979, this new edition
has a foreword by All-Star center fielder Torii Hunter and a new
afterword by Carew covering the end of his baseball career and his
post-baseball life--notably his induction into the Hall of Fame,
his years as a hitting instructor, and the tragic loss of his
daughter Michelle to leukemia. "Carew" is a forthright and
fascinating account, revealing the public and private stories that
illuminate one of baseball's greatest and most respected players.
This autobiography of Hank Greenberg tells of one of the most
dynamic and inspiring stories in the history of baseball. The son
of Eastern European parents, he rose from the streets of New York
to rank among the greatest home-run hitters of the game, and became
the first Jewish player to be elected to the Hall of Fame. Along
the way he challenged Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in a
season; led the Detroit Tigers to four pennants; fiercely stood up
to anti-Semitic slurs, insults, and assaults; and was one of the
first major leaguers to enlist in the military at the outbreak of
World War II. Hank Greenberg's extraordinary life in
baseball-playing with and against Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ted
Williams, Charlie Gehringer, Joe DiMaggio, Dizzy Dean, and Bob
Feller--combined the uncommon courage, dignity, strength and, to be
sure, humor, in the face of formidable odds.
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