What do you get when you cross a successful Major Leaguer, one of the most historic teams in Major League baseball and an adorable dog? Author Barbara Gregorich answers this question in her new book Jack and Larry: Jack Graney and Larry, the Cleveland Baseball Dog.

In this children’s book told in a prose style, the story of former Cleveland ballplayer Jack Graney and his relationship with a dog named Larry is chronicled. Graney is not a ballplayer many fans, even from Cleveland, remember even though he had a solid Major League career and perhaps because of this, his dog Larry has become forgotten in many circles as well.

Gregorich brings to light the emotional story of one man’s relationship with a dog who became much more than a four legged friend to the ballplayer and his teammates.

The author describes how Larry became the team’s mascot for essentially a decade and became perhaps the most well-known dog in the United States during the first two decades of the 20^th century. Knowing that Jack and Larry had a special relationship might make one immediately think that Larry was always Jack’s dog and he took some steps to convince the team that his dog needed to spend time with him at the ballpark.

In actuality, Larry was not Jack’s dog to begin with Larry became a companion of Jack’s one summer when Jack was injured and his manager noticed he was down. His manager recommended that Jack take Larry, who was by then a staple at the ballpark, home with him. From that time on, Jack and Larry became inseparable.

Not only was Larry around during home games, but as the official team mascot, Larry also travelled with the team on the road. During those days, teams would typically travel by train when going from city to city. Unfortunately for both Jack and Larry, dogs weren’t allowed to ride in the same boxcars as people were even if that dog happens to be the official mascot of a Major League Baseball team. While almost all journeys turned out successful for the pup, the reader does get an exciting story when Gregorich describes a time when Larry didn’t get routed to the same place as the rest of the team, creating a search and rescue scenario.

The author does a great job describing the enthusiasm that Larry had for what he was expected to do as the team mascot. Even though to many he may have been perceived as “just a dog,” Larry seemed to have a genuine interest in how the Indians did on the field. It was almost as if he could feel what the attitude of the team was at any time and acted accordingly. If the team was on a losing streak and needed a lift, they could always count on Larry to pull something silly like grabbing some of the players’ gloves and taking the gloves out to the field for them.

As with most people’s relationships with their pets, Jack and his career outlive Larry, but that is not to say that Jack wasn’t thinking about Larry even on the last day of his career. Although Jack has his most successful season in terms of wins when Larry is no longer able to be with him, it is clear by the writing that Jack played with a heavy heart as if Larry was there with him the entire time.

Although the book is meant to be a work for children, adults can certainly find this book entertaining as well. It would be a fast read for any adult, but it does have a story line that carries, so it is worth the read. If reading to a child, at 92 pages, it might be good to spread it over a week of nights for bedtime stories as there are some emotional highs and lows.

Rating: 3.5/5

Mantle may have been the last polarizing star of America’s Pastime and his story has been told many different times in many different ways. Author Jane Leavy sets out to tell a new version of Mantle’s life in her new work, The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood.

As Leavy points out in the preface, this was much more difficult of an undertaking than she ever expected. She was one, and actually admits she still is, who looked at Mantle as a hero, not a mortal, and went through many internal arguments about what she needed to include in the book to tell the complete story.

As I mentioned, there is no shortage to the variety of stories about Mantle’s life that are already in print. In fact, Mantle himself had a hand in at least three different versions. Leavy has written a different version than any other as instead of using mostly second hand research she opted to intertwine her personal experiences into a tale that is both telling of her fandom and of Mantle’s far reaching personality.

The backbone of the book are a few days Leavy spent with Mantle in Atlantic City in April 1983. This was her time to get to know the man whom she had idolized for so many years and to potentially learn if that man truly exists. Intertwined in this story are the legends of Mantle’s life and career. The story is not told in a traditional way, centered on his home runs and World Series triumphs, although those do have their place in the book. However, each chapter is a single day in the life of Mantle ranging from 1951 and leading all of the way up to 1994.

If nothing else, the book illustrates that Mantle was a man who had extraordinary talent, but who was also extraordinarily human. His star status in no way helped him excommunicate he daemons. In fact, in some ways, his status may have accentuated them.

More than any other player of his name recognition, Mantle’s career seemed to be full of “what ifs?”. For instance: What if he wouldn’t have twisted his leg on that train in the Yankees outfield? Or, what if he hadn’t spent so much time partying and took better care of his body?

Leavy does a fine job of both looking into these questions, but still leaving them unanswered. In reality we’ll never know if he could have hit 800 home runs if he had just gone to the right doctors to treat the rash on his leg.

Leavy’s work is a great read, particularly for anyone who enjoys the stories behind the big names. Just as in her last work, Sandy Koufax, Leavy tells a completely new side of a story has been retold countless times before.

While all fans who idolized Mantle may not want to remember him in the way Leavy describes him, her work is nothing short of the truth. Even though Mantle wasn’t perfect, the author paints the picture that if it weren’t for those faults he might not have become the man we all feel was one of the game’s greatest players.

Overall Rating: 4/5

While there are strong debates raging today as to what sport should not be considered America’s pastime with football, basketball and baseball all making their sound arguments, there was a time when this was not in doubt. During the first half of the 20^th Century, there was really only one choice for the sport that American’s loved the most, it was baseball. Since televisions weren’t around at that time to give fans a real life portrait of the players they read about in the papers, photographs were the main way fans identified with their idols.

While there were many strong photographers of that day, Charles Conlon is considered by most baseball historians to be the most respected and accomplished of those whose main focus was on baseball. In The Big Show: Charles M. Conlon’s Golden Age Baseball Photographs
, a new generation of baseball fans will get to see what Conlon got to witness first hand. These previously never before published pictures run from 1904 to 1942 and feature players from this time period.

Many of these players, such as Al Rosen, Bob Feller or even Babe Ruth, have had a lasting legacy and most likely don’t need the caption next to their picture for fans to know who they are. However, much of this collection is of players of this time who were not so well known, but still have a story to tell. While Walter’s Johnson’s story probably doesn’t have to be retold, this book gives a chance for players such as former Chicago White Sox catcher Johnny Riddle to have their story told.

Accompanying the 224 pages of photographs are brief stories and descriptions of the players depicted in the pictures. Authors Neal McCabe and Constance McCabe penned these excerpts to help tell the story behind some of these lost men of the Golden Age.

This is not the first time an entire collection of Conlon’s photographs has been published. In 1993, acollection of his better recognizable pictures was published in a book entitled Baseball’s Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon
and was said to be perhaps the best book of photographs of our National Pastime ever published.

Most of the pictures in this recent collection were not known to have existed when the first book was published almost two decades ago. After the original work was published, more extensive research was done into Conlon’s personal collection and these photographs were discovered.

Due to the fact that many of the players were not as recognizable as the big names such as Tris Speaker, the McCabe’s had to undergo extensive research to identify those in the photographs and find someone who could tell the story for these former players in a way that would do them all justice.

In a way, the players shown in these pages are the ones who madeAmerica’s game what it is today. These players played through the depression and two World Wars, but continued to provide Americans with a much needed outlet of entertainment in a time before players were paid much more than the average citizen.

Viewing the pictures and stories in these pages can really take a serious baseball fan back to a time when may might say the game was in its purest form. Short of taking a trip toCooperstown, these pages provide one of the best visual stories of what baseball was like during some of its strongest years.

While the book could be a quick read because the amount of text is small and the photographs take up the majority of the work, it is important that the reader take the time to inspect each picture for what story it has to tell instead of buzzing right by. A lot can be missed by the hasty reader in this work.

Total Grade: 3.75/5

It’s amazing how fast one’s life can change. In one split second on October 3,1951 aveteran pitcher with multiple All Star appearances went from being one of the most respected players in baseball to forever being known as a goat.

When Brooklyn Dodger right hander Ralph Branca gave up the homerun to New York Giants hitter Bobby Thomson, his life was never the same. The play instantly became known as the “shot heard ‘round the world,” which was great for Thomson, but not so wonderful for Branca.

It probably didn’t help that the radio announcer’s exuberance in yelling, “The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!” helped to make it even more of a lasting picture in baseball history and ensured it would be played on highlight reels for years to come.

In his new book, A Moment in Time: An American Story of Baseball, Heartbreak, and Grace
the former pitcher finally tells the story of his life, which he has since that time in 1951 been trying to make sure wouldn’t be defined by a single moment.

For almost exactly 60 years, Branca has been almost completely silent when asked to talk about that pitch, that game or even that year, but in this memoir, the right-hander’s story is finally told.

Branca’s silence, as he points out in the book, was two sided. He has spent much of his life getting reminders of that fateful day. Whether it’s in the form of hate letters or phone calls from upset Dodger fans threatening his life or the livelihood or his family, or the constant thanks he received from Giants fans through standing ovations in completely random settings, for many decades, finding a way to forget, was almost impossible.

Many thought Branca may have found some justice in 2001 when it was revealed and confirmed that the Giants were stealing signs from the Dodgers during that game and that Thomson almost certainly knew Branca was throwing a fastball. Even so, Branca stayed quiet on all fronts when discussing this facet of the day as well. As Branca points out, this wasn’t news to him in 2001 as he had been told way back in 1954 that Thomson had been tipped off on his pitch. Branca’s response is typical of his character: that’s’ still no excuse.

The story of the rest of Branca’s career has been lost not because his career wasn’t public record, but more because the public made a choice to define him on one play. Very few remember Branca as being a rock on a Dodger team that accepted the first African American into the Major Leagues. When Jackie Robinson entered the league in 1947, Branca quickly became one of his friends and someone who he could rely on when times were tough. In fact, their friendship was turned on its head after Braca’s pitch in ’51 when he started receiving similar threats to what Robinson had been hearing throughout his career, albeit for a different reason.

Branca’s perspective is something the baseball world was missing and didn’t even know they needed, but now that it is out there, it sheds an entirely different light not just on the play that became to define his career, but on the life head led which was filled with relationships with many people who had a large hand in changing the game.

The 210 page work is a relatively fast and very interesting read. While there are many details shared in the book that fans probably weren’t aware of, the work isn’t bogged down with too many specifics or unneeded stories as some baseball memoirs tend to be.

Overall Grade: 3.25/5

Author Bill Lewers has possibly lived a life many baseball fans would trade for. In his work, Six Decades of Baseball, Lewers chronicles his time surrounding the game of baseball across the nation. Lewers, a Red Sox fan who never lived near Boston, and actually grew up in New York City, presents a story of his life paralleled with baseball.

Lewers does a good job balancing his clear fandom towards the Red Sox, with his love for the game of baseball and its history. While there are certainly many chapters and anecdotes dedicated to Boston’s team, it my no means overwhelms the work.

Like many people, it is clear that without baseball in Lewers’ life, he may not have any clue what to do. Not only does he tell a story of his time at the part, but the work also chronicles how this has related to his relationship with many of his family members and friends over time.

Lewers’ memoir, or as he calls it, “A Personal Narrative,” will be unlike most anyone will read about baseball. This is because Lewers didn’t play, coach or even cover baseball, he just liked it. In a sense, that makes him no difference than you or me.

Essentially Lewers has taken every baseball memory he has had over his life, and put it on paper. Whether it has to do with visiting a park, meeting a player, or learning the wave, it Bill Lewers did it and it somehow relates to baseball, it is within these pages.

Perhaps most incredible about this is that there aren’t more works floating around like it. Somehow Lewers is the pioneer for the personal baseball narrative, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s hard to tell how Lewers prepared to write the book, as most would have to assume he was not taking notes as a child while his parents took him to a ball game. Rather, much of this is based on memory, and told throughout with pictures he, or one of his immediate family members, took.

On the surface, it does kind of sound boring. You may be wondering what you may be getting out of this book that you don’t already have from your own experiences. Then you get hit with the power of perspective. I have taken many of the same trips to ballparks as Lewers has and in many ways, our experiences are very different. This is driven by a number of things such as our fandom loyalties, the atmosphere at the parks that day and who we were with when we made those ventures, but if nothing else, his perspective made him rethink mine.

In some ways, Lewers’ work could also service as an instructional manual for seeing baseball, especially on the east coast. He hits most of the famed venues, including the Polo Grounds, and tells his experience like it was. Lewers doesn’t sugar coat anything in this book. If he was feeling sentimental about his journey, it is illustrated in these pages, but if he was expecting to and it didn’t happen, the reader will find this out as well.

Baseball and family seem to always be intertwined in books about the sport whether they are novels, memoirs or narratives. Lewers could have easily gotten carried away with this aspect of the book, but instead he uses it as a way to tie all of his experiences together, and not something that his experiences relied upon to exist.

In many ways Lewers is a do it all man. He wrote the book about his own experiences, took the pictures and even published the book. He also now serves as its publicist. Perhaps he is already working on the sequel to his book; it could be called, simply, “Decade 7.”

Overall Rating: 2.75/5

On the surface, October 1964 appears to be about the World Series in 1964 between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees. The reader quickly finds out, however, that there is much more to this book than its title.

This World Series had a lot of characters even the casual baseball fan would have heard of. On the Yankees there were Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford being managed by the ever popular Yogi Berra. The Cardinals were full of famous names as well like Lou Brock, Curt Flood, Bob Gibson, Bob Uecker and Tim McCarver. Just looking at the make-up of these names, it is clear that there was something different about the Cardinal stars than there were with the Yankees.

The Cardinals being one of the first teams to fully accept the role of African American players, their stars had much more to face than those with the Yankees who many at that time thought to be privileged.  Because of this, the stories of how these two franchises reached the 1964 Series greatly differ.

Halberstam presents the Yankees as a team who is just ending a run of dominance against not only the American League, but also dismantling their National League opponent in the World Series as well. The author tells stories of how scouts would entice players away from playing for other teams to play for the Yankees for less money because of the pride that came with being a Yankee, and the chance for what they almost guaranteed was a World Series bonus check at the end of every season.

The team picture is quite different when looking at how the Cardinals were put together. From the description of their owner Gussie Busch, the owner of Anheuser-Busch Brewing, to the explanation of why he hired famed scout Branch Rickey to take over baseball operations, to how their championship team was assembled, it is clear that the Cardinals are a very different breed of organization than their opponents from the Big Apple.

The difference between the two teams can be easily seen by Halberstam’s stories regarding the two biggest star players on each squad. Most are familiar with the story of Mantle as being a freak athlete who made spectacular plays at the plate and in the field as soon as he signed for the Yankees. It is also somewhat common knowledge that Mantle was a fan of the night life and that had he taken care of himself, he may have hit 600 homeruns and certainly would have finished with a career average above .300. Even so, Mantle was adored by fans across the nation.

This is much different from the story of pitcher Bob Gibson of the Cardinals. Halberstam tells the story of how when Gibson was in the Minor Leagues, he played for the Harlem Globetrotters in the off season to make ends meet until the Cardinals organization gave in and awarded him a salary large enough to prevent him from that possible injury. No Yankee would ever dream of doing this.

Those are just two of the more than a dozen men profiled in great detail by Halberstam in October 1964. This work is one of the most in depth looks at the behind the scenes make-up of a World Series match-up that has ever been written. While certainly not a quick read, it is extremely informative and is a must for anyone who considers themselves a fan of the history of the game. The book reads like a story and not once loses the attention of its reader.

Overall Rating: 4.25/5

One of the reasons book is not like other baseball novels is that it intertwines other parts of life within the story that don’t necessarily relate to what is occurring on the baseball field. Set in the summer of 1964, the reader follows the main character, Danny, through a mid-year journey on the south side of Chicago.

The book will remind readers of the famed movie Sandlot as it has some of the same undertones, including a trip to an amusement park. Although this is the case, Palmer also addresses real life issues that were prevalent at the time. For most, being a successful baseball player as a 12-year-old would be enough, but Danny turned heads not only because of his play, but also because he was the only white kid playing on an all-African American baseball team during the height of the Civil Rights movement.

There are a decent amount of characters to try to keep straight and keep up with in the book, but they all seem to have their appropriate place within the story. One of these characters, Gloria (Danny’s summertime crush), helps Palmer keep the some of the story off of the diamond intriguing, and the character of Danny realistic. Often sports novels will present a kid who is obsessed with baseball, and nothing else, when anyone who has ever been a pre-teen knows that there is much more to life at that age than sports, like realizing girls don’t have cooties.

Each chapter starts with a quote that has an underlying connotation for what is about to unfold in the story. For example, at the beginning of Palmer’s chapter describing Danny’s tryout day with his friends Stats and Frankie, a quote by baseball legend Casey Stengel is presented to get the reader in the right mindset for what is about to unfold.

Palmer walks the fine line between writing a nostalgic story that comes off as an old fogey gushing about their past, and coming up with a way to illustrate essentially the same story while making the reader continually feel different emotions and buy into the overall message.

The main character Danny is not unlike any other boy his age, especially during this time period. However, the author does a good job illustrating what the difference of the time setting means on the characters. It is clear this story would be much different if it were written about a boy in the 1990s, even if they went through exactly the same events Danny does in the book. The undertone of this time period is certainly one of the main things that keep the reader intrigued. If the reader was alive during this time, they will no doubt be able to relate to what kind of perils Danny is faced with, if not, it is a lesson of what times were like back then.

Overall the work is a quick read and would be good to pick-up as a summer novel and read over a weekend or on vacation. The main negative about the book is that there are so many different story lines going on at once, that it is sometimes hard for the reader to realize where their focus should lie. Even so, it does break the mold of the typical baseball novel and leaves the reader with a rewarding feeling of nostalgia brought on by memories of what it would be like to be 12 again.

Overall Grade: 3.25/5

Image taken from Google Images

If you are a baseball fan, chances are, you spend countless hours every year following the game you love in some capacity on ESPN. While most currently see ESPN as a sports entertainment giant who is almost too large, just as many probably forget the perilous times when ESPN was first getting their footing. When the idea for a 24 hour sports network started being talked about, almost no one believed there would be an audience to watch sports to that degree. Boy, were they wrong.  A station that started with televising whatever sports they could get their hands on from rugby to table tennis, has turned into an entertainment throng that dominates all types of media.

In Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN, authors James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales tell a story of the most dominant four letter network that has never been told before. In order to get the complete picture of the development of the network, the authors conducted over 500 interviews with people who were in some way associated with ESPN.

Some of the notable baseball interviewees include:

Chris “Boomer” Berman

Bob Costas

Peter Gammons

Bill Simmons

Mike Tirico

Ted Turner

Scott Van Pelt

Michael Wilbon

Probably the most intriguing part of the book is how it was written. Instead of creating a narrative based on the interviews they conducted, Miller and Shales let the people involved tell the story as an oral history. This makes the read much quicker and helps paint a more accurate picture of the stories that are shared in the book. Even though the book is almost 800 pages, the authors do a great job of not having this seem overwhelming as their writing style, coupled with the interesting perspectives of those who were interviewed, make the book a page turner.

While many of the topics do not directly relate to baseball, fans of America’s game have no doubt gotten to know many of the names telling the stories about other sports.

A few of the non-baseball topics discussed in the book include:

Erin Andrews discussing her stalker.

Rush Limbaugh speaking about his controversial comments regarding African American quarterback Donavan McNabb.

Dana Jacobsen talking about being suspended after she appeared intoxicated at an ESPN roast.

Even though the description of the ESPN history is not authorized by the company, it is clearly the most complete description ever compiled. With the interviews ranging from current and former presidents to the most well-known names ever to make an appearance on ESPN, to even the founders, the story is as complete as possible, even though the authors had to cut 350 pages from their first draft.

Just as in their first work together, “Life From New York”, the authors have again been able to compile a history of ESPN that was equally as compelling as their history of Saturday Night Live from their earlier work.

Miller stated that getting the interviews was by no means easy. The hardest one to get was President Barrack Obama, who finally consented to the interview right before the author’s deadline established by the publishers. The author also stated that it took some extra pushing on his part and on Shales’ as well to get the interviewees to open up on topics they weren’t necessarily comfortable speaking about. Their ability to get these people to open up about their lives and relationships with and around ESPN is what makes this book work.

Without their diligent work, they wouldn’t have found the information that astonished them both the most, that there were so many times in the company’s history when things could have fallen apart completely. What a tragedy that would have been.

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Stillness is not something most people think of when they picture a fastball being thrown in their direction. However, in his new book, former MLB All Star Shawn Green attempts to explain to readers the how they can find meaning in all parts of life, whether they are flipping burgers or stepping in the batter’s box against Randy Johnson.

The former Gold Glove winner tells the story of his career and how his mindset changed throughout it. Green essentially went from a cocky young baseball player who knew he was going to make it, to being nervous about making it, to adapting and creating a quiet confidence about baseball and life.

Not only was Green able to harness his abilities during a low point in his career and change his training habits to make himself into a solid Major Leaguer, but he was able to take what he learned in that process and put it into practice in real life situations. Without his struggles, Green believes, he would not be able to understand the totality of the value of being fully present and involved in a single moment in his life no matter what it pertains to.

One of the more interesting sections of the book is when Green describes his transition to living near, and playing in, Los Angeles when he signed with the Dodgers as a free agent. Even though his early career struggles had initially taught him to maximize all moments in life, Green found himself falling back into his old habits when he arrived in L.A.

The former Silver Slugger Award winner explains how he felt the pressure mount when he became a Dodger due to the responsibility he felt to the team and its fans for signing such a large contract. Not only did his pressing to hit a homerun at every at bat affect his performance at the plate, it affected his life away from baseball as well. Green specifically states that his relationship with his fiancée suffered because of the strain he was putting on himself on the field.

Green credits a visit to Japan as what helped him to rediscover what he had lost. There he picked up on the Zen culture and harnessed his inner Phil Jackson as his life started to improve on and off the diamond. Without this Zen attitude, Green explains, he never would have reached stardom in the Big Leagues. While this may be the case, he also explains how many reporters, and even some teammates, didn’t appreciate his Zen attitude because it kept him so calm and levelheaded at all times, no matter what situation was occurring around him.

It was this levelheaded attitude that helped him to accomplish things like playing over a decade in the Majors and once hitting four homeruns in a single game. Green claims that this also continues to help his relationships with his family and has helped him to raise his children in a much more effective manner.

The book at least attempts to present itself as a guidebook for how to live a meaningful and successful life. However, success, Green explains, is often in the eye of the beholder and only truly matters to the person who is living that life.

Many players who know Green and have read his book claim it is an accurate reflection of who Green is as a person and the path his life took throughout his career. The book isn’t a thriller by any means, but it is a quick read and has some meaningful anecdotes about life that could be true takeaways if understood appropriately.

Green’s book was coauthored with Gordon McAlpine, an author of three novels, and will be released on June 7, 2011 by publisher Simon & Schuster.

Overall Rating: 3.25/5