Follow up

Last week I finished reading another baseball book.


The sad thing (well, maybe it isn't sad) is that I started this book last year. Not in December, but last May.

I've read a slew of other books during these past 10 or so months.

• The Baseball Uncyclopedia
• Power, Money, & Sex
• Schoolboy, Jim Tugerson, Ace of the '53 Smokies
• The Last Commissioner
• The Best of Spitball
• Every Pitcher Tells a Story
• Tales from the Dodger Dugout
• Baseball Between the Lies
• misc other non-sport books

It took me that long to read one book while I managed to read at least seven sports related books, hundreds, if not thousands of blog posts, news articles, magazines, technical reports and a mess of Caroline's library books. Now, how do I rationalize this?

Because I wanted to savor it. The Donald Honig Reader is actually a collection of two of his books (Baseball When the Grass Was Real and Baseball Between the Lines) and excerpts from two others (The October Heroes and The Man in the Dugout).

Honig coaxes memories from over 50 players and managers in this collection. It is one side of the conversation, but one can almost hear the leading questions being asked. They remain silent though. It is very similar to Lawrence Ritter's The Glory of Their Times. I don't know which came first and I don't think that one was copying the other. They both are great.

Interviewees include: Burleigh Grimes, James "Cool Papa" Bell, Charlie Gehringer, Lefty Grove, Bob Feller, Tommy Henrich, Ralph Kiner, Mickey Vernon, Enos Slaughter, Monte Irvin, Robin Roberts, Lloyd Waner, Joe Sewell, and scores more.

I have seen on various blogs that this is the year of vintage. You want vintage? Read this book. The interviewed participants will share with you what baseball was really like.

It annoys my wife that I have four or five books that I read at a time. My guess that this one really annoyed her because I've had it around for so long. Well, now the the stack by the bedside has changed. I've put Honig's tome back on the bookshelf and replaced it with David Jamieson's Mint Condition.

It arrived in the mail on Saturday, and I've already started reading it. This is not my official review, just a quick notice. Jamieson has a fluid writing style and the subject matter is near to my heart. It makes for a very easy read.

Now, I'm off to bed to read another chapter.