Helyar, John (Author)
ISBN: 0345465245
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Binding: Paperback; 640 pages
Pub Date: March 01, 1995
Baseball has always inspired rhapsodic elegies on the glory of man and golden memories of wonderful times. But what you see on the field is only half the game.
In this fascinating, colorful chronicle--based on hundreds of interviews and years of research and digging--John Helyar brings to vivid life the extraordinary people and dramatic events that shaped America's favorite pastime, from the dead-ball days at the turn of the century through the great strike of 1994. Witness zealous Judge Landis banish eight players, including Shoeless Joe Jackson, after the infamous Black Sox scandal; the flamboyant A's owner Charlie Finley wheel and deal his star players, Vida Blue and Rollie Fingers, like a deck of cards; the hysterical bidding war of coveted free agent Catfish Hunter; the chain-smoking romantic, A. Bartlett Giamatti, locking horns with Pete Rose during his gambling days of summer; and much more.
Biographical Note: John Helyar is the author of Lords of the Realm: The Real History of Baseball and the co-author (with Bryan Burrough) of Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco.
Helyar, John (Author)
ISBN: 0345465245
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Binding: Paperback; 640 pages
Pub Date: March 01, 1995
Baseball has always inspired rhapsodic elegies on the glory of man and golden memories of wonderful times. But what you see on the field is only half the game.
In this fascinating, colorful chronicle--based on hundreds of interviews and years of research and digging--John Helyar brings to vivid life the extraordinary people and dramatic events that shaped America's favorite pastime, from the dead-ball days at the turn of the century through the great strike of 1994. Witness zealous Judge Landis banish eight players, including Shoeless Joe Jackson, after the infamous Black Sox scandal; the flamboyant A's owner Charlie Finley wheel and deal his star players, Vida Blue and Rollie Fingers, like a deck of cards; the hysterical bidding war of coveted free agent Catfish Hunter; the chain-smoking romantic, A. Bartlett Giamatti, locking horns with Pete Rose during his gambling days of summer; and much more.
Biographical Note: John Helyar is the author of Lords of the Realm: The Real History of Baseball and the co-author (with Bryan Burrough) of Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco.
Review quotes:
The ultimate chronicle of the games behind the game.--The New York Times Book Review
A must-read for baseball fans . . . reads like a suspense novel. --Kirkus Reviews
Refreshingly hard-headed . . . the only book you'll need to read on the subject. --Newsday
Lots of stories . . . well told, amusing . . . edifying. --The Washington Post
