Baseball When the Grass Was Real: Baseball from the Twenties to the Forties, Told by the Men Who Played It [Paperback]

Donald Honig (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1993

Donald Honig crossed the country to meet and interview former big-league ball players. They shared their memories with him and the result is a book packed with nostalgia, statistics, action, revelations—an extraordinary oral history of baseball in the halcyon days beween the two world wars. Babe Ruth, Lefty Grove, Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Dizzy Dean, Jackie Robinson, Lou Gehrig, and many others are brought to life through the recollections of Wes Ferrell, Charlie Gehringer, Elbie Fletcher, Bucky Waters, Billy Herman, Cool Papa Bell, Spud Chandler, Pete Reiser, and a host of others. Those were the days when the grass was real, salaries were modest, Bob Feller was America's most famous seventeen-year-old, and idealism was in full swing. "Baseball builds your pride," said pitcher Wes Ferrell, who played it in order "to be a better guy."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

No sport reveres its past quite the way baseball does, and no sport has mined the richness of its oral tradition quite the way baseball has. Picking up where Lawrence Ritter left off in the marvelous classic The Glory of Their Times, Honig set out across the country with a tape recorder to preserve the voices--and memories--of the men who played the game between the two World Wars. This is a wonderful and essential collection, full of bravado, pride, and passion for the game, with a lineup that includes Bob Feller, Lefty Grove, Johnny Mize, Charlie Gehringer, and Pete Reiser. You don't so much read it as put your ear to it, as it alternately whispers and roars.

Just listen to Hall of Fame hurler Wes Farrell, in the midst of explaining the art of the knockdown pitch, segue into what it was like to face Babe Ruth, just one of the volume's hundreds of remarkable moments: "I never threw at Ruth, though. You just didn't do that. He was baseball. What was it like pitching to him? Like looking into a lion's jaw, that's what. Hell, man, you're pitching to a legend! And you knew, too, that if he hits a home run, he's gonna get cheers, and if he strikes out, he's still gonna get the cheers. You were nothing when Ruth came up."

Nicely illustrated with vintage action and portrait photos, Baseball When the Grass Was Real gives a fine face to its voices, but long after the cheering's stopped, it's the voices that remain memorable. By preserving them as fully as he has, Honig's provided a virtual vehicle for traveling through time and eavesdropping on history. --Jeff Silverman

From Library Journal

Published back-to-back in 1975 and 1976, this doubleheader covers America's favorite pastime from the 1920s through the 1950s. To get the inside story, Honig interviewed 37 well-known players. LJ 's reviewer praised both volumes, contending that if fans "read but one baseball book this season make it When the Grass Was Real " ( LJ 3/15/75) and calling Between the Lines "a first-rate contribution to the lore of baseball" ( LJ 3/15/76).
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 326 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books (September 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803272677
• ISBN-13: 978-0803272675
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #832,101 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for all who loved "The Glory of Their Times", March 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Baseball When the Grass Was Real: Baseball from the Twenties to the Forties, Told by the Men Who Played It (Paperback)

If you loved Larry Ritter's "The Glory of Their Times," then you definitely should read this one. It follows the same format and lets some of baseball's greats (and not quite so greats) from the 20s and 40s tell it like it was. It'll make you yearn for the good ol' days of Ruth, Gehrig, and Foxx.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A GOOD READ, February 23, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Baseball When the Grass Was Real: Baseball from the Twenties to the Forties, Told by the Men Who Played It (Paperback)

THIS IS ANOTHER GOOD BOOK BY DONALD HONIG. THIS IS ABOUT THE MEN WHO PLAYED IN THE 20'S 30'S AND 40'S. SOME GREAT STORIES AND INTERVIEWS ARE WHAT YOU GET IN THIS MUST READ BOOK. WISH IT HAD MORE BUT WELL WORTH READING FOR ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED ABOUT BASEBALL WHEN THE GRAS REALLY WAS REAL. VERY RECOMMENDED.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Wonderful Stories of Baseball, January 21, 2006

By 

Winslow Bunny "Winslow_Bunny" (Rockledge, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baseball When the Grass Was Real: Baseball from the Twenties to the Forties, Told by the Men Who Played It (Paperback)

If Lawrence Ritter's "The Glory Of Their Times" is number one in the list of oral histories of baseball, then Donald Honig's "Baseball When the Grass Was Real: Baseball from the Twenties to the Forties Told by the Men Who Played It" ranks a close second. True to Ritter's form in interviewing and editing the tapes for an oral history of baseball by those who played it, Honig does a great job of having the players tell of their time in baseball, the stories of what it was like in the majors and the history - the time that they played. Everyday life and the public perception of ball players had changed between the time Ritter's interviewees played in the majors and Honig's group had played, the difference being interesting in itself. Honig's subjects tell of a time that is still remarkably different from ours by a group that also is rapidly diminishing, victims of old age. The book is a remarkable slice of history, definitely worth the time and money to read for anyone who is interested in baseball and history.