From Publishers Weekly
A memoir earns its merits thanks to great writing or memorable stories, and McDermott's success largely lies with the latter-a gift of storytelling surely inherited from his Irish forefathers. A late 1940s pitching phenom turned drunk, McDermott has the uncanny habit of being able to entertain by tooting his own horn and being self-deprecating in the same breath. It also helps that McDermott, who went 69-69 in his 12-year big league career, played during baseball's Golden Age, the '40s to the early '60s, and that he tells his teammates' stories along with his own. Playing for 13 teams in four countries (including Cuba during Castro's revolution), McDermott not only played with everybody, he drank with everyone from Mickey Mantle to Jack Kerouac, and his countless tales of alcoholic excess are both humorous and sad. While his drunken debacles dominate the book, it is McDermott's presentation of his friendships with stars like Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio and characters like Jimmy Piersall and Billy Martin that are the cornerstones of his trip down memory lane. McDermott's memories are certain to touch a nerve with fans who remember baseball's "good old days" and will be an eye-opener for younger fans who never knew baseball when the game was not referred to as a business but as the national pastime, and highballs and beer, not ephedra and steroids, were the drugs of choice. Illus.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
The baseball landscape is littered with hundreds of "can't-miss" prospects who, for reasons both tragic and comic, are soon forgotten. McDermott is one of those. He won 18 games for the Boston Red Sox in 1951 and seemed a sure thing, but he finished a lackluster career with 69 wins and 69 losses, along with hundreds of hangovers and a thousand laughs. But if McDermott brought frustration to his managers, he was a source of joy to most of his teammates, who delighted in his self-deprecating humor and high spirits--often fueled by real spirits. After leaving baseball, McDermott struggled at various jobs until, unbelievably, he won $7 million in the Arizona state lottery in 1991. With the help of coauthor Eisenberg, he tells the story of his life and wild times in this thoroughly engaging memoir, which includes dozens of anecdotes about high jinks with such coconspirators as Satchel Paige, Mickey Mantle, and even Jack Kerouac. There's no message here, no axe to grind, and no regrets. There's no hangover, either. Just a loopy grin that may linger for a few days. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
