Just Call Me Minnie: My Six Decades in Baseball [Hardcover]

Minnie Minoso (Author), Herb Fagen (Contributor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0915611902 | ISBN-13: 978-0915611904 | Publication Date: April 1, 1994 | Edition: 1St Edition

On May 1, 1951, a legend was born. Newly acquired Orestes Minoso, the first black to play major league baseball in the City of Chicago, stepped into the batter's box for his first turn at bat in a Chicago White Sox uniform. Minnie tells of his boyhood in the sugar fields of Cuba, racial discrimination in Cuban society, and feelings of be- trayal upon being traded from the Cleveland Indians to the Chicago White Sox in 1951.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

One of Minoso's claims to fame is having played professional baseball for six decades until 1993, a record; another is having been one of the pioneer Latin American players--especially beloved among black Latinos--in U.S. ball. He has spent most of his career with the Chicago White Sox as player, coach and currently roving goodwill ambassador, but he also served in the pre-integration Negro Leagues with the Cleveland Indians and, when his major league years ended, in Mexico. As a strongly anti-communist Cuban, he severed his ties with his native land in 1961 after his property there was expropriated, but he helped many members of his family emigrate to America. Assisted by Fagen ( The Lost Loves of Autumn ) he gives readers an appealing portrait of a good man with a strong work ethic and deep sense of loyalty. Whether his book will sell well outside Chicagoland is questionable, though. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Fagen is one of the nation's leading experts on the subject of the Hollywood Western.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Sagamore Publishing; 1St Edition edition (April 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0915611902
• ISBN-13: 978-0915611904
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,800,901 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Memories of My Past, May 11, 2000

By 

Ron Karp (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Just Call Me Minnie: My Six Decades in Baseball (Hardcover)

I grew up on the south side of Chicago and remember when I sat in left field thinking how it would be to meet Minnie. My dream came true after reading this book, I felt I knew him all my life. The respect he gave the fans and the respect we gave him is rare in baseball today, this was the thrilling days of "Go Go" when we as fans had a real life hero, and that hero is Minnie Minoso in the past and forever in the future we will never forget him. This book is the type of book that takes you back to the past and the memories of great players. It's the type of book you can read time after time after time.

Thank You Minnie

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Mr. White Sox", June 5, 2010

By 

Johnny Heering "trivia buff" (Bethel, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Just Call Me Minnie: My Six Decades in Baseball (Hardcover)

Here we have the autobiography of Minnie Minoso. Minnie was the first dark skinned Latino to play Major League Baseball and was one of the most popular Chicago White Sox of all time. Minnie comes across as a true gentleman in this book, as he relates the story of his life in and out of baseball. He doesn't have an axe to grind, although he is honest about people who he feels have slighted him. A good read about one of the true good guys in baseball.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Hot Stove League Stuff-American League., April 16, 2005

By 

Mcgivern Owen L (NY, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Just Call Me Minnie: My Six Decades in Baseball (Hardcover)

The title certainly tells it. "Just Call Me Minnie" is the biography of Orestes "Minnie" Minoso. He was a major league outfielder, mostly in the American League, from 1949-1964 and one of the most exciting players of his generation. This reviewer is old enough to remember that when Minnie came to bat, fans sat up in their seats. He made things happen! JCMM is an enjoyable story. It follows Minnie's baseball life from his early years in Cuba through his Major League years, to the ups and downs of his later years. The golden years are those with the exciting "Go-Go" White Sox from 1949- 1957. It helps that the story's time frame encompasses what is arguably the big leagues golden years. Those would be 1946-1960. WW2 was over, pro football was still relatively undiscovered and expansion had yet to dilute the talent base. JCMM is the American League counterpart to Robin Robert's recent-and recommended- "My Life in Baseball". The core of JCMM is solid Hot Stove League. Minnie is a fine storyteller. The tone is positive. He does not attempt to settle old scores or tell tales out of the locker room. There are obvious hard feelings toward a former manager, Al Lopez, but the reader is left to imagine the complete story behind them. There are a few nice, if self-serving, tributes from the likes of Ray Boone, Lou Boudreau, Bob Feller, Jim Landis, Ferris Fain, Cal McLish and Jim Landis. Those baseball fans in the amazon community who can remember those guys will enjoy JCMM. There are some weak points: Minnie's later years are less than compelling and a bit too many pages are devoted to Minoso family travails. Left mostly unexplained are Minnie's various comebacks. For the record, he is the oldest player to appear in a major league game. Finally, and to the distress of this reviewer, there is no statistical composite of the Minoso career. Since baseball is so numbers-obsessed, this omission is strange indeed. Despite these objections, JCMM is a safe choice for hardcore fans of baseball's "golden era". Both White Sox fans and Chicagoland natives should take a close look at this offering.