Customer Reviews

McGoorty: A Pool Room Hustler (Total/Sports Illustrated Classic Series)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is another wonderfully written book by Robert Byrne. It shows the vivid life of a pool hustler/hobo/drunk/real person that was in his prime in the 1920's-1950's. If gives a real sense of McGoorty and his life in what apear to be his own words. He also shares extremely colorful insight, his opinion, into several famous and well known professional billiard players and World Champions of his era. It is full of real life experiences during those times; however, the language and crude tone are very vulgar. If you're not offended it is an enjoyable interesting read.

McGoorty, billiards legend, tells all. Not quite on the same plateau as, for example, Mezz Mezzrow's 'Really the Blues', but definitely up there in the modest pantheon of books unafraid to celebrate lowbrow Americana in all its primal glory. McGoorty's glorious world of the 1920s and 30s is gone now, but thankfully we have a few books like this to remind us what it was like.

Quick review: Very unique voice. Was a pleasure to read. Excellent Social Anthropological details contained within. Highly recommended. Made me want to learn 3 cushion.

I had a feeling that I would enjoy this book and I was right. I was unable to put this book down. This is now my all time favorite. A fascinating true story about the life of Dan McGoorty that I am glad was able to live on in print. Whether you are into pool or not, you will find this colorful story quite interesting.

This isn't "Rudy" Ruettiger and it's not an "inspirational" sports biography. You're not going to learn much about how to play billiards either. If you read this expecting some moral triumph, you are going to miss the point. McG was a sad, pathetic drunk who told truths, lies, half-truths about his failed career as a billaird player. This said, he had a real wit and a flair for pegging people. More than anything, this is a good Depression-era American period piece. It's also a look inside the mind of one candid, unscrupulous character. McG is a funny guy, a sad guy, a nice guy and a wicked guy. Even when he lies he's sincere. If you ever knew a bum, drunk or poolroom hustler you liked and hated at the same time, give it a shot. But this book doesn't belong on the shelf with Byrne's instruction books, or really even with the other billiards biographies; it belongs next to the other volumes of the Library of Larceny: Ponzi, Liebling and Sutton.

This is the real life story of an almost great billiards player. It's a look into the past as told by a real person who seems to lay it all out on his deathbed. Robert Byrne, for the most part, simply relays McGoorty's words.

This could be considered a tale of caution, don't be like this guy, don't throw away your life.

My father, who made his own mistakes, loved this book when I lent it to him, and lent it to someone else - I may never see it again, but that's ok. This is the exact kind of book you want to lend out.

I have never read a book like this one, it pulls few punches, you are going to feel sorry for McGoorty, maybe even cry - I don't know. But don't let that stop you from reading it.

This book is one of the few biograghy's i've read that had a true voice of the subject. Gritty, smutty, vulgar and incitful.It tells the tale of the wayward life led by one of this country's greatest pool and billiards players, witten from audiotapes by Robert Byrne, Mcgoorty comes to life.

I loved this book so much I've read it twice and want to reread it again. As a competitive pool player, I love hearing stories of hustlers and players going on the road. This book is not only that, but a great way of getting a feel for what it was like to live and be in a pool hall back in the old days. It's a great insight to how pool and billiards were viewed back in the day. I'm reading these 1-star and 2-star reviews saying "Danny McGoorty was a low-life drunk, etc, etc". Yeah, maybe he was, so what? That has nothing to do with the quality and readability of the book. His story is amazing! It sucks you right in! Can you imagine trying to hustle pool for a living in Chicago during Al Capone's days? Or trying to hide in coal cars on trains to travel as a pool hustler during The Great Depression? This book is fantastic! And unlike the book I read after it, "Cornbread Red: Pools Greatest Money Player", the stories in McGoorty are rarely exaggerated, awesomely entertaining, and are entirely true. Robert Byrne is a very respected pool author (go and read his book reviews if you don't believe me) and Byrne went out of his way to ask Danny McGoorty if he could write a book about his life! That's how incredibly interesting and amazing this guy's story is: Byrne, a great pool instructor and author, enjoyed Danny's stories at the pool hall SO MUCH that he CONVINCED Danny to let him write a book about his life even though Danny didn't care for the idea! Every person who loves pool should read this book!

This is a colorful and entertaining book. Mcgoorty speaks like many of the construction people I have known over the years. When pool was king.

The history of pool hustlers is interesting but there is a point of view that this history is why pool has never been taken seriously as a sport