From Booklist
Baseball pitcher Nolan Ryan retired after the 1993 season. His legacy is unmatched: 300 wins, 5,000 strikeouts, and a 27-year career throwing 90-miles-per-hour fastballs. No other pitcher in major-league history can boast a comparable record. Trujillo, a communications professor and former college pitcher, examines Ryan's impact on baseball and society as a hero and role model. For many years, Ryan pitched in relative obscurity, registering consistent but unspectacular numbers and playing for mediocre teams. Only in his last 10 years or so did the country (read advertisers) take note of his career. Ryan is self-effacing, humble, hardworking, conservative, happily married, and an off-season rancher. Trujillo examines Madison Avenue's use of those traits and how Ryan became just another image rather than the hero he should have been. He also analyzes Ryan's portrayal in the media and discusses the ease with which a person can move from celebrity to hero to image to parody. A thought-provoking look at our national hunger for disposable heroes. Wes Lukowsky
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Review
"Clearly, Nick Trujillo has put a great deal of time, effort and thought into writing a book that tells you much not only a about sports hero, but also about the American culture."--Dick Schaap
(Dick Schaap )
