Of Mikes and Men: A Lifetime of Braves Baseball [Hardcover]

Pete Van Wieren (Author), Jack Wilkinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 26, 2010

As a boy growing up in upstate New York, Pete Van Wieren dreamed of becoming the play-by-play voice of his hometown heroes, the Triple A Rochester Red Wings. Instead, he found big-league broadcast heaven in Atlanta. In 1976, Van Wieren and another young broadcaster named Skip Caray, son of the legendary Harry Caray, were hired to call Atlanta Braves games. Over the next three decades, they were the voices of America's Team, as the Braves became known thanks to Ted Turner's TBS superstation. For 33 seasons, Van Wieren - nicknamed "the Professor" for his scholarly approach to baseball and resemblance to a college professor - saw it all and called it all, including mercurial owner Ted Turner's one-game stint as the Braves' manager in 1976. And then, in the midst of 15 seasons of mostly awful and often hilariously inept baseball, came the Miracle of 1991, when the Braves went from worst to first, captured Atlanta's heart, and nearly won one of the greatest World Series ever played.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Triumph Books (April 26, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1600783597
• ISBN-13: 978-1600783593
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #544,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #23 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Miscellaneous > Sports Broadcasting
  • #61 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Georgia

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Professor Speaks, April 17, 2010

By 

J. SHILS (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Of Mikes and Men: A Lifetime of Braves Baseball (Hardcover)

Having been a fan of Peter Van Wieren's "Diamond Notes" for the Atlanta Braves and his play by play style, his autobiography provides insight into his world of sports broadcasting and the remarkable downs and ups of the Atlanta Braves during a significant portion of his 33 year career. Reading his book co-authored with Jack Wilkinson, one of Atlanta's finest sports writers, the reader can hear his voice again as he recounts life in the booth working with and reporting about rather remarkable characters on and off the field. By no means a tell all book other than some tough personal history, the book reflects his love for the game, the people in it and his dedication to truthfully telling the story of what is happening on the field. Braves' fans will love the book as a chance to reconnect with a favorite voice and remember amazing moments of Braves history, both sublime and ridiculous, while also reading a revealing history of the personalities and economics of sports programming as Ted Turner changed sports media through TBS.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hardly Awful, But Ultimately Disappointing, September 1, 2010

By 

C. Mays "Overpaid Consultant" (Loganville, GA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Of Mikes and Men: A Lifetime of Braves Baseball (Hardcover)

Of Mikes and Men, an autobiography by long-time Braves announcer Pete Van Wieren, will undoubtedly be of interest to most Atlanta braves fans. Unfortunately, the book doesn't live up to my admittedly high expectations. While his book is solid, it is wholly unremarkable. It is competent, it is professional, but through most of the pages, it is lacking in both heart and surprisingly, for the man Braves fans know as "The Professor", in depth. As anyone who watched a Braves broadcast during the many years he sat behind the mic knows, Pete's steady hand was the anchor of every Atlanta Braves broadcasts. He was the perfect counter to Ernie Johnson's homer and Skip Carray's smart-ass. His book lets him down.

The majority of the book is dedicated to the Braves run of fourteen straight division titles, and this portion of the book tends to be a simple litany of facts written in prose, when a list would have sufficed. Perhaps this is a misjudgment of audience? The people most likely to read this book, Braves fans, already know about the constant World Series disappointments. Pete, who was there for the whole run and would often have morning coffee with Bobby Cox, doesn't offer any in depth analysis into why the Braves were able to win their division so often, or why they failed in the post-season so often. He just mentions that they did.

Likewise, the early portion of his career is skimmed over with mentions of a few famous games (like the brawl-a-thon with the Padres or the billion-inning affair against the Mets where Rick Camp hit a grand slam to keep the game going ... Braves fans know the games) without offering any insight into the games or even recreating them in the kind of language that would make them come alive. As good as the Braves were from 1991 to 2005, they were largely that bad from 1974 to 1990 (excepting a few seasons here and there). You would think Pete might be able to offer some insight into why the Braves would struggle continuously throughout this period. I had hoped he might offer his opinions on that ridiculous contract Ted Turner gave Claudell Washington, into the Brett Butler trade, into the Len Barker and Bruce Sutter disasters. No. We are told the Braves stunk and there you have it.

Most disappointing though is the lack of really good, juicy stories. For a man who shared morning coffees for years with Bobby Cox, there might be an actual story to tell ... a conversation to recall. I was especially crushed by the lack of great Skip stories. Pete and Skip were on-air partners for years and they would become the best of friends. They were both characters in their way, and we know from Pete's many interviews following Skip's untimely passing that he has some great stories, but the book is lacking them. It seems like a missed opportunity that any Braves fan would wish Pete had taken.

The book works best on those all too few occasions where Pete allows his emotion to show up on the page. He does a great job of conveying his hurt and anger at his father who abandoned Pete and his Mom. He delivers a broadside against the TBS executives who decided that he and Skip Carray were not suitable for a national broadcast and took them off the air, only to be forced to put them back on after a true national outcry. Best of all is his amazingly thorough put down of that odious box of crap John Rocker. He truly got under Pete's skin and Pete did not hide his feelings and seems to wish the Braves had dumped the jack-ass from the start of the problem.

Reading back over this review, it seems unnecessarily harsh. I don't want to convey that the book is a bad read at all. Pete is an affable and professional guy and that comes through. He also does a great job of conveying how fortunate he was to have the job he did. He loved almost every minute of it. He was especially grateful to the fans for their support over the years, and especially when he was removed from the air. For me, Pete, along with Skip, will always be the "voice of the Braves". I'm sure any Braves fans will, despite the shortcomings, enjoy the book. Hopefully, they'll be another book where Pete can expand and expound on his years with the Braves.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just you and the listener, April 26, 2010

By 

Carroll Rogers (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Of Mikes and Men: A Lifetime of Braves Baseball (Hardcover)

Reading this book is like cracking open a Heineken at the hotel lobby bar with Pete and hearing one of baseball's great storytellers share some of his best. Whether it's his anecdote about Dale Murphy walking down the aisle on a team charter headed to the 1982 NLCS, reminding each teammate what he contributed to get there to the origin of the Tomahawk Chop, and the moment when David Justice had to step out of the batter's box in 1991 just to take it all in, Pete gives you an insider's look at Braves history through the eyes of someone who lived it and loved it. He reminds you why you love baseball, and why you are so attached to the Braves. His stories will make you laugh out loud, feel the chills all over again, and in some cases, the heartache. Jack Wilkinson is effortless in his writing, letting Pete's voice, once said to be as familiar as an old pair of slippers, shine through. You'll enjoy this like you enjoyed listening to Pete on the radio because it's like he's talking just to you.