Customer Reviews

The Only Game in Town: Baseball Stars of the 1930s and 1940s Talk About the Game They Loved (Baseball Oral History Project)

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

 

 

This is a book that any baseball fan needs to read. It makes us appreciate the game back when it was pure. When the game was truly the national pasttime, and the players such as Monte Irvin, Ralph Kiner, and so many others played a game they loved. Yes, it was a business, but it was also a game, which it's not anymore. It's a sport, no more, no less.

The stories of Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Satchel Paige, Jimmie Foxx, Casey Stengel, and the ones we love reading about are there, along with Warren Spahn and Tommy Heinrich, Bob Feller, and Larry Doby. The discuss their lives, teammates, and what made baseball great.

I wish I could give this more than five stars.

The personal reminiscences of former players are excellent ways to learn additional information about the history of major league baseball and in a few cases debunk some of the myths. However, it must be done well, specifically it must be organized so that it flows. That was not done here, there is little flow to the comments of the players, the stream of consciousness regularly undergoes a dramatic shift and it takes a sentence or two before you realize that the subject has changed. The two most interesting new bits of baseball history that I learned were both recounted by Elden Auker. The first was that Leo Durocher was once Babe Ruth's roommate and Durocher was caught trying to steal a gold watch and $500 from Ruth. The second was that when a group of baseball players went to Japan before the Second World War, one of the players, Moe Berg, served as a spy for the U. S. government.
The players interviewed for the book are:

*) Elden Auker
*) Bob Feller
*) Tommy Henrich
*) John "Buck" O'Neil
*) Dom Dimaggio
*) Johnny Pesky
*) Warren Spahn
*) Larry Doby
*) Ralph Kiner
*) Monte Irvin

Since there were great changes in major league baseball during the careers of these players, if you can get past the disjointed presentation, this is a good book of baseball history.

Former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent provides an interesting oral history of baseball by recording the words of ten of the game's top players. The players include stars of the big leagues (Dom DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, Bob Feller, etc) one Negro Leaguer (Buck O'Neill), and two that played in both venues (Larry Doby, Monte Irvin). Each player spoke into a tape recorder, and their words are printed here, apparently verbatim. I liked the memories and insights from this diverse group of stars, not all of whom were educated or articulate. One wonders how many of today's pitchers follow Warren Spahn's method of stretching his arm between starts. I'm glad these interviews were conducted; Doby and Spahn both passed away in 2003, while at this writing the others range in age from 83 (Ralph Kiner) to 95 (Eldon Auker).

Some note that Lawrence Ritter (GLORY OF THEIR TIMES) and Donald Honig (IMAGE OF THEIR GREATNESS) wrote similar books about baseball's past, and perhaps in better fashion. Still, this version is a readable and interesting first-person look at baseball.

It was worth hearing these players' words verbatim, but it did make it awkward to read. Passing this off as original is a stretch; Fay Vincent "might" have compiled this stuff, but he certainly didn't do any real work.
It would have been better if they had put the questions that were asked, so you could follow a bit easier.

I loved this book. The players seemed more self-revealing, more confessional than usual. Maybe there's something about sitting in front of a former Commissioner that encourages full disclosure. Some examples: Bob Feller:"Josh Gibson couldn't hit a curve ball if he had an ironing board"; "Tommy Henrich could hit me if he had his eyes closed." Warren Spahn: "(Teammate Sam Jethroe) couldn't see, ran on his heels. He'd run by fly balls so hard it took him ten minutes to retrieve the ball..." Dom DiMaggio speaks of his dread of making eye contact with his brother right after he robbed Joe of a hit to put The Clipper's historic streak in jeopardy. And Larry Doby movingly tells of his gratitude to Joe Gordon for inviting him, a rookie and the AL's first black, to a pre-game catch. It was a public show of acceptance and Doby never forgot the kindness. Vincent has a knack for poking around in crannies that others ignore and that's why I gave the book four stars.

Ed Vane, Los Angeles, CA.

An oral history that catches the ethos of an earlier time in a most wonderful and unspoiled manner. Vincent's editing never disrupts the beauty or the simplicity of memories that flow from the passions of the men who played in the 30's and 40's. This is a work that ranks with those of Honig and Ritter. Easy read. An essential for the baseball library. An absolute delight.

Despite the title, several of the players interviewed for this book starred in the 1950s. Many of the verbatim interviews are nothing more than rambling, incoherent reminiscences of aged players whose memories are exaggerated at best. Ralph Kiner's interview, in particular, is almost undecipherable, much like his broadcasts were.

I got this book for my dad for the holidays, and by the next day he had already read half of it. He absolutely could not put it down. I'm so happy with this purchase because the stories in this book make him smile. I can't wait to buy the next volume for his birthday!

I like to talk about and read about baseball, back in the '30s, '40s, etc. With just eight teams in each league, the teams were playing each other 22 times every year. So everybody knew everybody else's strengths and weaknesses. And that's what makes this book work for me... the verbatims...the hitters name the pitchers they hated to face and the pitchers name the hitters they hated to see coming up. For me, naming names is good stuff. I give the book an A.

"The Only Game in Town" by Fay Vincent is a collection of interviews with professional baseball players from the 1930s and 1940s. As he states in the introduction, Mr. Vincent was trying to get their stories in print before the all passed away. It's a commendable project.

I enjoyed the book. It includes a lot of personal stories and anecdotes that could only be gleaned from the men themselves. I enjoyed the way he interviewed some players who weren't huge stars. Everybody hears from the stars. It was fun to read about some of the guys who weren't. I also liked the interview with Buck O'Neil that discussed the negro league players he knew. This volume includes the war years, so listening to how that affected the men whose careers spanned the war such as Warren Spahn was interesting. It's well packaged and well edited.

My only real criticism is the lack of a Cardinal. The St. Louis Cardinals were one of the dominant teams of that era winning seven National League pennants and five World Series in the '30s and '40s. There is only passing mention of them by players...usually as they were beat by the Cardinals. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but Mr. Vincent could surely have found a living Cardinal to interview.

Otherwise, it's a good book.