Customer Reviews

Pride and Pinstripes: The Yankees, Mets, and Surviving Life's Challenges

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This is a super baseball book. I have always been a big Mel Stottlemeyer fan. He was the last of the old Yankees from the 1964 pennant winner, and had he played with better teams after that first great rookie season gawd only knows how many games Mel would have won. It deals with his playing and coaching days and the quack medical treatments he received from the then Yankee team physician. I only wish he would have devoted a lot more pages to the years between 65-and 1972 and some of the great games he pitched--the 1-0 two hitter versus AL MVP Vida Blue and Oakland, the 1969 and 1970 All Star Game. Not enough about your playing days Mel during the Horace Clarke/Jake Gibbs/Ron Bloomberg era is my only criticicism. All in all, a super book.

I was of prime baseball-following age during the span of Mel's career, when the Yanks slipped into the infamous "Horace Clarke Era". Mel Stottlemyre was a beacon of light during a dismal span, not only on the field but by the genuionous and humility he should off of it. For those not fortunate like me to have seen Mel in person, I am glad they now have the opportunity to become acquainted with this individual. One of the highlights of my baseball watching days occurred on 7/24/66. Somehow we obtained box seats in the first row right behind the plate (for $3.50 each, no kidding). Mel lost 20 that year and expains how Chicken Colonel Turner had messed with him in spring training. But he really had it that day, shutting down Cal. in the first game 9-1. And the Mick hit the first HR I ever saw him hit in person. Mel's first two years were superb, when he had that fantastic defense of Boyer, Kubek and Richardson behind him. If only his career had occured one decade earlier. He would have been the righthanded Whitey Ford. Mel, you are one class act!

PRIDE AND PINSTRIPES IS ABOUT THE LIFE AND CAREER OF FORMER YANKEE GREAT MEL STOTTLEMYRE. MEL OFFERS THE READER ALOT IN THIS WELL WRITTEN AND INTERESTING BOOK. FROM HIS LIFE AS A YANKEE PITCHER, DEATH OF HIS YOUNG SON, CAREER WITH THE METS AND YANKEES AS A PITCHING COACH TO HIS LIFE THREATENING ORDEAL WITH CANCER HE KEPT THIS READER TOTALLY RIVOTED TO THIS GREAT BOOK. MEL WAS A GREAT PITCHER AND DESERVES TO BE IN THE HALL OF FAME. I ALSO ENJOYED HIS TIMES WITH DWIGHT GOODEN, JOE TORRE AND THE BOSS. AND AN ADDED BONUS IS HIS OPINION OF THE BEST STARTERS AND RELIEFERS HE HAS COACHED OVER THE YEARS WHICH IS AT THE VERY END OF THIS MUST READ FOR ALL BASEBALL FANS. OVERALL A GREAT CHOICE TO READ.

I really enjoyed this book. I was born a Yankees fan just as the Yankees began their decline and the only really quality player they had was Mel. So reading about his career, and family life just help me love him even more.

And then hearing him talk about working with all the great pitchers he has coached. From the father-son relationship with Doc Gooden to the flakey David Wells to Roger Clemens, Andy Pettite, Mike Mussina and on and on and on. And of course, he coached and watch mature my favorite Yankee player today - the great Mariano Rivera.

But with all the highlights, he shares the tough times of his life; from losing a child to Joe Torre's cancer to his own fight with cancer.

And of course, I can't help but picturing Mel Stottlemyre watching a World Series game in the clubhouse with George Steinbrenner eating burgers when Mel was too sick to be out in the dugout. So, George can have a human side.

Conclusion - a must for any Yankee fan and a good read for any baseball fan.

A great read for any baseball fan and especially true-blue Yankees fans. Mel's remembrances of the great pitchers he's coached and his relationship with George Steinbrenner were especially interesting. I do wish Mel had written more about his pitching career with the Yankees. He had some great years and great games that I wish he'd told us more about. He also got to play with some of the greatest Yankees of all time. Mel had the misfortune of joining the Yankees just when they started declining, but he still had a great career. I'll always remember skipping junior high school (with my parents' permission!) to watch Mel on TV in the 1964 World Series. Thanks for the memories and thanks for the book, Mel. You're a Hall of Famer in my book.

A great book with rich history about a time of trouble for the Yankees. Easy smooth reading that keeps you involved with the story. A must read for any Yankee fan or any true baseball fan.

Mel Stottlemeyre gives us a unique insight into what a pitching coach does at the major league level. We lean over his shoulder as he coaches such talents as Doc Gooden, David Cone, Andy Pettite and Roger Clemens. We also learn some about the funnier side of the Yankee dynasty. Players taking out their frustrations with bats on the toilets of the clubhouse, pitchers punching and braking their hands on walls; and pitchers making off the record derogatory comments about their opponents to the press which are later published. All in all this is a book all Yankee fans should own.