Talkin' Baseball: An Oral History of Baseball in the 1970s [Hardcover]

Phil Pepe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 1998

Baseball in the 1970s--remember how awesome it was? It was a decade of heroes and upsets and dramatic freeze-frame moments. Never had the game been more exciting. Never did it change so radically. In this wonderful oral history, veteran sportswriter Phil Pepe brings one incredible baseball decade back to life in the words of the guys who played--and lived--the game.

Hear union leader Marvin Miller recount St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Curt Flood's monumental challenge of the iron-clad reserve clause, and the dawning of the age of free agency. Ron Blomberg recalls his time at bat as the game's first Designated Hitter. Earl Weaver and Brooks Robinson describe the Orioles dismantling of The Big Red Machine. Ralph Houk and Rusty Staub relive the actions and antics of Tigers rookie sensation Mark "The Bird" Fidrych. And Diane Munson shares her heart about her husband, Yankee captain Thurman Munson, after he died in a tragic plane crash.

It was the first time a player ever earned a million bucks. Hank Aaron became the all-time home run king. Electronic scoreboards blazed against the night sky. Fans screamed "Ya gotta believe" and sang "We Are Family." All this happened in one amazing decade--and it's all right here in one stupendous book. The memories and the marvels of more than forty voices, from Bernie Carbo, Rennie Stennett, and Mike Torrez, to Tom Seaver, George Steinbrenner, and Reggie Jackson--Phil Pepe weaves their recollections into one of the most enjoyable baseball books ever written.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The 1970s was a decade of shifting power in baseball. The Athletics' dynasty was dismantled, the Big Red Machine was formed, free agency delivered its opening pitch, the DH stepped to the plate, and the first off-the-field strike was called. It was a memorable time, one that veteran sportswriter Phil Pepe characterizes as filled with "broad, sweeping changes." In Talkin' Baseball he gives the forum to the change makers themselves: the players, managers, executives, and writers who bear first-person witness. As in all oral histories, the moments range from the brilliant to the mundane, the life-fulfilling exploits and personal sadnesses, most strikingly the tragic plane-crash deaths of Roberto Clemente and Thurman Munson. While Pepe's lineup of interviewees is impressive, there are some all-star no-shows: Hank Aaron, Willie Stargell, Carlton Fisk, and Johnny Bench, for starters. Still, that's less a quibble than an observation. Pepe doesn't need to swing only for the fences; he finds plenty of other ways to score.

From Library Journal

Pepe, sportswriter, broadcaster, and coauthor of Mickey Mantle's My Favorite Summer: 1956 (LJ 2/15/91) and other sports bios, captures the tone of Big League ball in the 1970s. His interviews with players, managers, and others cover the excitement and turmoil of the era. The rise of player independence and salaries, the tragic deaths of Hodges, Clemente, and Munson, the designated hitter rule and new batting records, all spark this account. Recommended for popular collections.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 396 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1 edition (February 24, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345414977
• ISBN-13: 978-0345414977
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,322,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Those Great Memories, August 25, 2002

By 

Karen A. Decoster (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Talkin' Baseball: An Oral History of Baseball in the 1970s (Hardcover)

Pepe is both reminiscent and simplistic as a writer, not exactly a bad combination for a book on 1970s baseball. The book takes us back - in terms of players, teams, championship play-by-play, and photos - to perhaps one of the greatest eras in all of professional sports. Being a NY'er, Pepe puts great emphasis on the American League, and especially the Yankees. There is some good gossip here, especially of the clubhouse variety. If you loved this era and want to relive it for 400 pages, I heavily recommend this.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Baseball's decade of change, April 11, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Washington DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Talkin' Baseball: An Oral History of Baseball in the 1970s (Hardcover)

Phil Pepe does an outstanding job of taking us back in time to baseball's turbulent decade: the 1970's. His in-depth interviews, take you back as if you were there yourself. He does an excellent job of laying the groundwork for what would become the trademark of the seventies: free agency. His tale of Curt Flood and his drive to have the reserve clause abolished, is astonishing. He shows the readers that maybe Curt Flood hasn't received the recognition that he deserves for pioneering the free agency era. Pepe also show the tragic side of the decade with riveting accounts of the deaths of some of baseball biggest stars, such as Clemente and Munson. His inside look at the death of Thurman Munson and interview with his widow Diane is outstanding. It is handled with the delicate care that it should be while also telling the hard facts. His accounts of the games, players, and events that make up the 1970's is truly unbelievable. This book is a must for any baseball fan. My only regret was that the book was not longer because I had a hard time putting it down!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great read for New Yorkers, mediocre for the rest of us, November 19, 2010

By 

Bruce Baskin (Chehalis, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Talkin' Baseball: An Oral History of Baseball in the 1970s (Hardcover)

When I first spotted this book and saw it was written in the Terry Pluto style (player narratives with supporting author paragraphs), I picked it up because I grew up in 70's watching these guys play and was interested in their reminiscences.

Talkin' Baseball works on some levels because Pepe found some talkative ex-players who shared their stories and opinions, but there were a couple things that helped to lessen my interest in this book as I read it.

First, an overindulgent amount of space is given to the Yankees, Mets and Red Sox. In a way it's hard to fault Pepe because these are teams he covered at the time, but still, it does get a little old reading page after page of the exploits of three teams in two cities and at times scant mention of other teams. You'll see a huge amount of space devoted to the 1973 World Series because the Mets were involved, but only cursory attention paid to the 1974 World Series, which featured teams from Los Angeles and Oakland. Pepe seems to suffer from what I call "Ken Burns Disease," which is a fixation on baseball in New York and Boston to the exclusion of other places where the game is played. That's the only thing that I would criticize about Burns' "Baseball" series for PBS, but there's one more criticism I have of this book: Too much Phil Pepe.

Again, I checked out "Talkin' Baseball" because it appears to employ the Pluto style of the author setting up a situation, then getting out of the way to let the people involved tell the stories. That may have been Phil's notion when he wrote this, but too often you have to wade through paragraph after paragraph to finally get to what the subjects actually think, and even then you might get one paragraph from them. If you know nothing of baseball in the 70's, that extensive a backgrounder might be a bonus. To me, it was mostly annoying. After a while, I just stopped reading Pepe's italicized passages altogether and went straight to to the quotes. Made for a fast read. Oh, and about those quotes: I'm not sure I've ever read a book in which the author quotes himself in the third person, but check out the passage on Reggie Jackson in 1975 and you'll see Pepe quoting himself... immediately after his own backgrounder, no less.

Maybe I'm being hypercritical because, again, this is not a BAD book. I hae no problem giving Phil Pepe kudos for being a decent writer. It's just not nearly as good as it could have been because Phil can't (or won't) get out of his own way.