Customer Reviews

The Truth About Ruth and More: Behind Yankees Myths, Legends, and Lore

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a lifelong Yankee fan who grew up at the Stadium (attending least 60 games a year) and as a Yankee tour guide, I've read a lot of books about the team and its history. This is by far the best I've ever read.

"The Truth About Ruth" is breezy and light, yet extremely informative. It explodes many of the myths that have formed around the team over the years. It also confirms many of the things I had suspected (like the fact that the "Yankee Stadium" I'd known all my life, the post 1976 one, was not the original Stadium, but a completely redone model.) All of the arguments are backed up by solid research and statistics, yet never gets bogged down in minutiae like other baseball books can.

The best compliment I can give this book is that it was like a bag of potato chips to me, I couldn't stop aftetr one chapter. I had to keep reading these "bite size" gems, and wound up re-reading many of them when I was done.

This book belongs in any serious Yankee fan's personal library. It would make a great gift for Father's day, Mother's day or any occasion.

I enjoyed this book a lot but there were quite a few ideas put forth that had me shaking my head. You would expect this in a baseball book. One that really drove me nuts was in the "True Trophy Case" chapter. In this chapter the author "corrects" the "wrong" decisions of sportswriters who either gave MVPs or Cy Youngs to undeserving Yankees, or snubbed deserving ones. He starts in the present and works backward. The first victim is Roger Clemens--He's stripped of his 2001 Cy, which is given to Seattle's Freddy Garcia. Supposedly Clemens's 20-3 record in 2001 was only possible because of Yankee offense and Yankee bullpen. Both were excellent that year. But Garcia is assumed to have attained his 18-8 without either of those factors.

Hello? The 2001 Mariners were one of the best teams ever. They won 98 games for pitchers who were not Garcia. Bret Boone and John Olerud both hit over 30 home runs; Boone, Mike Cameron, and Edgar Martinez all exceeded 100 RBI, and Olerud nearly joined them, with 95; and Ichiro hit .350. A very competent bullpen was highlighted by Arthur Rhodes, who maintained a 1.72 ERA over 79 games en route to an 8-0 record. The idea that Garcia was a genius burdened down by lackluster teammates doesn't hold.

I was surprised that at the end of the chapter Gehrig's 1927 MVP wasn't reassigned to Ruth. Much is made of the fact that the one-per-customer approach to MVP awards in the early 20th century was bogus, and everyone knows Ruth's 60 home runs would have gotten him the award but for that.

A good book, though, and full of lots of triia fodder.

For a Harvard grad and a member of SABR, it is hard to believe Mr Handrinos included the word "Truth" in it's title. " Opinion" would be a more accurate word. I can understand how the author had a few legends that warranted debunking in mind when writing this book, but he strays into argumentative opinions way too often. And then finds whatever numbers and stats that could support his ,sometimes flimsy, opinion. It's hard to continue reading the book after his shameless use of carefully handpicked stats to prove his opinion that Mantle was a better hitter and all around player than Joe D; his attack on Reggie as being an undeserving Mr. October; and that Dent's homer in the 1978 Play-in game wasn't really such a big deal. It would be comical if it wasn't coming from an author who seems more than a misguided youth.

I found this book very informative. I thought I knew a lot about the Yankees but reading this book showed me how much I bought into Yankee myths. The book seemed to make Yankee players more real. It showed the human side of all the stories I heard all my Yankee life. I would recommend this book to any baseball fan and particularly any Yankee fan. It definitely is a book that is hard to put down.

I'm into both baseball and history, and the background info in this book is great. I especially liked the chapter on George Steinbrenner, mainly because I never liked the guy and this chapter explained a lot. The pictures were cool too. Good read if you're into the Yankees and looking for something to psych you up for the upcoming season.

As much as a diehard fan might know about the Yankees, this proves that there's still a lot more to learn. The whole thing is dedicated to alternative perspectives, missing explanations, new analyses, and breakdowns you've never seen before . . . it'll open eyes among older fans and, no doubt, recruit some new ones, too. Entertaining, addictive . . . I LOVED this book. The Truth About Ruth and More: Behind Yankees Myths, Legends, and Lore

A terrific and witty book that really opens your eyes to a wide variety of baseball topics that you thought you knew all about, until you read this book. Extremely informative and a really fast read. I couldn't put it down. Check it out...