Veeck--As In Wreck: The Autobiography of Bill Veeck [Paperback]

Bill Veeck (Author), Ed Linn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 7, 2001

Bill Veeck was an inspired team builder, a consummate showman, and one of the greatest baseball men ever involved in the game. His classic autobiography, written with the talented sportswriter Ed Linn, is an uproarious book packed with information about the history of baseball and tales of players and owners, including some of the most entertaining stories in all of sports literature.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Bill Veeck was an inspired team builder, a consummate showman, and one of the greatest baseball men ever involved in the game. His autobiography, written with the talented sportswriter Ed Linn, is an uproarious book packed with baseball history and some of the most entertaining stories in all of sports literature.

About the Author

Bill Veeck (William Louis Veeck, Jr.) (1914-1986) learned the baseball business from the ground up at Wrigley Field when his father was at first general manager and then president of the Chicago Cubs. Bill went on to become the owner of the Cleveland Indians, the St. Louis Browns, and the Chicago White Sox-twice. In 1991, Veeck was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Ed Linn (1922-2000), a well respected sports-writer, was the author of 17 books, including Hitter: The Life and Turmoils of Ted Williams, Nice Guys Finish Last, and Where the Money Is.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (April 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226852180
• ISBN-13: 978-0226852188
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.2 x 10.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #115,733 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars he believed baseball should be fun--novel concept! July 8, 1998

By J. K. Kelley

Format:Paperback

The book takes you through the career of Bill Veeck, owner and operator of many baseball teams over a fifty-year period. If you truly love baseball, you want to read it.

Why? Easy enough--Bill loved baseball, so much so that he never sat in fancy box seats at games but preferred to join the fans in the bleachers. He is hilarious, as in sidesplitting; he has many stories to tell about the funnier incidents he's been involved in. And when you run a team Veeck style, you have a lot of funny incidents.

But the book is not just a compilation of Veeck buffoonery; he has strong feelings on many topics and expresses them with clarity and frankness. There are tributes to magnificent performances and courageous actions throughout the book. When you finish it, if you love the game, you wish only that you could have been an office staff person or groundskeeper following Bill through his career. You could never possibly have been bored (or made much money).

This book is in the class of _Ball Four_--a defining work that gives real insight into real baseball. To read it is to delight in the game.

As a partner, enough credit is not given Ed Linn. I don't know how Ed does it, but any book written with him will be entertaining, well written, and will above all preserve the main figure's personal style. I believe it is Ed's talent that takes the reminisces of sports figures and makes them a good read, and this deserves your appreciation and respect.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars They do not make sports bios Like THIS anymore..... September 17, 2002

By Jason A. Miller VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The two things you need to know before you buy "Veeck -- As In Wreck" -- and you will buy this book, you must, if you've ever bought any professional sports bio before -- are the names Veeck and Linn.

Bill Veeck you know from reputation -- the wacky promoter who invented everything from Ladies' Day to Disco Demolition Night. The man owned several baseball franchises (including the Chicago White Sox twice, for some reason), and was known as a both a promotional genius and a shrewd financier.

As for Ed Linn... well, Linn was also the ghostwriter for another fantastic, edgy, opinionated baseball book, Leo Durocher's "Nice Guys Finish Last". Not surprisingly, "Veeck" reads a lot like the Durocher tome (and it came first, too!). On every page here you'll find a funny anecdote, a scary bit of prescience, and a unique look at an otherwise-beloved icon. With Veeck's memory and Linn's acid pen, this book is quite hard to put down. Or to pick up, for that matter.

Sports bios tend to hold back these days, let's face it. They're not as long and not as insightful as the Linn books. And the gift of time has helped ripen these pages. When Veeck talks about baseball's financial need to institute interleague play -- writing from 1961 -- you know this man saw around a few decades' worth of corners. When he takes the Yankees to task for failing to capitalize on Roger Maris's pursuit of the Babe Ruth home run record, and notes that it was a once-in-a-lifetime event, he's right -- so baseball got it right in '98, when McGwire came to town, and when the record fell yet again in '01, hardly anyone noticed.

In the meantime you'll laugh at the sad fates of Bobo Holloman and Frank Saucier, the latter being the only ballplayer ever to be removed from a game for a midget. You'll be intrigued by Veeck's take on Larry Doby, and by his bitter retorts at Del Webb, then-owner of the hated behemoth Yankees. And you'll marvel at just how little has really changed in baseball since Veeck was retired. Owners plotting franchise shifts in shady back-room deals (Montreal, Florida. Florida, Boston). Owners doing everything to baseball except what really benefits the sport (It's a tie in Milwaukee!). Veeck lamenting not the high price of talent but rather the high price of mediocrity (how much is Colorado paying for Denny Neagle and Mike Hampton?)...

Just about the only highlight not covered is the sight of White Sox outfielder Chet Lemon wearing shorts. One of the few Bill Veeck innovations that did not catch on, and aren't we all better off...

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Veeck As in Wreck August 20, 2000

By Robert H. Command

Format:Hardcover

A wonderful slice of baseball history as seen from the consumate maverick of baseball. Veeck takes you on a journey from his beginnings listenning to John McGraw and his dad William Veeck Sr. shoot the breeze about baseball up until his purchase of the White Sox for the second time in 1975. Along the way you are introduced to those you may have never knew (Gene Bearden and Harry Grabiner), those you always knew (Eddie Gaedel, Satchel Paige and Lou Boudreau) and those you though you knew (Ford Frick, Del Webb and Charles Comiskey). The chapters about Veeck's ownership of the St. Louis Browns and baseball's fight about its disposition are alone worth the price of the book. I'd give the book five stars because it is well written and entertaining, but I suspect some of his stories are embellished in his favor. But you have to expect that in any autobiography. So many of today's ideas have Veeck written all over them, most notably interleague play and exploding scoreboards. One final note: keep a baseball encyclodedia next to you when you read this one. It comes in handy when the obscure names come flying, and if you feel "ole Willie" is telling a tall one.