Wrong Side of the Wall: The Life of Blackie Schwamb, the Greatest Prison Baseball Player of All Time [Hardcover]

Eric Stone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2005

An account of Ralph "Blackie" Schwamb, one of the best baseball prospects ever to come out of Los Angeles, who became the greatest player in the history of prison baseball.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Stone offers a thorough if pedestrian account of the life of Ralph "Blackie" Schwamb, a promising pitcher from the 1940s with an unfortunate tendency for getting into trouble. After setting a backdrop of Los Angeles awash with glitz, gangsters and temptation, Stone (a journalist who, oddly, specializes in Asian economics and politics) follows Schwamb along his unfortunate ride from a troubled stint in the Navy to equally unsuccessful flirtations with organized crime and big-league baseball. The elements for a good story are here: the skilled yet brash Schwamb is a flawed antihero whose aggressive nature and frequent drunken binges ultimately combined to destroy his career and land him in San Quentin Prison for murder. But the narrative lacks inventiveness. Aside from providing historical context, Stone merely ticks off the events of Schwamb's life; this results in a leaden tour from hangover to hangover, punctuated by blown chances and missed opportunities. Readers will empathize with Schwamb when-more than halfway through the book-he shows his stuff for the prison team. This bright spot isn't early or effective enough, however, to establish a true connection with the subject. Fans and historians of the game may enjoy this account, but others will be left with an unsatisfying portrait of a potentially compelling character.
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Review

“Eric Stone's riveting account of Blackie Schwamb's great baseball talent and equally great character defects is so much more than a sports story. It is a fascinating trip along a life on the edge, in and out of trouble, golden opportunities and missed chances.”--Tom Brokaw, NBC-TV’s Anchor for the “NBC Nightly News”

"Blackie Schwamb's story is classic tragedy-flawed, physically gifted, unable to deal with his demons. This is not a 'sports' story, it is Eric Stone's brilliant study of a man with such a great talent that he started against Bob Feller, but then went to the Mob and ended up pitching in prison leagues. Stone weaves the life of this tragic figure against the tapestry of the lifeline of both LA and the Mob. It is brilliant, chilling, and real."--Peter Gammons, three-time National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association National Sportswriter of the Year, ESPN Baseball Tonight studio analyst

"Baseball rarely edges into noir, but this compelling biography by Eric Stone reads as if it had been filmed in black and white in the golden age of film noir Hollywood. Mesmerized by the waste of it all, yet tempted to hope because of his talent, we follow the story of a brilliant but flawed player, Blackie Schwamb, whose career was derailed through the tragic consequences of gangland connections."--Kevin Starr, University Professor in History, University of Southern California, California State Librarian Emeritus, author of Coast of Dreams: California on the Edge, 1990-2003 and the other six volumes of the "Americans and the California Dream" Series

"Blackie Schwamb pitched in the American League for the St. Louis Browns. Blackie Schwamb pitched in Folsom and San Quentin . . . You'll finish Wrong Side of the Wall asking yourself, 'What if . . .'"--Joe Garagiola, former major league ballplayer, radio and television broadcaster, and author of Baseball is a Funny Game

"As a ten-year-old St. Louis Browns' fan, I saw the apple-cheek side of baseball and loved it. Eric Stone's look at the dark underside is eerie, fascinating, and impossible to put down."--Win Blevins, author of Beauty for Ashes, and numerous other award winning historical fiction and non-fiction books

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 324 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (January 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592284396
• ISBN-13: 978-1592284399
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,596,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I worked for many years as a journalist in the U.S. and Asia, covering everything from economics to crime; politics to art, rock music to sex. I once wrote an advice to the lovelorn column in a bilingual Chinese-English fashion magazine based in Hong Kong. I currently live in Los Angeles, where I was born, and which is the most culturally and ethnically diverse place I've ever been.

My most recent book is SHANGHAIED, the fourth book in the Ray Sharp series of detective thrillers set in Asia and based on true stories. The previous books in the series are, going back from book three to one, FLIGHT OF THE HORNBILL, GRAVE IMPORTS and THE LIVING ROOM OF THE DEAD. I also wrote WRONG SIDE OF THE WALL, a true crime / sports biography.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Talent gone down the drain, February 1, 2005

By 

Joe "Joe" (Keyport, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wrong Side of the Wall: The Life of Blackie Schwamb, the Greatest Prison Baseball Player of All Time (Hardcover)

If you consider yourself any type of fan of baseball history, this is a must read !! This book reveals a streetside look at the history of some of the greater players of the game, their roots and the difference a life can take based on a few right or wrong choices. Blackie Schwamb crossed paths with some of the greats of baseball in both minor league and major league games - albeit while on his long way to prison. I can't recommend it highly enough.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A tragic hero, July 11, 2005

By 

Lesa Holstine (Glendale, AZ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wrong Side of the Wall: The Life of Blackie Schwamb, the Greatest Prison Baseball Player of All Time (Hardcover)

Wrong Side of the Wall by Eric Stone tells the tragic story of Blackie Schwamb, a talented baseball pitcher who was bent on self-destruction. Growing up in the boom days of Los Angeles, Schwamb was attracted to the glamour and money associated with the local gangsters. Before he even tried to make it in baseball, Schwamb associated himself with gangsters, working as an enforcer due to his size. He was probably talented enough to make it to the major league, but his drinking, womanizing and running around with gangsters ruined him. He blew games due to his drinking, didn't show up for days on end, and, finally, killed a man when he had been drinking. He lost the prime years of his career to his time in San Quentin and Folsom Prison.

Ironically, those years in prison became the highlight of his baseball career. He was a successful pitcher against teams that fielded semi-pro and pro players. But, even in prison he was beset by depression.

Wrong Side of the Wall is one of the saddest baseball stories I've ever read. Schwamb's prison career showed his potential, but he couldn't adjust to any success in the outside world.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Baseball, Crime, and Blown Opportunities, May 13, 2005

By 

Bookworm Plus "Bill C." (Redondo Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Wrong Side of the Wall: The Life of Blackie Schwamb, the Greatest Prison Baseball Player of All Time (Hardcover)

Wrong Side of the Wall is a reminder that bad apple athletes are not new to our times. Eric Stone tells the story of the wasted life of Ralph "Blackie" Schwamb, a professional baseball player in late forties, who threw away an opportunity fantasized by many of us since childhood. Schwamb gravitated toward the criminal element of Los Angeles and also happened to have major league pitching talent. With 1940's Los Angeles as a backdrop, the book portrays his road to the major leagues marked by the milestones of dropping out of high school, alcohol abuse, petty and violent crime, two years in a naval brig during World War II followed by a bad conduct discharge, subsequent work as an enforcer for L.A. gangsters, and being a neglectful husband and father to boot. Along the way he also developed a talent and liking for baseball. Baseball seems to have been at most a hobby that somehow led to a contract with the St. Louis Browns and a half season (and one win) in the big leagues in 1948. What could have been a Cinderella story and tale of redemption turns into a self-destructive, nasty, and ugly story of screw-ups, drunkenness, and blown opportunities. Schwamb must have had huge potential to get up to the big leagues so quickly (albeit with the St. Louis Browns) and his obliviousness to the opportunity left me stunned. Then a little over a year after his summer with the Browns and back in Los Angeles, Schwamb was arrested and convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. At San Quentin and later Folsom, without many of the outside distractions Schwamb came into his own and played the best baseball of his life. Baseball was a big deal in California prisons back then and he was the star of a team that often dominated the San Francisco Recreation League and many semi-pro teams. The descriptions of prison baseball are interesting and a neglected niche of baseball history. Schwamb spent ten years in prison and his ability was still regarded enough for him to get a chance at a comeback with the Hawaii Islanders in the Pacific Coast League. The comeback failed and he faded into obscurity with several more relatively minor brushes with the law along with two failed marriages until his death in 1989. The book's pace with its weaving of the story into the Los Angeles setting is awkward at times. For example, the author interrupts the section on Schwamb's murder trial with a discussion of Los Angeles smog. Perhaps the most striking and memorable part of the book is the preface in which Stone describes several days spent with a prematurely aging and sick, but still volatile Schwamb in 1985. Much of the material in this book came from these sessions, however Stone took what Schwamb had to say with a grain of salt and uses other sources too. For the baseball history buffs, The Wrong Side of the Wall is a must read and is deserving of a five star rating. Mystery, crime novel readers, and those interested in Los Angeles history will also enjoy it. Stone has a lot of information about Los Angeles and its gangsters that could be used in his mysteries and I look forward to reading more by him.