Babe Ruth's Own Book of Baseball (Paperback)

~ George Herman Ruth (Author), Jerome Holtzman (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

How much of this anecdotally rich memoir breezily spun from the threads of the game's wisdom and lore did the Bambino actually write? Who knows, though Jerome Holtzman speculates in his introduction to this delicious reprint of the 1928 original that sportswriter-turned-Commissioner of Baseball Ford Frick actually did the heavy lifting. Better, still, who cares? What emerges on every page is Ruth's gargantuan and all-embracing spirit.

A year after crunching 60 home runs, the Babe set out to make a few extra bucks by telling his story, but he tells much more than that. Despite his almost childlike persona, Ruth was a remarkably astute observer of the game and strategic tactician; he was no mere one-dimensional player. His analyses of pitching and hitting and contemporary players' talents in the field and at the plate remain as solid today as they were then. He intuited what the modern number crunchers have borne out.

As much fun as Ruth's opinionated prose still is to read, the added delight in an ancient text like this is the language itself and how it's changed in the ensuing decades. Ruth drops colloquialisms in the way he used to deposit hanging curveballs into the right-field stands; 70 years later, it's like being able to run free after hours in the Slang Museum. Well-dressed ballplayers are "the glass of fashion," a pitcher who's easy to hit is a "cousin," anyone who talks a lot is a "barber," and big boppers like the Babe weren't power hitters, they were "smart hitters" or "swing hitters," as opposed to "choke hitters"--as in choking-up on the bat, not failing in the clutch.

"I'm proud of my record in baseball," Ruth says, "and I'd be ungrateful to say otherwise. Every time I drive in a run, every time I hit a ball over the fence or hear the cheers of the bleacher fans ringing in my ears I get a great kick." Babe's Own Book still has a knack for giving readers a kick, as well. --Jeff Silverman

Review

"The Babe lives. He died in 1948, almost a half century ago. Roger Maris broke his one-season home run record in 1961 and thirteen years later Hank Aaron passed him in most home runs, lifetime—events that should have lost the Babe in the fog of time. Instead, he is as large as ever. . . . [This is] a remarkably good book."—Jerome Holtzman

(Jerome Holtzman ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 333 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (April 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803289391
• ISBN-13: 978-0803289390
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,542,504 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I ENCOURGE YOU TO READ THIS BOOK, November 3, 1998

By	[e-mail] (NEW YORK USA) - See all my reviews

WELL PEOPLE THERE ARE PLENTY OF BABE RUTH'S BOOKS IN STORE IT TALKS ABOUT THIS BOY GROWING UP IN BALTIMORE, MARYLAND HE WANTED TO PLAY BASEBALL HE STARTED OUT WITH THE BOSTON REDSOX THEN MOVED TO THE NEW YORK YANKEES WELL READ THE BOOK AND YOU WILL FIND MORE FACTS ABOUT HIM