Why I Love Baseball (Hardcover)

by Larry King (Author), Julie McCarron (Author), Michael Viner (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
There's more padding in this book than in all the chest guards worn by major league umpires and catchers, but once readers strip that away, they'll find a charming, sweet and savvy paean to the national pastime. Baseball wins most fans during childhood, and King starts with his own, when, at age 17, in 1951, he watched Bobby Thomson hit the home run that won the pennant for the Giants, against King's beloved Brooklyn Dodgers ("the saddest day in my life"). He then backtracks to even younger days, extolling the smell of popcorn, beer and hot dogs, the sight of brown dirt against green grass and the "crisp, white uniforms of the Dodgers." (King is now a Baltimore Orioles fan.) He goes on to cover the sports' eccentricities and eccentrics, the WWII years, old timers' games, Jewish players, baseball songs, stadiums, the joys of the box score, really just about anything that strikes his fancyâ€"including, occasionally, dramatic baseball issues such as its early exclusion of nonwhite players and its current labor troubles ("millionaires arguing with billionaires"; King calls for a payroll floor as well as a tax on high payrolls). A good deal of the baseball lore King relates will be familiar to seasoned fans, and he stuffs the book with others' tales or writings; a full 23 pages are devoted to a reprint of a 1987 Washington Post Magazine article of 99 reasons why baseball is superior to football. Still, what glues it all together and gives it a memorable spin is King's distinctive voiceâ€"the book reads like a fireside chat with this master conversationalistâ€"and, above all, his passion for the sport. Most baseballs fans will adore this love letter to one of America's most enduring institutions.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description
Larry King is a true-blue baseball fanatic. Going to his first game as a kid in 1940’s New York was the start of a lifelong love affair. This heartfelt valentine to America’s game evokes a simpler time in our country’s history: complete with the smells of popcorn, beer and hot-dogs; the sight of the green, closely-mowed infield; the dark brown dirt paths; the crisp white uniforms; the sound of the excited voices of announcers; the crack of the bat; and the roar of the crowd. Baseball, he discovered, is its own unique universe.

When he finally had the opportunity to personally interview legendary manager Leo Durocher, Larry was so happy that he kept the return phone call for twenty years, just so he could look at it and remember the day. Over his long and distinguished career he’s had the opportunity to meet and interview such heroes as Casey Stengel, Jackie Robinson, and Ted Williams. Passion for the game has suffused his life. Even now, he revels in the Orioles and the Mets. Every reason to love baseball is laid out in this nostalgic book, as King gives an inside view to the trading cards, the scuffles the most classic plays, the labor disputes, and the personalities that pervade the sport. It is the only team game without a clock or a designated ending time. Larger-than-life personalities make up its history. Why I Love Baseball will appeal to anyone who recognizes baseball as America’s favorite pastime.

King has loved baseball for as long as he can remember, and this ode to the game is truly a love song. You can hear the joy in the author’s voice. In a time of serious national focus, Larry King’s personal reminiscences and unique view of the impact of baseball is a welcome look at the modern history of the game.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: New Millennium (March 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932407103
• ISBN-13: 978-1932407105
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,746,913 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true read!, March 14, 2007

By	Jeff Smith (New York, New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Why I Love Baseball (Paperback)

You don't have to like both Larry King and Baseball to read this book. If you like just one of the two then this is a book you should read. The range of emmotions covered in this novel are, to say the least, sweeping. I highly recommend the audio version read by The King himself. This man has passion, that's all I can say. This is one of those books you cozy up to at the end of a long day. Sit back, relax, and immerse yourself in all things Larry.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars HORRIBLE - , August 11, 2006

By	A Reader "Baseball Guy" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why I Love Baseball (Paperback)

Larry King tells nice recollections from his childhood about the game, and the book did capture my interest, but as I read I notices a plethora of mistakes, inaccuracies, and errors. It seems that a proofreader did not check many of the facts that Larry King recalls. It got to be somewhat comical as I read finding one mistake after the next. It's also very repetitive - and littered with phrases like, "Can you tell I like baseball," "Can you tell I love uniforms," and the like.
As I read this, I had the feeling that Larry just spoke about baseball into a tape recorder and the words were made into a hastily written book.
I expected much better.

3.0 out of 5 stars Engaging, Entertaining, But Not Much Depth, May 22, 2004

By	W. C HALL (Newport, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As an expression of Larry King's sixty-year love affair with baseball, this would have made an enjoyable magazine article. But as a book...if you strip away the Thomas Boswell article, the slightly misquoted Terry Cashman lyrics, and the other padding, you find what seems to be the result of Larry talking into a tape recorder for a couple of hours, with all the positives and negatives that implies. There's plenty of heartfelt enthusiasm here, but little reflection or depth. And as King should know, memory can be faulty, especially with the passage of time. Take his story about his childhood fight with his friend Herbie Cohen, sparked by their position-by-position debate over which team was superior in 1947--King's Dodgers or Cohen's Yankees. As King tells it, they came to blows over who was superior at second base, where he insisted the Dodger rookie Jackie Robinson had the clear edge. The problem with that? As Cohen himself notes when he's quoted elsewhere in the book, Robinson played first base during his rookie season. (Eddie Stanky still patrolled the hot corner for the Bums; Robinson moved to second the next year, after Stanky was traded to the Boston Braves.) This is an entertaining affirmation of King's true love for the sport, but could have offered the reader a lot more.--William C. Hall