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

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

~ (Author)

4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Kindle Edition Kindle Edition $7.95 Available for download now. Published November 5, 2009	$7.95		--	--
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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

It's useful to remember that there's nothing terribly modern about the spectacle of an athlete throwing it all away. -- Sports Illustrated, March 21, 2005

Stone interweaves interesting tidbits of popular culture and history (particularly that of Los Angeles). Recommended for public libraries. -- Library Journal, February 1, 2005

Stone's riveting account of Schwamb's great baseball talent and equally great character defects is much more than a sports story. -- Tom Brokaw - NBC News Anchorman and Best Selling Author

This compelling biography reads as if it had been filmed in B&W in the golden age of film noir Hollywood. -- Kevin Starr - Historian and State Librarian Emeritus of California

This is not a "sports" story. It is brilliant, chilling and real. -- Peter Gammons, ESPN Baseball Analyst

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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.com Sales Rank: #1,111,909 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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	78% buy the item featured on this page: Wrong Side of the Wall: The Life of Blackie Schwamb, the Greatest Prison Baseball Player of All Time 4.6 out of 5 stars (5)
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	7% buy Grave Imports (Ray Sharp Novels) 4.7 out of 5 stars (6)

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Average Customer Review

4.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

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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

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.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wrong Side Of Nowhere, September 7, 2005

By	J. S. Share (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Well-written and well-researched book about a complex individual who could have had it all and ended up with nothing. I never would have heard of Blackie had it not been for this book, but after I was done reading it I had to ask myself, is this guy worthy of a book? Maybe not.

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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

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.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A tragic hero
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. Read more

Published on July 11, 2005 by Lesa Holstine

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't go Wrong with this read
Blackie Schwamb's life gorily illustrates the other side of the greatest generation. A must read for baseball fans, sure, but this book also offers a fantastic peek into a era... Read more

Published on April 9, 2005 by Sam Stone

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