The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told

by Jeff Silverman

Book Overview

At a 1931 barnstorming exhibition game in Tennessee, a seventeen-year-old pitcher for the Chattanooga Lookouts struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig back to back. Her name was Jackie Mitchell--"organized baseball's first girl pitcher." On September 9, 1965, Sandy Koufax made baseball history by pitching his fourth perfect game. In July 1970, a stripper rushed onto the field at Riverfront Stadium to kiss Johnny Bench, temporarily disrupting a game attended...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1592280838
• ISBN13: 9781592280834
• Release Date: June 2014
• Publisher: Lyons Press
• Length: 326 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Every Chapter A True Joy

I don't know if these are truly the greatest baseball stories ever told, but they are certainly entertaining. I am a baseball fan, but I'm not especially learned in baseball history. These stories, all by a different author, have deepened my love for the game and engendered appreciation for the men who play the game, past and present. I admit up front that I am a die-hard Dodger fan. The chapter by Vin Scully on Sandy Kofax's perfect game gave me goose bumps. I learned my love of baseball from my father, so the chapter by Doris Kearns Goodwin was especially meaningful (brought tears to my eyes). She tells how her father taught her to keep a score book for the Brooklyn Dodger games, then relay to him, play by play the entire game when he came home from work. She tells how, when the score was close toward the end of a game, she had to ask her mother to take notes while she left the room because the anxiety was just too much to bear. I, too, have had to do this. Of course, the first chapter with Abbott and Costello's "Who's On First" is a classic whether you are a baseball fan or not. I enjoyed every page of this book and plan to pass it along to grandkids who also love the game of baseball.

A great read for baseball fans of all ages

This is a great book if your looking for some short stories (both true and fiction) about the great game of baseball. It is a great collection covering anything from Ripken's drive for the Ironman title, the summer of 98 and the home run kings, lesser known characters like Pistol Pete Reiser and what life was like after baseball for guys named Joe Dimaggio and Ty Cobb among others. Highly Recommended

The Title Says It All

The baseball stories that make up this book make it possible to call this book the Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told. These stories have appeared in years past in the three Fireside books of baseball that are currently out of print. Since they are no longer available it would be advisable for you to strike while the iron is hot and buy this book. The book contains both fiction and non-fiction and certainly doesn't cover all the great stories that the Fireside books contain, but you can't argue with the thirty that make up this book. I would especially recommend this book for youngsters interested in baseball literature who weren't around to enjoy the Fireside books.

Great writing about a great sport

There are those who prefer football or basketball, but I'll take baseball. It has a pace that some may find slow, but I think of as more leisurely, allowing suspense to build slowly and often leaving the conclusion unknown until the final out. If you're down twenty points in football with a minute left, there's no way you're going to win; if you're down three runs (a similar three scores as in the football example), there is at least still a chance.The dramatic twists of fate in baseball are only part of makes the sport great. There is also the rich history and the colorful characters. And unlike almost any other team sport, baseball lends itself well to the narrative structure; when you read about a baseball game, you can picture exactly what happened. An entire game could be described on paper and you can see it all in your mind; try this with a basketball game and you'll be disappointed.Thus this book. Take some of the great writers (in sports or otherwise), give them the best sport to write about, and you can't go wrong, and this one doesn't. As an anthology, not every story is equally fantastic, but they are all good. They serve as a reminder of what makes baseball great: its drama, its history and its character.

A solid hit

I was looking for something to decompress with after the 7th game of the World Series. Now, after reading all the stories in this awesome anthology, I can't wait for the new season to begin. This is great baseball stuff. I especially liked the profiles of Cal Ripken -- believe me, this is the way you'll want to always remember the Iron Man -- and Yogi Berra, who the writer compares to a mystic yogi. The book also has the entire Abbott and Costello "Who's On First" routine, which is every bit as funny on the page as it is on the ear. Another really memorable story comes from the old Dodgers announcer Red Barber, who I used to listen to on NPR. He writes about what Jackie Robinson went through to break the color line, and how much he learned from Robinson in the process. I recommend this highly to baseball fans everywhere.