Joe Morgan: A Life in Baseball

by David Falkner and Joe Morgan

Book Overview

The Hall-of-Famer explains what made the Cincinnati's Big Red Machine the smartest team in baseball, why today's teams play so dumb, the impact of Bench, Rose, Perez, and himself on the team, and his... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393034690
• ISBN13: 9780393034691
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 303 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A GOOD READ

I ENJOYED THIS BOOK. I THINK JOE MORGAN DOES A NICE JOB DESCRIBING HIS CAREER AND A BIT ABOUT HIS LIFE AND FAMILY. JOE IS A GOOD COMMENTATOR FOR ESPN AND I RESPECT HIS OPINIONS. I REALLY ENJOYED READING ABOUT THE BIG RED MACHINE AND HIS RELATIONSHIPS WITH SPARKY, PETE, JOHNNY AND TONY. I THINK REDS AND PHILLIE FANS WOULD ENJOY THIS THE MOST. BUT ANYONE INTETRESTED IN BASEBALL WOULD ENJOY THIS. RECOMMENDED.

I didn't buy a word of it.

Morgan says he won't buy into sabrematics because he knows more about baseball than any stat-analyst because he's played baseball. Well, Joe, following that brilliance, it stands that I know more about books than you because I've actually read a book. And it's apparent from your delusional self-congratulatory tone throughout this book that you don't have the slighest idea how to entertain someone with the written word. I've read on some message boards that the only book he's ever admitted to reading is Star Jones new book because he's alleged to say he's attracted to her. Which I think is a crock because I've heard it rumored that he's emotionally linked to former MLB pitcher Tim Spooneyberger.

A smoking line drive!

This relatively small volume is like its author. It delivers a fierce line drive which splits the alley and rolls to the wall for extra bases. One regards this book in the same way that he looks at the little guy sliding into second or third base afterwards and wonders, not for the first time, how he could have hit the ball so hard!Joe Morgan's "A Life in Baseball" is the story of an intensely driven individual who overcame the twin handicaps of race and small physical stature to become a Hall of Fame second baseman and a crucial component of one of baseball's most famous dynasties.Morgan's dedication rings forcefully in each word of this volume, and so do the same affability and sense of humor that he displays in the broadcast booth. Yet he never forgets that baseball, like most other endeavors, is a team sport, and that sacrifice of time, effort, and personal aggrandizement is necessary for the good of the team. The Big Red Machine not only required the talent of players like Morgan but their attitude as well. This is a man willing and eager to share what he has with others.As described by Morgan, the smallness of other baseball men such as Harry Walker and Bill Virdon - in moral, if not in physical stature - stands out in stark contrast. Walker was an original Brooklyn Dodger who harassed his teammate, Jackie Robinson, and the revelations about his stewardship of the Houston Astros shouldn't surprise anyone. It's startling to realize that the trade that sent Morgan, Jack Billingham, and Cesar Geronimo to the Cincinnati Reds and engendered the Big Red Machine was largely driven by Walker's grudge against Morgan.Virdon's fatal flaw was ego-driven, not race-driven, but Astro fans who wonder why their team has not reached the World Series in 40 years of existence will weep over Morgan's description of Virdon's actions during the deciding game of the 1980 championship series against the Phillies.On the West Coast, Morgan, a Bay Area native, is best known (with reverence or with acrimony) for providing San Francisco Giant fans with bittersweet vengeance by knocking the Los Angeles Dodgers out of the pennant race with that three-run homer that he hit on the last day of the 1982 season off of the Dodger's Terry Forster. This was while Morgan was playing for the Giants in the twilight of his career. The Atlanta Braves, who were playing the San Diego Padres on that final day, were the ultimate division-winning beneficiaries. Alas, this book doesn't dwell enough on that historic moment.But following that event, Morgan (who once almost signed with the Dodgers as a free agent) has found himself denying that he is a Dodger-hater. He should know better. It's not just Giant fans but everyone who is not a Dodger fan that is a Dodger-hater. The Padres were uprightly playing "spoiler" to the Braves by beating them, but after Morgan's home run ultimately stood up as a game-winner over the Dodgers and settled the issue, the TV cameras showed the Braves