My Team: Choosing My Dream Team from My Forty Years in Baseball

By Larry Dierker

Book Overview

Mantle or Mays? A-Rod or Jeter? Clemens, Maddux, and Randy Johnson--or Pedro, Palmer, and Carlton? These are questions baseball fans can spend endless hours debating, and My Team will provide more fuel for the fire as former All-Star pitcher and National League Manager of the Year Larry Dierker shares his opinions on who would make the cut for the ultimate Dream Team. Choosing from the greatest players he has seen in his four decades in the major leagues, Dierker selects twenty-five players for My Team and another twenty-five for the opposition, the Underdogs. All are players that Dierker has played with or against or watched in his years as player, coach, manager, and commentator. Each athlete must have played at least ten years in the major leagues to qualify, and players are judged on their ten best seasons. So is it possible to select two teams comprised of outstanding ballplayers from the past forty years and not have room for Sandy Koufax, Reggie Jackson, Carl Yastrzemski, or Cal Ripken Jr.? Dierker's choices may be unorthodox, but that's part of the fun. My Team may start more controversies than it settles, but Dierker's insights, insider anecdotes, and passion for the game will be irresistible to true baseball fans.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743275144
• ISBN13: 9780743275149
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.6" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

My Team; Choosing My Dream Team from Forty Years in Baseball

It is a great read and you have to remember the criteria used to select the players. It is guaranteed to cause arguments and disagreements about who was left out, which is what makes sports great. The author has a great writing style and has credibility in the sport. Very enjoyable for any baseball fan from any generation.

Pick Your Team!

Having once been a devoted baseball fan, like many, I became disillusioned with way the game is played today. Between the overpaid egos, skyrocketing prices, steroids and poor league management, I had about had enough. Then, 3 years ago at the all star game, the commissioner of baseball decided the fans were less important than the game itself and declared the game a tie, sending a loud and clear message to the fans that they just don't matter to Major League Baseball anymore. I haven't watched a game since. But I still love the game and will always have wonderful memories of my first time at Wrigley Field, watching Nolan Ryan pitch his 7th no-hitter and seeing my childhood hero, Willie Mays, inducted into the Hall of Fame. It was these memories that made this book, MY TEAM: CHOOSING MY DREAM TEAM FROM MY FORTY YEARS IN BASEBALL by Larry Dierker, catch my eye. A few months ago, I found a similar book on the best 50 quarterbacks by the Sporting News that was a pleasure to read, so I picked this one up with high hopes. For the most part, I was not disappointed. Dierker begins with the first 25 pages spent detailing his criteria for the roster. This is needed later on in the book to understand why a few guys like Sandy Koufax are noticeably absent. Dierker then goes through each position and gives the reasoning for why some made the team and other notables did not. Overall, I can't find much fault with Dierker's assessments, and his 40 years, both as a player and later as a manager, certainly make him far more qualified than me. Like the Sporting News book on the 50 greatest quarterbacks, however, books like this never solve anything as dissenting opinions will surely abound, but they are great for sparking debate!