You're Missin' a Great Game: From Casey to Ozzie, the Magic of Baseball and How to Get It Back

by Whitey Herzog

Book Overview

At its best, baseball calls on a wide array of subtle skills, rewarding the teams that know how to play the game better than their opponents over the long 162-game season. Whitey Herzog learned those skills under the tutelage of Cesey Stengel in the Yankees' training camps of the 1950s: how to take a lead; which side of the cutoff man to aim for; when to take an extra base depending on whether the outfielder throws left-handed or right-handed; the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416552057
• ISBN13: 9781416552055
• Release Date: February 2007
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A must for anyone who loves baseball the way it should be.

Whitey takes baseball apart but manages to provide constructive ways to improve the game. Cardinal fans will absolutely love this book but anyone who enjoys the game is in for a real lesson and a great experience with this book.

Cardinal Fans must have!

This book provides a blunt intriguing outlook on baseball that can only be the work of one of the greatest minds in the game. A must for any Cardinal fan.

Like a baseball seminar on the front porch

Hate to disagree with the reader from Illinois, but this is a wonderful baseball book. For sure, Whitey's controversial, and he has an ego. That's all in here. But it's part of the fun, and this book is fun. And for a book that's got the inside stuff, there is no other one like this I've seen. Whitey's been at all levels of the sport and he shares all of it here. Good stories about players, coaches, owners, everything. The book's full of tales you've never heard before, but each one contains some idea about baseball that makes you think. It takes you down on the field so much you can smell the dirt and grass, but also looks at the major issues in the major leagues. And it kept me laughing out loud. To say it's about Whitey alone is wrong... the whole point is to suggest ways to make the game better, and he's got plenty. Whitey still knows his stuff, he's smart and honest, and if we had more like him in the national pastime, we'd see a much better game.

Don't wait another day. Buy it now!

As a baseball fan in general, and a Cardinal fan in particular, you've got to love Whitey. I almost went into mourning when he quit managing the Cardinals in '90, and reading this book is just like having him back. The only problem is that he isn't the GM and Manager of the Cardinals right now! If the "powers to be" in baseball had any sense, they would hire this man as the Supreme Commander and let him go crazy. Nothing but good would happen. While I don't necessarily agree with all of his ideas (what's up with the World Series/Bingo Parlor stadium idea?) he has the track record and the insight to give baseball the kind of vision it needs to correct it's flaws. Whitey is one of us.... a regular guy who has also seen and done most everything there is to do in the game of baseball. Not only does baseball need him, but the fans want him and his style of play. If I had 1 tip to give Cardinals ownership it would be to bring him back tomorrow and let him run the show. Before too long, we'd see the Runnin' Redbirds, good fundamental baseball, winning seasons, and 3 million + attendance figures. Great book by a great guy. If you like baseball, you can't miss this one.

It's like sitting around the hot stove with a genius.

For you baseball lovers, and folks who just flat-out love a great character, Whitey Herzog's voice is the exact kind we need in baseball today: blunt, honest, brilliant, funny, and above all, creative and intelligent. This book is so funny, and so off-the-cuff, with so many rip-roaring stories about George Brett and Gussie Busch and Nolan Ryan, you forget at times you're listening to a genius who knows his game better than anybody else and who's offering a definite plan that addresses many of the ills that still plague the game. This man has seen baseball from top to bottom, in the old days and the new, and sees how it all bridges together. But Whitey's tone, by far, is the best thing in "You're Missing A Great Game." Some sports books clean up the language, but this SOUNDS like the White Rat -- rough, funny, and in-your-face . It's like a long, funny visit with a Twain character. I learned not to get too swept up in the blind hysteria of 1998, or to have that Bud Selig, "everything's-great" enthusiasm, but to have a realistic optimism based on the inside facts. This book is an education about baseball, but you'll have a good time getting it. It reminded me of the best teachers I ever had. You'll end up wishing you could sit down for a cold one with the author. There's nobody out there talkin' baseball like Whitey.