By Dan Hirshberg 

The baseball season may be over (congrats to the World Champion Dodgers!), but you can always talk baseball even after the last pitch is thrown. In some circles this is referred to as the Hot Stove League.

So for our Hot Stove League discussion, let’s talk about baseball books. In the past few months I’ve had the pleasure to read numerous recently published baseball books, some very good, some good and well, one, not so good.

Let’s start with the very good ones:

The Last Manager, Earl Weaver, by John Miller, follows the career of former Baltimore Oriole manager Earl Weaver. A frustrated minor leaguer who got the short end of a chance to play in the majors, Weaver became a minor league coach and manager who was ahead of his time in training methods and the use of platoons in newer times. The Orioles took a chance on promoting Weaver to lead the team in 1968 and it paid off big time in the ensuing years as Baltimore had huge success under his leadership. Weaver believed a great deal that winning in huge part included solid defense and quality pitching. Weaver, though, to the general bystander, was perhaps better known for his outbursts on the field, taking it to the umpires without hesitation. After retiring he came back to manage the team a couple of years later, which turned out to be a mistake. In total, though, a great career as a manager, and in the author’s estimation, and little argument here, he was the last manager at a time when managers were seen as a star in the dugout. Think Billy Martin, Sparky Anderson, Tony LaRussa, etc. Nowadays for the average fan – and even those more than just average – it is hard to remember who is a team “star” as a manager, and for that matter who manages what team. Mention Earl Weaver and immediately you think of the Baltimore Orioles.        

Yankees, Typewriters, Scandals, and Cooperstown, A Memoir, by Bill Madden, takes you behind the scenes of one of the greatest baseball beat writers and columnists of all time. Madden, who also authored numerous baseball books, worked for the New York Daily News where he uncovered numerous scoops and forged friendships with Tom Seaver and other New York stars, and had a hot and cold relationship with George Steinbrenner. His behind the scenes look at games and people he covered moves quickly throughout the read. What I did not know was that Madden helped launch Donruss baseball cards, which became a major competitor of Topps cards, which held a monopoly on the business for decades.    

Up and In, Don Drysdale, by Mark Whicker, covers the great career of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher under the shadow of Sandy Koufax. Early on Drysdale had a (well-deserved) reputation of throwing up and in at hitters, and hitting them, that stayed with him throughout his career even though as time went on the “hits” were much less. In addition to a Hall of Fame career on the mound, Drysdale was an accomplished TV commentator. He was well liked by his colleagues, and before that, his teammates. What many people forget – or didn’t know – is that he was married to Ann Meyers, a sensational basketball player in the amateurs, in college and in pro ball, and who later a hoops executive.   

The Good ones:

L.A. Story, by Bill Plunkett, is pretty much all about Shohei Ohtani’s first year with the Los Angeles Dodgers after playing for the Angels for several years down the road in Anaheim. The day to day saga of how he ended up with L.A. is covered without missing a beat. The secrecy, the negotiations, the so-called finalists for his services, the rumors that he was heading to Toronto. The book gets caught up though in too much of the day to day stuff, seemingly covering details of every game. Thus, you hear some of the same “quotes” and accolades about Ohtani by teammates and executives. The author spends too much time just talking about Ohtani. It would have been nice to bring up at least some other aspects of the Dodgers during his first season with the club. In particular I thought the author would do more in talking about Freddie Freeman’s situation in which his son was gravely ill and when the son was better, the warm response that Freeman got all around the league. Instead, the author covers that news briefly and pretty much just on the surface. Still, it’s a good read and if you are a Dodgers fan, winning a World Series in the end is good no matter what. 

Mets stories I Only Tell My Friends, by Art Shamsky. The former Met, a member of the Amazin’ 1969 World Series championship New York club, had already written a couple of books with the Mets in mind, but this one digs a little deeper with a more personal feel to it, such as his “relationships” with Gil Hodges, road roomie Ken Boswell, Yogi Berra, Ralph Kiner, and other teammates and colleagues. He offers background on his photo shoot with super model Lauren Hutton, the singing Mets after they won the championship, his feelings about being a platoon player, and how he went from being skeptical about New York City to loving it. Some of the stories you might recall from his previous books or articles, but that’s OK. For those who did not know, on the hit TV show, Everybody Loves Raymond, Raymond’s dog, named Shamsky, was, yes, named in honor of Art.       

A Giant Among Giants, by Chris Haft, is about the guy who was the first real San Francisco Giants favorite, the 6-foot-4 Willie McCovery. Willie Mays was the better player, but “Stretch” came over with the team when they moved from New York. Willie McCovey. The Hall of Fame first baseman was a feared hitter who slammed 521 homers, most of which happened while with San Francisco. After retiring he became a beloved figure in the city. An annual award was named in his honor. Missing was a little more background on Willie growing up in Mobile, Alabama. He did not play high school ball, so how did he end up getting a minor league contract? There seemed to be some missing details. At another point, the author does not go into any real details about McCovery’s (pretty serious) brush with the IRS over memorabilia income. In any case you get a good picture of the man himself, his heroics and his tough going physically late in life.     

The Not So Good: 

Bo Belinsky, The Rise, Fall and Rebound of a Playboy Pitcher, byDavid Krell, was a book I was very much looking forward to, but turned out to be a very tough read. Not one to give up on a book once I’ve started, the first several chapters were literally a game by game, pitch by pitch, inning by inning breakdown of Belinsky’s stats – way too much and much more than anyone would ever need to digest. After a while, one inning sounds the same as the next. Belinsky didn’t die that long ago (2001). Surely the author could have found and included current interviews from those who knew him back then. That would have broken up a lot of the more mundane statistics cited in the book. I did enjoy the references to Trenton, NJ., and chapters about the no-hitter that launched his “stardom”, and of course, the chapters highlighting his relationships with women, many famous, including actresses Mamie Van Doren and Tina Louise (Gilligan’s Island), and Playboy playmate Jo Collins, the latter of whom he married. He was clearly a playboy, yes, and thought he was worth a lot more than he was on the ballfield. According to the book, he was happier pitching minor league ball in Hawaii than committing himself to be a much better hurler in the majors, despite what he is quoted as saying in the book. He ended up in Las Vegas working for a while at a large car dealership. Happy, who knows? The title is misleading – there was no rebound to speak of.

Oldie But Goodie:

I Told You I Wasn’t Perfect, Denny McLain’s biography, was written in 2007. Somehow I missed this one all this time but recently found a copy for sale at the Warren County Library. Best remembered for being the last pitcher to win 30 games in a season (actually 31, with the Detroit Tigers in 1968), McLain was some crazy dude who got caught up in gambling probes, suffered enormous shoulder issues, and was a star for a handful of years but couldn’t sustain it. In the book he has a lot to say about Hall of Famer Ted Williams, who managed him when he got shipped off to the Washington Senators. None of It was good. Crazy? He was once asked to get checked out by doctors to see if he really was crazy. He wasn’t, just seemed like it. McLain liked to fly airplanes, play the organ (he toured with his band) but mainly he just could not stay out of trouble and controversy. Surprisingly it was a very good read. I knew a lot about McLain before, however the book goes into many details I had not known. If you can find it, get it. 

Dan Hirshberg recently published his own book, Florida-based Baseball in Pinellas County. He was the longtime Sports Editor of the Star-Gazette and has written about baseball throughout the years. In addition to being an author he now has a podcast, Play Ball! With Dan Hirshberg. Check out his Facebook page, Danny Baseball 56.