February 28, 2011
Honest, accomplished, and revered on and off the field, White, who played first base for the Giants, Cardinals, and Phillies, tells the story of his rise in baseball—how he weathered the racist catcalls from the stands and inferior accommodations, considering it all a necessary evil at minor league ballparks in his preparation for the big leagues during the Jim Crow era. Old pros Monte Irvin and Willie Mays, who wrote the appreciative foreword, shepherded him through the rough times, along with the "tough love" shown by New York Giants manager Leo Durocher transforming White into an All-Star first baseman. Upon concluding his stellar career on first base with the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies in 1969, he joined the colorful Phil Rizzuto in the broadcast booth to call New York Yankees games. His on-target comments about baseball's front office are grounded in the petty skirmishes and grand accomplishments of his five-year stint as president of the National League from 1989 to 1994. Sometimes brutally frank, White dishes the dirt on almost all of the leading baseball and broadcasting names in a truly controversial baseball memoir that will not be easily forgotten.
March 1, 2011
A baseball memoir that pulls no punches as it settles scores and attempts to set the record straight.
Though the sport has produced plenty of stars who enjoy a higher profile than White, few have proven as accomplished in such diverse facets of the business of baseball. During his 13 years as a player, he won All-Star recognition and frequent Gold Gloves as a slick-fielding, power-hitting first baseman, though he was never the flamboyant type who would call attention to himself. Then he embarked on an 18-year career as a broadcaster, memorably providing a balance to the more unpredictable Phil Rizzuto as announcers for the New York Yankees. He capped his career by serving five years as president of the National League, during a period of expansion and controversies concerning the umpires and their union (as well as a steroid scandal that went unacknowledged then and receives scant attention in the book). Whatever his level of involvement, White approached baseball as a career through which he made his living rather than a sport he loved, an attitude that is likely to ruffle sentimentalists. "Baseball was our job," he writes. "And for the vast majority of players, in my opinion, love of the game had nothing to do with it...I didn't love baseball. Because I knew that baseball would never love me back." Much of his antipathy has a racial tinge, as he describes the abuse he took from redneck fans during minor league days when he was one of the few black players on a team, through his battles with the white tycoons who exerted increasing control over the industry before he resigned as league president. Yet his account is otherwise color blind as it separates the heroes of White's life (Willie Mays, Bing Devine, Johnny Keane and others in addition to Rizzuto) from the villains (primarily former Cardinals general manager Bob Howsam and deposed baseball commissioner Fay Vincent).
Veteran journalist Dillow (co-author: Where the Money Is: True Tales from the Bank Robbery Capital of the World, 2003) does an admirable job shaping the narrative, though the edge and attitude are all White's.
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November 1, 2010
Former All-Star first baseman and hotshot sportscaster White is finally ready to tell his story; as the title suggests, expect him to be pretty brash and up front.
Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.