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4.5
I first heard the name Joe Garagiola on the radio in 1946 when I played hooky to listen to to the 7th game of the World Series. I was 14 and my Mother gave me permission. Joe was the catcher for the St. Louis Cards that day, when his team beat the Boston Red Sox and won the World Series. Of course, Joe eventually went on to become a media star - first as a baseball game announcer, then later as a celebrity personality on various TV talk shows. I liked this book because Joe writes about many aspects of baseball that I'd never read before - like the role, routine and importance of scouts, how teams create and pass their signals and steal other teams' signals, how a baseball career impacts on family life, how inconvenient - maybe devastating - it is to get traded, or released, how it was growing up in St. Louis and living on the same street as Yogi Berra (Joe called him 'Yog') - and more. Joe, admittedly, played baseball in another era, but some of us readers lived in that era, ourselves, and so, the names and the stories make for interesting reading. Joe has a sense of humor and a lot of great stories. Enjoy! R. Amos, Severn MDI read this book over 40 years ago, I loaned it to a friend and never got it back. I so enjoyed reading it again!Review of the great American past time, professional baseball, by a man who had actually played at that level (and with good success) fro about 10 seasons. It's great that Joe Garagiola took the time to produce this book and give all people who love the game of baseball a very, very good reason to have a near non-stop belly laugh.I originally purchased a copy of this book at a Junior High book fair in early 60s. Read it from cover to cover several times but eventually discarded it. Recently I decided I wanted to see if I could find another copy so I could reread it. Fortunately there were several available at Amazon. If you like the game of baseball and want to get a interesting and fun look at all of the aspects of the game, players, scouts, managers, umpires, broadcasters, even clubhouse boys and groundskeepers, this is a great book.The book is a series of anecdotes contextualized around a framework of the ballpark itself. It explores the game in the clubhouse, in the dugout, between the foul lines, and at meetings on the mound and elsewhere. Garagiola's inside view is not cluttered with a lot of philosophical nonsense or political theater. It just gives us a peek at America's pass time from a man who loves the game and played, and viewed it at it's highest levels. The bonus is that it's laugh out loud funny.Great condition! Fast, fast, fast service. Just finished reading it again. Loved it as a young man,, loved it even more as an old man.The book was in good condition & arrived sooner than expected. I was disappointed in the writing. Some pages were like reading a bus schedule; this happened, that happened... Although it was humorous, it seemed as though the author was trying to get as many items told as possible before he ran out of pages. I lost interest after awhile there is a definite lack of Joe's lovable personality .And there are no photos.Joe Garagiola was a player for several pro baseball teams. He gives you a very comical, and real look at what goes on in the clubhouse and on the bench. He sense of humor is refreshing, and the book is very easy reading. If you love the game, you will really get a kick out of this bookBook has yellowed pages it is not new but I will keep it as it is a gift and the recipient can think I had it for awhile he won't mind.