The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs: Recrowning Baseball's Greatest Slugger

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The Great Bambino

An impressive home run of a book

research and more research

A Wonderful Look at the Sultan of Swat

Best Book to date on MY GRANDFATHER

The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs: Recrowning Baseball's Greatest Slugger
Bill Jenkinson
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0786719060

Book Description

In an unprecedented look at Babe Ruth’s amazing batting power, sure to inspire debate among baseball fans of every stripe, one of the country's most respected and trusted baseball historians reveals the amazing conclusions of more than twenty years of research. Jenkinson takes readers through Ruth's 1921 season, in which his pattern of battled balls would have accounted for more than 100 home runs in today's ballparks and under today's rules. Yet, 1921 is just tip of the iceberg, for Jenkinson's research reveals that during an era of mammoth field dimensions Ruth hit more 450-plus-feet shots than anybody in history, and the conclusions one can draw are mind boggling.

Customer Reviews:

The Great Bambino.......2007-10-22

I didnt know if I would enjoy this book or not since I am such a visual person. However this book made me wish I could travel back in time just to see this giant of a man play one game. Babe Ruth, IMO, is simply the greatest ballplayer ever to pick up a bat. The author is detailed, accurate, and gives a great sense of just how great Babe really was. McGuire, Bonds, Aaron, Rodriguez dont hold a candle to the man who made the game what it is today.

An impressive home run of a book.......2007-09-08

If you've read "The Big Bam" by Leigh Montville and/or "Babe" by Robert Creamer, you owe it to yourself to read Bill Jenkinson's book. Although you may think it's not possible, Ruth was a better slugger than you ever imagined. He was truly one of a kind.

Jenkinson's book is interesting, fascinating and meticulously well researched. He spent more than 25 years researching each of Ruth's home runs, during spring training, the regular season, post season and on barnstorming tours.

Part of Jenkinson's book details Ruth's "hidden career" of exhibition games. Jenkinson calculates that Ruth participated in 800 exhibition games in six countries, 42 states and more than 200 cities. He blasted more than 300 homers in those games. In 1921, Ruth played an unbelievable total of 207 games. A consummate showman, Ruth kept an incredible schedule, not to mention his off-the-field activities.

Jenkinson focuses on Ruth's power and superlatives. The Bambino didn't hit many routine home runs. Most fans really don't comprehend how spacious the ballparks were in Ruth's days. Jenkinson calculates that Ruth walloped 22 fly outs that traveled more than 450 feet. No one has ever hit as many balls as far as Ruth. What he could do in today's ballparks is unfathomable.

Jenkinson spends 70 pages near the end of the book discussing comparative difficulty of Ruth's home run feats compared to today's game, drawing conclusions and making projections. Stadium photographs showing where some of Ruth's monumental homers landed are particularly interesting and impressive.

research and more research.......2007-07-23

Any historian or student of history must engage in countless hours of research in order to convincingly prove his thesis. Mr. Jenkinson succeeds with flying colors. The most fascinating section of this book is the one dealing with comparative difficulty. Jenkinson leaves no doubt that Ruth played under much more adverse conditions than modern day sluggers. I telephoned Mr. Jenkinson about a couple of points of comparison not mentioned in his book that had me wondering. One was the fact that Ruth played against only 7 teams and faced pitchers much more frequently (4-man rotations) than today's players. Could this be considered an advantage for Ruth. Jenkinson replied that after a while it really doesn't matter how often a hitter faces a pitcher. Another point I made was the fact that during day games, which Ruth played exclusively, shadows can hinder the batter's view. Again Jenkinson said that while this may have been a disadvantage for Ruth, the impact would have been negligent.
I must say that his willingness to discuss these issues (and others) with a reader of his fine book only makes his work more appreciated. I am looking forward to his next book.

A Wonderful Look at the Sultan of Swat.......2007-06-08

Thnak for this thoughtful, insightful and persuasive presentation regarding the the career of Babe Ruth. While I consider myself a baseball fan, prior to reading this book, I would consider myself largely ignorant of Ruth's amazing career. After reading this book, I am blown away by Ruth's accomplishments as well as his place in comparison with the modern players. I highly recommend this book and look forward to your next book.

Eric Blank
The Success of Robert Fitzgibbons

Best Book to date on MY GRANDFATHER.......2007-05-11

Bill Jenkinson's book, "The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs"! It is the Babe Ruth book that I have been waiting for years to be written!! Bill has 28 years of researching my grandfather under his belt for writing this book. He can back everything up with published facts and asks anyone to challenge him! It answers alot of questions that I am asked about my grandfather. For example, his TRUE hitting ability, if he had the luxury of today's traveling from game to game, the new equipment, how much would he earn today, difference in how he was treated by the press, sports medicine of the time...etc. He backs it all up with fact too! It reads beautifully, and takes this man, this incrediable talent and blows your mind with what you don't know about the Sultan of Swat! It is really not an expensive book either! I HIGHLY reccommend this book for everyone! This is the REAL Babe in action!

The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth

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Grand Slam Baseball Bio
Good Bio of the Sultan of Swat
Well Written
The Big Bam Makes My Team
The Babe

The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth
Leigh Montville
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0385514379
Release Date: 2006-05-02

Book Description

He was the Sultan of Swat. The Caliph of Clout. The Wizard of Whack. The Bambino. And simply, to his teammates, the Big Bam. From the award-winning author of the New York Times bestseller Ted Williams comes the thoroughly original, definitively ambitious, and exhilaratingly colorful biography of the largest legend ever to loom in baseball—and in the history of organized sports.

“[Montville is] one of America’s best sportswriters.” —Chicago Tribune

Babe Ruth was more than baseball’s original superstar. For eighty-five years, he has remained the sport’s reigning titan. He has been named Athlete of the Century . . . more than once. But who was this large, loud, enigmatic man? Why is so little known about his childhood, his private life, and his inner thoughts? In The Big Bam, Leigh Montville, whose recent New York Times bestselling biography of Ted Williams garnered glowing reviews and offered an exceptionally intimate look at Williams’s life, brings his trademark touch to this groundbreaking, revelatory portrait of the Babe.

Based on newly discovered documents and interviews—including pages from Ruth’s personal scrapbooks —The Big Bam traces Ruth’s life from his bleak childhood in Baltimore to his brash entrance into professional baseball, from Boston to New York and into the record books as the world’s most explosive slugger and cultural luminary. Montville explores every aspect of the man, paying particular attention to the myths that have always surrounded him. Did he really hit the “called shot” homer in the 1932 World Series? Were his home runs really “the farthest balls ever hit” in countless ballparks around the country? Was he really part black—making him the first African American professional baseball superstar? And was Ruth the high-octane, womanizing, heavy-drinking “fatso” of legend . . . or just a boyish, rudderless quasi-orphan who did, in fact, take his training and personal conditioning quite seriously?

At a time when modern baseball is grappling with hyper-inflated salaries, free agency, and assorted controversies, The Big Bam brings back the pure glory days of the game. Leigh Montville operates at the peak of his abilities, exploring Babe Ruth in a way that intimately, and poignantly, illuminates a most remarkable figure.

Customer Reviews:

Grand Slam Baseball Bio.......2007-09-07

The main difference between this book and last year's biography of Lou Gehrig (Luckiest Man) is that "Big Bam" is an entertaining look at one of the most entertaining figures in sports history, while 'Luckiest Man' is an informative look at one of the least entertaining sports figures from history.

Both books are good, but this book is FUN! It captures the era of Ruth, and details his amazing career in an entertaining Sea Biscuit like way.

Highly, highly, highly, recommended.

Good Bio of the Sultan of Swat.......2007-09-03

This is a riveting biography of the life of Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat, the Big Bam (one nom de guerre that I had never heard before). The author uses notes from a series of researchers, a number of whom wrote their own biographies of Babe Ruth. Hence, he appears to have a rich vein of material from which to mine nuggets on the life of Babe Ruth.

The focus of the book (page 5): "This book is an attempt to tell the story again for the Sports Center generation. . . . The approach is not so much to tear down the myths that grew around George Herman Ruth as to explain how and why they developed in the time in which he lived."
One metaphor used throughout the volume is "fog," representing those portions of Ruth's life where there is simply little information available. Much of his early childhood is enveloped in the fog. The story of how he moved from "St. Mary's Industrial School for Orphans, Delinquent, Incorrigible, and Wayward Boys to the Baltimore Orioles emerges from the fog and makes for good reading.

The book traces Ruth's rise from such humble and inauspicious beginnings to the minor leagues to the Boston Red Sox, where he became a great pitcher and promising hitter, to his purchase by the New York Yankees. The chapters recording his career speak of high points--and low points--and the awesome statistics that he compiled. More interesting, though, is the depiction of his very flawed life.

He may have had ADHD, if Montville is correct, but that is of no great moment. The point is that he had a hard time disciplining himself. Only after a wretched year and an as yet to be diagnosed malady that cost him a whole year did he begin to take care of himself.

The book does a nice job of recalling his career, his run in with his managers, his up and down relationships with teammates (the retelling of his ties to Lou Gehrig are quite interesting), his off field excesses (whether with food, drink, or women), his almost childlike behavior (the authors equated him to a 15 year old boy), his running through his salary. It also tells the tale of his attempting to take control of his life (with his second wide playing a key role, although their time together was hardly idyllic). The book concludes with Ruth's almost pathetic effort to become a manager while major league owners used and abused him in the process.

A nice biography indeed. Montville sometimes appears to venture into terra incognita where the evidentiary bases of his reflections are open to question (e.g., the ADHD diagnosis). But his is a candid biography, showing Ruth off--warts and accomplishments alike.

Well Written.......2007-09-02

Many of the reviewers here don't have the intelligence to realize that Montville used the 'fog' and question marks to indicate that a lot of Ruth's early life is unknown and lost to history.

So be it.

Montville has done a terrific job. Ruth was a great player. His shortcoming, like that of present day fielder, Johnny Damon, was not being smart enough to stay with the World Champion BOSTON RED SOX.

Also by Leigh Montville, and also essential reading, "Ted Williams, The Biography of An American Hero." Ted Williams was, of course, the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived.

The Big Bam Makes My Team.......2007-04-12

Author Leigh Montville's goal in the "The Big Bam" (one of the Babe's more obscure nicknames) is to portray the hidden Babe Ruth. In fact, trying to see through the fog of his life to get at the truth of his origins and life is a constant theme. For such a visible character in American history, there are huge gaps of understanding of aspects of Ruth such as his parents, childhood, first marriage, and illnesses. Montville has a tough act to follow because Robert Creamer wrote the definitive Ruth biography back in the seventies. The question in my mind was if it would be worth the time to read a new version. The answer is "Yes" because Montville does offer new insights on Ruth's life and what made him tick as we learn about a boy of seemingly limited prospects who turned out to have an innate athleticism that could blossom in the modern world with its widening entertainment and media establishment to become one of America's icons.

The subtitle of the book is the "Life and Times" of Babe Ruth and the reader does get an excellent view of the Babe in the context of the times and his wild ride through fame. Besides his life as a major league ballplayer, there is a lot of interesting information such as Ruth's off season activities, post-season barnstorming tours, speculation that he had a disorder such as ADD, the marketing of a superstar in his era, foreign travel, and of course, women and more women. Ruth's post-player life was very disappointing (as is the case with many athletes) as he tried to find a place for himself in the world. His post-career life was by no means pathetic, but his best days were obviously behind him. Most galling to him was that no major league team would fulfill his ambition to become a Manager and the book winds down with the anti-climactic last years of his life that ended in cancer at the age of fifty-three. For a reader's first biography of Babe Ruth I recommend Creamer's book, but "The Big Bam" is an excellent choice for a second look.

The Babe.......2007-04-10

This biography of Babe Ruth is a welcome addition to the plethora of literature written about him. All baseball fans should check this out.

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babe ruth
Lyrical pictures of the Babe hitting a home run
For the child who loves baseball and has two left feet.
A book that lives in the moment

Home Run: The Story of Babe Ruth
Robert Burleigh
Manufacturer: Voyager Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0152045996

Amazon.com

"He has always had this swing. This easy, upthrusting swing. This 'pretty' swing, not taught by any coach. One day the Babe just swung--and it was there. It was his." Combining stirring, poetic prose and Mike Wimmer's realistic illustrations, Home Run conveys the feeling of excitement and awe that must have been present at a baseball game in which the great Babe Ruth played. Robert Burleigh, who previously collaborated with Wimmer on the award-winning Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh, writes this picture-book tribute "for my Father--who loved the game ... for my son, Eli, to help him learn the spirit of can-do." His great love for both shines through. Our stomachs knot and spirits soar as Ruth steps up to the plate. Home Run softly draws us into the story, and the illustrations, rendered in oil on canvas, have an expansiveness and glow that lift them from the page. The gentle tribute is enhanced by "vintage-style baseball cards" that highlight aspects of Babe Ruth's career ("The Bambino loved driving low-slung convertibles, donning silk shirts and coonskin coats, and downing huge meals"), allowing Burleigh the opportunity to include important information without destroying the perfect simplicity of the main story. A treasure for anyone with a love of the game, Home Run is also powerfully affecting for those new to the excitement it holds. (Click to see a sample spread. Illustration from Home Run by Robert Burleigh, illustration © 1998 by Mike Wimmer, reproduced by permission of Harcourt Brace & Company.) (Ages 5 and older) --Aimee Damman

Book Description

The man who made the game of baseball, George Herman Ruth, wasn't always the Babe. Once he was a boy playing ball on a dirt lot.
Robert Burleigh and Mike Winner have created a stunning portrait of a legend--and of baseball's glory days.

Customer Reviews:

babe ruth .......2007-07-21

This is a beautiful picture book but it is for much younger children than whom i purchased it for. He is Ten and would have read it in fifteen min. not what i expected.

Lyrical pictures of the Babe hitting a home run.......2002-04-11

When I first saw the cover painting by Mike Wimmer on "Home Run" I was not sure if it was supposed to be Babe Ruth. In his glory days the Bambino had a body like an inverted pyramid, with those broad shoulders tapering down to those thin little ankles and tiny feet, and there are some paintings in "Home Run: The Story of Babe Ruth" that do not especially look like the Babe. However, those are few and far between.

The text by Robert Burleigh comes in two parts. First, there is the book's narrative, a sort of lyric ode to the Babe that combines his discovering his "pretty" swing as a boy with a home run he hits off of a Red Sox pitcher years later. Second, under the narrative text there is the back of a faux-baseball card (from "The World Champion" series), that has biographical and statistical details about Ruth.

However, the centerpiece of this book is the time at bat that takes up the last half of the book. Earlier there is a striking painting of Ruth launching a pop-up; the view is from behind the catcher who has taken off his mask, all eyes turned to the sky and the small white ball rising into the sky. Wimmer offers several unique and compelling perspectives during the home run episode as well: the Red Sox first baseman craning his neck to follow the flight of the unseen ball, the eyes of Ruth watching it disappear into the stands, the Babe's foot on first base as the pitcher stands dejectedly on the mound.

There is a quote on the back-flap of the dust-jacket that says the "Chicago Sun-Times" described Wimmer's illustrations as "reminiscent of some of Normal Rockwell's best." Certainly there are strong similarities, especially in the painting of the fans reacting to Ruth's homerun. But with his emphasis on key details to tell the story Wimmer offers a decidedly different perspective from Rockwell that I really liked. Ultimately, it is the artwork rather than the narrative that makes this a lyrical book.

For the child who loves baseball and has two left feet........2001-08-23

Purchased this for my nephew who is overweight, uncoordinated and loves playing baseball. Reading this to him increased his joy of the game and gave him confidence to keep trying to improve his own skills. Taught him to do best with the skills he had right now and even how to deal with successes in life. This level of understanding was terrific for children and adult alike. Excellent book for sharing special time with children.

A book that lives in the moment.......1999-07-14

This books opens with the Great Bambino as a child. Remindingyou of your own innocent childhood. It then leaps to his professinalcareer where it slows down to one at bat. (the moment) It is written with a grace for detail that makes you feel like part of the story. You hear the crack of the bat, feel the dirt under your spikes, the "soft hardness of the base", and hear the defening sound of the crowd. This book brings tears to my eyes everytime I read it to my daughter and my son. Maybe one day they will read it to their children and know why. END

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Writing by a true fan of the greatest game
Glory Of His Time
This is not the Tom Meany biography of my youth.
The Best About The Best
The Legend Truly Does Come to Life

Babe: The Legend Comes to Life
Robert Creamer
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 067176070X

Book Description

"I swing big, with everything I've got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can." -- Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth is without a doubt the most famous character ever produced by the sport of baseball. A legendary player, world-famous for his hitting prowess, he transcended the sport to enter the mainstream of American life as an authentic folk hero.

In this extraordinary biography, noted sportswriter Robert W. Creamer reveals the complex man behind the sports legend. From Ruth's early days in a Baltimore orphanage, to the glory days with the Yankees, to his later years, Creamer has drawn a classic portrait of an American original.

Customer Reviews:

Writing by a true fan of the greatest game.......2007-01-01

Legends transcend time. The Stories get better, the adjectives get bolder, until they become passé. Ruth was the only athlete who was already at legend at age 21. There was no reason to exaggerate, and no words to describe his ferocious dominance. And the timing of his nuclear assault on history couldn't have been better planned. Fresh from the Black Sox crisis of 1919, America's greatest sport teetered on extinction. To this day, this baby faced Neanderthal had more athletic dominance over his peers than anyone in history...and more charisma than ten W.C. Fields. He changed the sport. Some say he changed the world.

Home Runs were non-existent before him. Baseball runs were earned one base at a time; singles...sacrifice bunts...a sport of hard drinking pitchers, and gritty base stealers led by Cobb. After Ruth arrived, the physical dimensions had to be rearranged just to accommodate his abilities. Mammoth stadiums were built with double the capacity, replete with awe inspiring 450+ ft fences. All because of Ruth. But the parks were no match for him. He was the all-time home run champion at age 25, HR champ 13 times in 15 years, and in his 17 years as a hitter, he hit 235 home runs 450 ft. or further. By comparision, Bonds was HR champ just twice, and hit just 3, count em, 3 450ft HRs his first 15 seasons pre-roids.

I've just read the new Ruth book out called The Big Bam, but afficionado's like me still choose Beamer's documentary as the voice of record. Unlike the rest, he best captures Ruth's massive power and abilities, childhood innocence, great sense of humor and rebelliousness, and rock star image. Ruth was the real deal. He was a true legend in his own time, and wore the badge humbly on his sleeve. He lit up every room he entered, and lit up every pitcher he faced. This book is a classic, like the man himself.

Glory Of His Time.......2006-11-27

Some personalities are too big to be contained in a single book, especially one who exemplified bigness like Babe Ruth.

Ruth was not much into analyzing the whys of his greatness. As retold in Robert Creamer's 1974 biography, when asked the secret of why he hit so many home runs, he replied: "Just swinging." Asked about "the psychology of the home run" by the same reporter, Babe responded: "Say, are you kidding me?"

Creamer seems to feel the same way. He's not the prose version of Jack Webb exactly, but his "Babe" is heavy on facts and remarkably light on the sort of thing modern sports writers like to fill their weighty tomes up with, cultural impact and inner-self profiling. Creamer presents teasing glimpses of Babe's revelries, and some hints of who he really was beneath the legend (one close friend says "I don't think he really loved anybody"). But his focus is on Babe the baseball player, his statistical brilliance and his awesome, game-breaking power.

He broke into the majors as a pitcher, developing into "the best lefthander in the game" before it became clear, in this blessed time before the advent of the designated hitter, that he could do more to win games with his bat than his arm. What followed transformed baseball from a slightly noisier and faster version of cricket into the National Pastime. Babe Ruth didn't invent the home run, but he might as well have deserved the copyright, hitting 54 homers in 1920, more than any other entire team produced except for his Yankees, red-haired stepchildren to the fabled New York Giants until Babe arrived and changed everything.

Even though his career home-run record was in the process of being broken when "Babe" was published, Ruth was about so much more than that. Creamer gets at a lot of the on-field stuff, especially, like the fact he once led the American League in batting average and, as a pitcher, produced the longest stretch of earned-run-free innings for more than 40 years.

The book does come across as dry at points, though, focusing on Ruth's more measurable accomplishments and ignoring the less tangible stuff. Creamer doesn't overwhelm you with a lot of flowing prose, which is a good thing, but he leaves a lot of things alone that seem fertile ground for exploration. Possibly because the last bio I read was Robert Caro's "Path To Power," it felt like Creamer was light on sourcing, but that's probably because his method of research was a lot less formal, chats at the bar with old-timers over the course of decades condensed into the iceberg we get here.

What Creamer wrote, he got right, though, something I know as a fact. My grandfather covered the Yankees and was Babe's favorite ghostwriter, and my father, who saw Babe in the Yankee clubhouse, swore by Creamer as one of sportwriting's best for giving the honest, unvarnished truth. It's not a book for boys, as Creamer notes, but "Babe" will make you feel like one reading about this real-life giant who walked the earth.

This is not the Tom Meany biography of my youth........2006-07-25

That was written for boys & swallowed every legend whole. Robert Creamer has written quite a bit on baseball. This may be about the best biography of its time. You can't do much better than Tom Parker if you take the audio route. I've read or listened to other works by Mr. Creamer & they are consistently good. That said he has alway seemed a bit to attached to the numbers. Baseball is the most satistical of sports & I do enjoy them. Ever year there is a new on that can be applied however unofficially to players of other eras such as the Babe. One of the newest ones now in vogue is the quality start.
Six inningss minimum with three earned runs or less is a quality start. Having said that sometimes the numbers overwhelm the story. Stats on the Babe's minor league years will be forgotten about 2 seonds after you hear them. Mr Creamer endeavors to be accurate & may knock down some of the legends, or reduce them to believable proportions. The belly-ache heard round the world & The Babe hitting three home-runs in his last game are examples of the hype at the time. Creamer gets real & lifts, in the end his biography to a more adult level. I think Mr. Creamer dwells a bit more on Babe's other appetites, as well, such as women. His various ailments, injuries & suspensions have surprisingly depressed records that could have been even greater than they eventually were. Babe's juvenile behavior in his early years & the number of people in the baseball world that he irritated by his sometimes arrogant attitude through-out his career thwarted him in the thing he wanted most: to be a big league manager. That is sad & we'd have a lot more to talk about since he lived for another 10 years after he left baseball. He died relatively young but he was & still is (despite his numbers being slowly
eclipsed) the greatest. If you wanted a truthful biography this is is a pretty good one & its available in the audio version.

The Best About The Best.......2006-03-19

Although I am only 27 years old I consider myself a baseball purist(as well as a huge Dodger Fan). I have a big attraction to the greats and the detail of the book is incredible! I was Rivitted and a Must read for ANY Baseball fan.

The Legend Truly Does Come to Life.......2006-02-28

One of the finest sports books I have ever read...great as a sports book, even greater as a biography....probably better as a biography....the characters, especially the Babe, come alive. It's as if you are living history as it happens and the characters are real, so, so real. Gives the reader an understanding and appreciation of the men who played the game as never before. Simple, yet complex men, in a simpler time. Simple to us, but still complex and uncertain to them....A rare find. A rare book. A good, good book. Highly recommended to the devout baseball fan, the casual baseball fan and to the reader who has a casual, passing interest in Babe Ruth, his life and times. Highly recommended.

Average customer rating:

The Babe would have been proud.

The Babe: The Game That Ruth Built
Lawrence S. Ritter
Manufacturer: SportClassic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1894963075

Amazon.com

He was a big man, and The Babe is a big book--a four-bag celebration of the Bambino, the greatest baseball legend of them all. Lawrence S. Ritter, author of The Glory of Their Times, the classic oral history of America's national pastime in the first decades of the 20th century, weaves together a workmanlike, often elegiac, narrative of Babe Ruth's life and career. But it is the all-star collection of photos--of the Babe in action, the Babe just hanging around being the Babe, and rare Ruth collectibles--that sends this volume where the Babe used to send high fastballs: out of the park. Hank Aaron, who sent a few out himself, pens a warm introduction to the idol whose career home-run record he ultimately surpassed.

Book Description

This is the lavish celebration of the life and times of the greatest baseball player who ever lived. Consisting of 350 photographs, The Babe recounts the classic rags-to-riches tale of Babe Ruth.

Customer Reviews:

The Babe would have been proud........1998-07-22

If you like baseball, you will love this book. It's a "coffee table" type book that every true baseball fan needs in his/her sports library.

It comes with a Homerun Derby CD. For me, the game was a little hard to figure out because the directions are a little unclear. I'm working on it and will master it one day.

Book Description

The Cam Jansen books are perfect for young readers who are making the transition to chapter books, and Cam is a spunky young heroine whom readers have loved for over two decades. Now the first ten books in the series have updated covers that bring new life to these perennial best-sellers. Old fans and new readers will love Cam's cool, modern look!

Customer Reviews:

Baseball has never seen the likes of her memory before!.......2005-01-19

You have to love Cam Jansen. When you're a kid, you read all of these stories about magic powers, mystery, and adventure. But everyone tells you magic can't exist. Cam Jansen manages to solve every case without the use of magic... she's a real girl. That's what makes her special and what makes you want to read more and more. Cam Jansen is a real kid superhero, and the thought that a person like her could actually exist... makes her the best kid detective ever! Our family loves Cam Jansen!

The Baseball Mystery.......2001-05-04

Hi tI am an 8-year old boy and I am writing this for the people. What I is going to do is try to convince you to buy this book . Now I will tell you what I want to say. I think this was a great and wonderful book. David A. Alder is a kids books kind of person. The illustrations are great and pretty. I recommend anyone to read and buy this book Because it is a great and wonderful book, full of surprises and mysteries of all sorts that is only eight chapters long. Thank you and goodbye.

Average customer rating:

WOMBAT - Waste of money, brains and time
What Curse?
My goodness, are Red Sox fans bitter
Curse is a misnomer
Thank goodness

The Curse of the Bambino
Dan Shaughnessy
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0142004766
Release Date: 2004-08-31

Book Description

The Boston Red Sox's loss to the New York Yankees in the final game of last year's playoffs has been called “the game of the century,” evidence that the rivalry between the Red Sox and the Yankees is hotter than ever. In the wake of that defeat, author and Boston Globe sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy has updated his bewitching story of the curse that has lain over the Red Sox since they sold Babe Ruth to the hated Yankees in 1920. Here he sheds light on classic Sox debacles—from Johnny Pesky's so- called hesitation throw, to the horrifying dribbler that slithered between Bill Buckner's legs, to last year's stunning extra-inning home run that kept the Sox without a World Championship for yet another year. Lively and filled with anecdotes, this is baseball folklore at its best.

Customer Reviews:

WOMBAT - Waste of money, brains and time.......2007-03-20

Don't bother - complete and utter rubbish. Too bad this cannot rate zero stars, it's not even worth that.

What Curse?.......2006-06-07

First of all, let me make one thing perfectly clear; there is no curse. Dan Shaughnessy is a writer who wrote about an imaginary curse that, incidently, was conjured up by Red Sox fans. Had he the foresight to envision readers actually presuming that he was depicting a real live curse, I'm certain that he would have included a disclaimer at the beginning of his book.

Why did the Red Sox enjoy success when Ruth was a member of that organization? It's very simple. Besides Ruth, the Red Sox also employed Hall of Fame pitcher Herb Pennock, and solid players such as Joe Dugan, Everett Scott, George Pipgras, Joe Bush and Sam Jones, among others. They were the team to beat at the time. When Harry Frazee sold Ruth to New York, it started a "house cleaning" that eventually sent the aforementioned players to the Yankees over the next two years. The Sox weren't cursed, they just became Yankees.

My goodness, are Red Sox fans bitter.......2005-05-18

For a good laugh, go back and read some of the older reviews of this book. "Shaughnessy's an idiot", "Go away loser", and "You're not a Red Sox fan" seem to be in every review. I read this book as a Yankees fan savoring every chapter of Red Sox misery. Shaughnessy tells the story of the Red Sox since 1918 in a breezy style and with a dry sense of humor. Of course he doesn't actually believe there is a "curse." He simply uses the Babe's sale to the Yankees as a backdrop to the real reasons why the team was unable to win a World Series. Ignorant ownership, bad personnel moves, and prickly relationships between players and players and management. Baseball fans should enjoy this book as the stories flow nicely. Red Sox Nation no doubt loves this book has more or less been rendered obsolete.

Curse is a misnomer.......2005-01-13

The idea that the Red Sox were cursed because Harry Frazee sold the Bambino to finance a show is a misnomer at best, and a sincere lack of honesty at worst. The true reason the Red Sox failed to win a World Series title in 86 years was due to ethnic racism, pure and simple. The Red Sox had Jackie Robinson tryout in Fenway Park and commented that Robinson was a great hitter, but it was "too bad that he was colored". They also watched Willie Mays in a tryout and passed up the opportunity to sign him. They refused to have a young Henry Aaron tryout for the team when they found out he was colored. That is how the old Boston Braves were able to sign Aaron in 1952 to play for them (albeit in Milwaukee) and the fabled cross town rivals were not. Racism was the true curse of the Boston Red Sox. Boston has had a serious problem with racial hatred in the neighborhoods of Dorchester and Roxbury for decades and refusing to acknowledge this problem leads the naive to assume that there could be any relationship to the trade of Babe Ruth to the NY Yankees and the 86 year drought of a World Series championship. Pure, utter nonsense. Racism was their curse.

Thank goodness.......2005-01-06

Thank goodness this book is finally obsolete. It thrills me to know that this worm will no longer cash on the misery of the fans of the team he claims to root for.

Did Mr. Shaughnessy disappear in a puff of smoke when the final out the World Series was recorded?

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a woman's questions
Pictures that speak to you!

Babe Ruth: A Daughter's Portrait
George Beim
Manufacturer: Taylor Trade Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0878339957

Amazon.com

There's something about the Babe. He continues to mesmerize long after the retiring of #3, and it's his enduring familiarity that makes this spruced-up family album assembled by his daughter such alluring fun. The Bambino was certainly one of the most willingly photographed individuals of his time, but A Daughter's Portrait goes beyond the staged and hyped--though the staged and the hyped are displayed in full glory--to offer some lovely images of a man of minimal privacy just being himself: fishing and hunting with the guys, missing a putt, reading the paper, at ease with his family. Some of the photo captions suffer from saccharine overdose, and others are factually incomplete or inaccurate, but that only conspires to make this whole seductive enterprise more personal, endearing, and folksy. --Jeff Silverman

Book Description

A stunning collection of private and rarely published photographs of Babe Ruth complied by George Beim with Julia Ruth Stevens, the Babe's daughter.

Customer Reviews:

a woman's questions.......2003-01-30

i am not understanding how julia babe's adopted daughter wrote a book about him and his adopted daughter dorothy had nothing to do with it is dorothy dead or she just doesn't wanna talk about it. I'd really like to know about it because it just left me hangin and i did like the book it was very good and there are lucky to have a father like babe ruth i think there the luckiest kid's in the world to have been adopted by george herman ruth jr. it most take alot to open up about your father who lost his battle with throat cancer.i am so sorry for your father's death i lost my mom at the age of twelve of nasalpharonyx cancer it was hard but i am making it today with 1 beautiful son andrew his my gift from god thanks for letting me explain ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~anonymous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pictures that speak to you!.......2000-07-07

This book is fantastic for all baseball lovers. It puts you in touch with the real person that Babe Ruth was and how caring he was. I found out stuff that I never really knew about him, such as his rough childhood and how interested he was in several different sports. This book is great for people who like to look at pictures, but if you want to read more than see, then this book is not for you. It provides great picturely information about his life but it could use more pictures of him with his baseball team.

Babe Ruth: One of Baseball's Greatest (Childhood of Famous Americans)

Average customer rating:

Review from an 11 year old Catholic homeschooler
Awesome
Great book for baseball lovers
Babe Ruth- An All American Hero

Babe Ruth: One of Baseball's Greatest (Childhood of Famous Americans)
Jr., Guernsey Van Riper
Manufacturer: Aladdin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0020421303

Customer Reviews:

Review from an 11 year old Catholic homeschooler.......2007-05-07

The book "Babe Ruth One of Baseball's Greatest" is a spectacular 5 star book. It tells of George Ruth from age 7 till his death. It depicths him at St.Marys school, where he first learned Baseball. It's where he won his first Championship and the academy game. At that game a Baltimore Baseball scout saw him pitch and was amazed, he reported about George to the owner of the Baltimore Oriels. One afternoon George and his friend Rod were having a catch. George was pitching, Rod was catching when they saw a man walking with the brothers who run the school. They called George in, the man was the Baltimore Oriels manager and he wanted George to play for them. This is where he got the name Babe since he was so young. Thus the career of Babe Ruth began. If you love Baseball and it's heroes you'll love this book.

Awesome.......2006-11-18

It was a really great book. I learned a lot about Babe Ruth. A lot I didn't know - all about him growing up and what his childhood was like.
It was really informative and I really enjoyed reading it.

Great book for baseball lovers.......2001-06-06

I remember this reading this book in 7th grade and i will never forget it. It was writen with pride and dignity you felt that the great BAMBINO was a hero and he was to most people. I really recommend this book to baseball lovers and people who are interested with this topic. Oh Guernsey Van Riper and Seymour Fleishman did a excellent job writting and illustrating this book.

Babe Ruth- An All American Hero.......2001-04-01

I read this book a couple years ago, but haven't forgot it. It's great if you like learning about sports heros or baseball. I remember most baseball stuff. I even remember that 1 month after his first wife died in an apartment fire, Babe Ruth married again. I learned that from this book. Would you like to learn more? Then buy this book!!!

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The Legend of the Curse of the Bambino
The legend of the Curse of the Bambino
Attention good parents: Don't let Shank disappoint your kids!
turning anti-semtism into a children's book

The Legend of the Curse of the Bambino
Dan Shaughnessy
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0689872356

Book Description

Some believe that the ghost of Babe Ruth -- the most famous baseball player who ever lived -- is still watching over the game today. What would you say?

It all started on January 5, 1920, a fateful day in baseball history, when the Boston Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for a mere pile of cash. That's when, some say, the Red Sox's reversal of fortune began. Before Ruth was traded, the Red Sox had been the best team in baseball, winning five of fifteen World Series. Since then, the Yankees have had twenty-six World Series to their credit. The Red Sox have come painstakingly close over those decades, but not close enough. Could it be that Babe Ruth took revenge on the team that traded him so long ago -- making the Red Sox wait a torturous eighty-six years before they would win another World Series?

Baseball legend? Fate? Coincidence? Here's the story of the Curse of the Bambino -- the greatest baseball legend ever told.

Customer Reviews:

The Legend of the Curse of the Bambino.......2007-02-22

The Legend of the Curse of the Bambino is a joy to read. It talks about Babe Ruth in his baseball career. This is a very intense story.
This story captures the magic of baseball. It shows the smiles and the tears that are a part of this game. The invisible bond among the generations is inspiring. The new players remembering the old players, really shows the dedication and love they have for this sport. The Legend of the Curse of the Bambino shares the joy of rooting for a team. When the fans get excited when their team wins is so exhilarating.
This book is a blessing for all ages. The pictures are very interesting and detailed. The clippings from the newspaper are a great touch to the story.

The legend of the Curse of the Bambino.......2005-11-12

Sorry, but, the reviews I have just read on Amazon,in my opinion, missed the point. The "Red Sox Curse" is essentially a legend that has been around for years, and Dan Shaughnessy's book does a great job to break it down-simply-for kids. The illustrations are great for kids and the text is simple and to the point. The book does a great job in getting the story (LEGEND) across to kids. By, the way, I'm a transplanted "New Yorker" into the Boston area, and I didn't know the legend. I, as well as my two young girls, loved the story. It gave us a whole new perspective.

Attention good parents: Don't let Shank disappoint your kids!.......2005-10-14

One would think Shaughnessy, a.k.a The Shank, would be perfect writing for children. His Boston Globe columns amount to no more than childish drivel. Yet one should expect a writer who is so disappointing to adults to do likewise for kids. He attempts here to get his claws into children and brainwash them into believing his so-called "curse" gibberish, and therefore perpetuate his own revenue stream. The Shank's hope, so transparently self-serving, is that these kids will grow up buying more of his foolish fiction. The real "curse" was the alcoholic haze under which the Red Sox were run and managed by the Yawkeys, Harrington, et al(thank you Clark Booth and Leigh Montville, two real journalists, for pointing this out). Parents: Be warned! Keep your kids away from The Shank.

turning anti-semtism into a children's book.......2004-11-25

In a recent ESPN article, baseball historian and author Glenn Stout revealed the truth about the so-called "Curse of the Bambino": it is rooted in anti-semitic slander that originated 80 years ago with Henry Ford's racist newspaper, the Dearborn Independent. (Evidently, Ford thought Red Sox owner Henry Frazee was Jewish.) Now that the truth has been exposed -- a truth that evidently escaped Mr. Shaughnessy's reporting of the original "Curse" -- it is sad and disappointing that Mr. Shaughnessy and his publisher have chosen to push all this on children.

Then again, perhaps Mr. Shaughnessy will do the right thing and revise his book to acknowledge the anti-semitic roots of the "Curse" he helped popularize. It would be the honorable thing to do, and he should be commended if he chooses that approach.

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