Peter Golenbock - The Spirit of St. Louis

A Nice Tuesday by Pat Jordan Golden Books Buy This Book	Pat Jordan, a most talented magazine journalist for more than twenty years and a loyal friend of mine, as a teen was a pitcher who could throw a baseball 90 miles an hour. He was going to be a pro star -- he signed with the Milwakee Braves for $50,000; Tom Seaver was a contempory -- but he hurt his arm and never made it to the bigs. Pat is in his 50s now, but he never gave up the dream of pitching in the pros. When Mike Veeck invited him to pitch in the minors, he accepted the challenge and wrote a book about it. A Nice Tuesday is an open and honest account of his attempt to recapture his youth and at the same time to shed it.

The Junction Boys by Jim Dent Thomas Dunne Books St. Martin's Press Buy This Book	This is an outstanding book by Jim Dent, who used to be a beat reporter for one of the big Dallas papers covering the Dallas Cowboys. Dent has written an account of how the legendary football coach Bear Bryant took over at Texas A&M and turned football upside down, turning chaos and uncertainty into victory. It's about Bryant's methods and his toughness and how he affected the men he coached that first year. I often wondered what was so special about The Bear. This book answered all my questions.

The Last Magic Summer by Pete Gent Morrow Buy This Book	When I wrote Cowboys Have Always Been My Heroes, my oral history of the Dallas Cowboys, one of the players I most looked forward to interviewing was Pete Gent. It was he, after all, who had written North Dallas Forty, a hugely successful book and movie. Nick Nolte played him while Mack Davis played Don Mere- dith, his closest friend on the team. For years I wondered whether Pete and Don were as crazed as Gent represented in North Dallas Forty. Thanks to Pete's generosity, he told me everything I wanted to know for the book. He didn't make excuses like, "I can't tell you. I'm writing my own book." He opened up his life and let everything spill out. I always feel eternally grateful and in awe when people do that for me. In The Last Magic Summer, Gent opens up another part of his life to his readers. In the book he coaches his son in a sport he purports not to know much about, baseball, and leads it to victory. It didn't hurt that the shortstop on the team was a youngster by the name of Derek Jeter, currently the matinee idol of the New York Yankees. Don't be surprised if LMS is turned into a movie with Nolte again playing Pete. Don't look for Don Meredith. He's currently in the NFL witness protection program.

The Veracruz Blues by Mark Weingardner Buy This Book	While writing The Spirit of St. Louis, my oral history of the St. Louis Cards and Browns coming out in the spring, one of the events I investigated was the jumping of three Cards, Max Lanier, Fred Martin and Lou Klein, to the Mexican League in 1946. I interviewed Lanier at length and was able to tell his story. I wondered about the rest of the jumpers, including Sal Maglie, Mickey Owen, Luis Olmo, and Danny Gardella, who they were, what happened to them. The Veracruz, while pretending to be a novel for reasons I can only guess have to do with the fear of somebody suing Mr. Winegardner for telling the truth, tells the WHOLE story of the Mexican League. It brings the Pasquals and the players to life and really gives the reader an intimate idea of what it must have been like to have played in Mexico that year. For years I also wondered why Mickey Owen didn't return my calls when I called to interview him first for my book on the Dodgers and recently for this book on the Cards. Having read what Weingardner wrote about him, now I think I know why.

Slouching Toward Fargo by Neal Karlen Avon Books Buy This Book	Neal Karlen was sent by Rolling Stone Magazine to travel to the ballpark of the St. Paul Saints to seek out minority-owner, Saturday Night Live legend Bill Murray and write a hatchet job on him. But instead, Karlen discovered how much in love he was with the game of baseball as it is played in the minor leagues, and he learned that Murray, shy as he is, was really a good guy. So Karlen quit his gig at the Rolling Stone and spent two years with the Saints, watching GM Mike Veeck draw crowds, and commenting on all he saw. He even fell in love. Karlen's fun to read. You'll enjoy the book a lot.

Baseball's Forgotten Heroes: One Man's Search for the Game's Most Interesting Overlooked Players by Tony Salin Masters Press Buy This Book	Tony Salin, like Larry Ritter, Don Honig, and me, loves the lore of baseball. From his base in San Francisco, he has inter- viewed former players like Pete Gray, Joe Bauman, Dave Roberts, the late Joe Hauser, and Art Pennington, not because they were famous, but because they might be a fount of fascinating stories from the past. And of course, it turned out just that way. Tony also found a group of wonderful photos for his book, which is as much about his love of the game as his subjects. During his life Tony has worked for the circus, a PR firm, and at the moment drives a taxi cab. If you should get a ride with him, he will sell you a copy of his book right there in the cab. Do yourself a favor: ride in his cab. Buy his book.

Recommended Web Site	If you're into sports art, check out the website of Bill Goff: www.goodsportsart.com. His latest offerings are a great painting of David Cone being liften on the shoulders of his teammates after throwing his perfect game and another of Derek Jeter diving for a grounder during a Twins-Yankee game at the Stadium.

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