The Glory of Their Times

[sweaver]

An "oral history" book, consisting of interviews with old players, composed into book form by Lawrence Ritter. It is a real treasure trove of rememberences by eyewitnesses from the early 20th century of baseball. The book was originally published in 1966, and was an instant hit. I have a copy of the reissue from 1985, which adds four more interviews.

It's a real cool book.

[KCBOOMER]

"TGOTT" is really a wonderful book. The section with Smoky Joe Wood is extremely powerful.

[pathogan]

Ritter went out and had someone remaster the actual tapes from these interviews.Pure gold,like finding the dead sea scrolls, {as it were]

[SmedIndy]

It's one of my faves, even if a few of the stories were...well...stories...

[pwdennis]

Concur - it was a great book. Of course Ritter wrote a great book on Money and Banking too. He was truly a pro !!

[Slippery Pedro]

Originally posted by sweaver
An "oral history" book

I recommend the "tapes" on CD too - - - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1565112539/ref=ed_oe_a/104-3586797-8839159

[Skip]

You guys finally got me off of my wallet and out to get this book. It had been on my list forever but kept getting pushed down in favor of other books. I'm halfway through (its a very quick read) and really enjoying it. I recommend it to anyone interested in more than current teams and numbers. Thanks.

[sweaver]

There are some repetitive parts, but it's a lot of fun to read.

[pwdennis]

I loved the book but I wonder to what extent this book got the veterans committee to push some pretty marginal players into the HOF. Several of those whose stories are in the book were elevated to the HOF after its publication.

[Rajah]

Would you recommend the CD version (this sounds like one book on tape worth buying) or the text? Assuming I only buy one or the other?

[Skip]

I'd always take text over tape or CD if I have to choose only one format. Always.

[NCFella19]

The book IS one of the best ever written, so go and read it! But to actually HEAR the tapes of the interviews straight from the horse's mouths is thrilling! I have the book, the tapes, and the CDs and intermittently throw in an audio version just to hear some of the players.

[pathogan]

Originally posted by Rajah
Would you recommend the CD version (this sounds like one book on tape worth buying) or the text? Assuming I only buy one or the other?

the cd version is a great , pretty clean recording. Just listening to sam crawford or Lefty O'doul is wonderful.great rainy daay stuff, for me, at least.I have both...

[NCFella19]

My wife and I will be making the drive from NC to Dayton, OH for our annual "Ohio Northern University Kappa Psi frat brother get-together", and I'm secretly hoping for her to fall asleep so I can insert a CD or two on the way up.

She hasn't made the full conversion to baseball "fan" yet, let alone baseball history buff.

Glory of Their Times makes for a good audio book.

[hugenymetsfan]

I received this from my father for Christams and although I did not get the cd's, the tapes were amazingly clean. The Sam Crawford stuff is fantastic.

[trripleplay]

"The Glory of Their Times" was a ground-breaking book at the time it was published. Ritter refined and expanded the "as-told-to" genre of baseball writing, and was subsequently imitated by many writers thereafter. What made Ritter's book so powerful was his skill as an interviewer, knowing just the right things to say to get these old ballplayers to open up like they never had, to go beyond the retelling of the old chestnuts that they had been dishing out since their retirement, and to get into more details and lesser-known facts and incidents.

"The GLory of Their Times" should be required reading for anyone wanting to take a crash course in baseball history. And no one can call themselves a true baseball fan unless they do try to learn more of its history, because the Game is so entwined with its traditions and history.

[hmrsf]

Welcome trripleplay!Head over to the Ice Breaker forum and tell us more about yourself.

Great write up! Will add to to the offseason reading list (or cd listening listening list.)

[Skip]

Originally posted by trripleplay
And no one can call themselves a true baseball fan unless they do try to learn more of its history, because the Game is so entwined with its traditions and history. Oh boy ... you and Smed are gonna have some fun times together ....

I guess what I mean by that is, welcome!

[TimmyB]

I received this book as a birthday present a couple years back from a co-worker. It is an incredible book -- especially because he concentrates on interviewing those who aren't the biggest names in the game, but who were still very, very good ball players from a time where oral history is most of what we have to go by.

Great read.

[Rajah]

I'm about halfway through the print version. Its vastly entertaining. The repetition is something that I do like. Stuff about McGraw and Cobb and such from multiple interviewees kind of links it all together. I also enjoy the different personalities. I think it was sam crawford who was concerned he said too much. absolutely classic.

[Cooper]

This is one of the first baseball books I read, and it still ranks as one of the best!

There was also a TV version of it that I last caight on PBS (or was it NY's old Sportchannel) about 14 years ago. It was well done and as touching as a baseball piece could ever be.

I was but 13 at the the time, and it was the first time the legacy, history, and magnitude of the game really sunk in.

[sweaver]

Sidebar---welcome, Cooper! Been over to Icebreakers yet?

[GGC]

"The Glory of Their Times" was a ground-breaking book at the time it was published. Ritter refined and expanded the "as-told-to" genre of baseball writing, and was subsequently imitated by many writers thereafter. What made Ritter's book so powerful was his skill as an interviewer, knowing just the right things to say to get these old ballplayers to open up like they never had, to go beyond the retelling of the old chestnuts that they had been dishing out since their retirement, and to get into more details and lesser-known facts and incidents.

"The GLory of Their Times" should be required reading for anyone wanting to take a crash course in baseball history. And no one can call themselves a true baseball fan unless they do try to learn more of its history, because the Game is so entwined with its traditions and history.
I finally picked this book up and started to read it. So far, it's very good. I was kind of leery about the book, because oral history isn't always accurate. But Ritter says somewhere that he followed up some of the stories by checking out old newspaper articles and they were, for the most part, true.

[GGC]

Concur - it was a great book. Of course Ritter wrote a great book on Money and Banking too. He was truly a pro !!
I thinkt that that book (or an updated version) was part of my syllabus for a course that I took in college.