The Joe Williams Baseball Reader: The Glorious Game, from Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth to the Amazing Mets

Gathers essays about Honus Wagner, John McGraw, Ty Cobb, Connie Mack, Walter Johnson, Babe Ruth, Joe Jackson, and Casey Stengel

The late Joe Williams began his journalism career in Memphis and Cleveland, arriving in New York in 1927, where he worked until 1964. It was the golden age of American sportswriting: the era of Damon Runyon, Red Smith and Elmer Rice. Read at a remove of several decades, in this collection of his columns Williams's approach to baseball may strike some as naive and uncritical, but others will find it pleasurable to peruse articles by a writer who loved the sport, mingled with the men who played it and presented them to the public as authentic heroes. Among those he particularly admired were Ty Cobb, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Babe Ruth and, later, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Stan Musial. The columnist's son has assembled a fine, representative collection. Illustrated.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This collection includes 50 years of columns by the former New York World-Telegram baseball writer. His pieces possess the historic charm of an era when sportswriters and players were drinking buddies, not antagonists. However, Williams's journalistic style was full of flowery descriptions that simply perpetuated legends. In fact, he is credited with starting the myth of Babe Ruth's "called home run" in the 1932 World Series. The columns span 1913-62 and are presented by his son, who edited the volume. Unfortunately, the book lacks informative editorial notes and a sensible arrangement. The appendix, where Williams's son defends him against charges of racism, is unconvincing. Not recommended.
- Thomas J. Reigstad, SUNY Coll., Buffalo
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.