Last Time Out: Big League Farewells of Baseball's Greatest - Hardcover

Nogowski, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1589790804 ISBN 13: 9781589790803

Publisher: UNKNO, 2004

Synopsis

Most sports fans know that Ted Williams ended his major league career with style, swatting a home run in his final at bat. But what about Babe Ruth? Ty Cobb? Joe DiMaggio? Willie Mays? How did some of baseball's greatest players bow out of The Game? Last Time Out answers that question as it examines how the greatest players in baseball history left the game they once ruled. The stories of these men and how they finished their careers, never collected anywhere before now, show another side of the men whose achievements on the field made them legends. After hours and hours of research, through biographies, microfilm, magazines, and memories, award-winning sportswriter John Nogowski culled the stories of the final games of 25 of The Game's greatest athletes-Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb, Jackie Robinson, Dizzy Dean, Satchel Paige, Carlton Fisk, Bob Feller, Joe Morgan, and Carl Yastrzemski are among those featured. This impressive work recounts the circumstances surrounding these final games and puts you in a box seat to witness and sense the moment as these glorious careers ceased, most often with little fanfare. Whether it be Shoeless Joe Jackson, Lou Gehrig, Pete Rose, or Cal Ripken, Jr., Last Time Out beautifully captures in words and photographs the essence of these players' last time in uniform and celebrates the magic of the game these famed players mastered and loved.

About this title

About the Author

John Nogowski has worked at newspapers from New Hampshire to Florida for 20 years. A three-time national winner in the AP Sports Editor competition with many other state and regional honors, he resides in Tallahassee, Florida.

Reviews

Nogowski offers a tribute to 25 baseball giants, with a twist. This is a remembrance of the players' final moments on the field, alternately remarkable and heartbreaking. Eschewing well-known stats, celebrated World Series games and other popular material, talented sportswriter Nogowski opens an unusual window onto the last hurrahs of such players as Babe Ruth, Roberto Clemente and Cal Ripkin Jr. Among the more poignant entries is "Lou Gehrig: Sad Finish for the Iron Horse." Once the most feared man in baseball, Gehrig famously suffered a nerve disease (ALS) that zapped his strength. Nogowski replays Gehrig's last at-bat with excruciating detail, explaining the slugger's despair when he stranded 10 runners in his final game as a Yankee in 1939. Readers also watch as Pete Rose strikes out in 1986, Willie Mays grounds out in 1973 and Bob Feller, the greatest strikeout artist of his day, doesn't strike out a single batter in his final 1956 game. But Ted Williams walks away a champ, hitting a home run in 1960, and Joe DiMaggio doubles on his final major league at-bat in 1951. Nogowski has a gift for putting readers in the game, supplying rich color. He's honest about Major League Baseball's obsession with age and the bottom line, but still manages to celebrate these titans' final moments on the field with wonder and admiration. Photos.
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Edition details

• Publisher: UNKNO
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1589790804
• ISBN 13: 9781589790803
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 172