Stengel: His Life and Times (Signed First Edition)

Creamer, Robert W.

ISBN 10: 0671224891 / ISBN 13: 9780671224899

Published by Simon and Schuster, New York, 1984

About this Item

8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. 8vo., 349pp. Sharp First Edition, First Printing with full number sequence. Square, tight, and clean throughout with little or no wear. A touch of toning to top edge but quite minor. Equally attractive unclipped dust-jacket, ($16.95), is fresh and bright with no chipping, creases, toning or tears. Warmly inscribed and signed on the front end-paper. A beautiful collectable copy, uncommonly signed, and at a great price.

Seller Inventory # 018109

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Stengel: His Life and Times (Signed First Edition)
• Publisher: Simon and Schuster, New York
• Publication Date: 1984
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0671224891
• ISBN 13: 9780671224899
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Signed/Inscribed
  • Biography
  • Sports/Recreation

About this title

Synopsis

A portrait of the colorful Casey Stengel examines the complex man behind the numerous stories and wild tales, detailing the patterns of extravagant success, failure, and comeback that characterized his life

Review

From its original publication in 1984, Creamer's superb portrait of one of the game's most cherished characters was quickly acknowledged as a masterwork of sports biography. Its opening line--"Casey Stengel naked was a sight to remember"--helped establish the complex and often contradictory personality that Creamer strips from its façade by work's end. Stengel worked to build his image as the game's crazy clown prince, but he was always crazy like a fox, remarkably resilient, quietly brilliant, and always entertaining, from the day he broke into the majors with Brooklyn in 1912 to the afternoon he finally hung up his uniform as the loveable manager of the hapless Mets in 1964. His record of success as manager of the Yankee juggernaut from 1949 to 1960 remains one of baseball's unapproachable legacies: 10 pennants and seven World Series titles, including five in a row. "Casey could be wildly amusing," Creamer writes, stating the obvious, "but," he continues, "there was a burning ambition in him too." By displaying the former--especially in the form of his own confusing use of words, dubbed Stengelese by the beat writers whose job it was to interpret him--Stengel was able to let the latter sneak up on the opposition undetected. It was part of his myth and part of his mystery, both of which Creamer exposes with great skill, real respect, and obvious affection. --Jeff Silverman