Sports books roundup

“Casey Stengel: Baseball’s Greatest Character” by Marty Appel, Doubleday, 432 pages, $27.95

The title of almost every sports book seems to include labeling something as the “greatest.” Usually it is a vast overstatement, but not in the case of Casey Stengel. The label definitely applies to the greatest character baseball has ever seen. And maybe the game’s greatest manager too. In a sprawling biography, Appel chronicles Stengel’s long and colorful career. He seemed destined for baseball oblivion after producing one winning season during stints as manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves. But everything changed when Stengel, at age 59, was named manager of the Yankees in 1949. He immediately guided New York to five straight World Series titles and seven overall during his 12-year run. He knew his role as a showman, entertaining the media with long, rambling answers that became known as “Stengelese.” Often, his public profile obscured the fact that he was a keen strategist. Appel details how Stengel was credited with implementing the first platoon system and launching players like Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford to superstardom. The final chapter of his career became the stuff of legend when he signed on as the first manager of the expansion New York Mets in 1962. Even though the Mets were baseball’s all-time worst team, losing 120 games, Stengel always kept it fun.

“Rock Solid: My Life in Baseball’s Fast Lane” by Tim Raines with Alan Maimon, Triumph, 272 pages, $25.95

Tim Raines picked a good time to write his autobiography: He’ll be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this month. It was Raines’ early days in Montreal where he established his Cooperstown credentials — and almost derailed his career. Known by his nickname “Rock,” Raines exploded onto the scene in 1981 as a dynamic leadoff man for the Expos. He had 90 stolen bases in 1983 and went to seven straight All-Star Games. Yet, this was also was a low point in Raines’ life, as he was struggling with cocaine addiction. He used to run into the clubhouse to take a snort between innings. Eventually, he kicked the habit, but it did affect his image and perhaps even delayed his entry into the Hall of Fame. He writes, “I had to live with the reality that Tim Raines, the exciting young ballplayer, had been replaced in the public eye by Tim Raines, the recovering coke fiend.”

“The Pride of the Yankees: Lou Gehrig, Gary Cooper, and the Making of a Classic” by Richard Sandomir, Hachette, 304 pages, $27

“Pride of the Yankees” is such an iconic film, most people’s vision of Lou Gehrig is of actor Gary Cooper rather than the actual man. Sandomir, a veteran New York Times sportswriter, tells the fascinating inside story of the 75year-old film. The book is as much about 1940s-era moviemaking as it is about the Yankee great, who died at age 39. Producer Samuel Goldwyn knew nothing about baseball, but he was savvy enough to recognize the love story between Gehrig and his wife, Eleanor, and the impact of Gehrig’s controlling mother on his life. He decided those elements would be the central themes of the movie. Sandomir details the selection of Cooper in the lead role, and how he had to learn to play baseball, which he never came close to mastering. He also delves deep into the influence Gehrig’s widow had on the various versions of the script, as she was adamant on getting the correct portrayal. Eleanor did not want Babe Ruth to appear in the film; she lost that battle, as Ruth has a token role. The book finishes by examining how the movie and Cooper treated Gehrig’s famous “Luckiest man in the world” speech on July 4, 1939, and how it helped shape his legend.