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“The best written book about baseball - A must for every baseball fan.”
Chuck H wrote this review Tuesday, October 13 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“From 1961-66 Lawrence Ritter traveled 75,000 miles, scouring the country for old-time ball players. Ritter tracked down forgotten heroes from New York to California and recorded their stories before they were muffled by time. The result was The Glory of Their Times.
James B wrote this review Thursday, September 17 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
First released in 1966, Ritter’s book contained first-hand accounts from 22 players, including Hall of Famers Sam Crawford, Edd Roush, and Paul Waner. In the five years following its release, four other players whose stories were documented were also enshrined: Goose Goslin, Stanley Coveleski, Rube Marquard, and Harry Hooper. Goslin and Marquard were so grateful to Ritter for his efforts that they invited him to be their guest at Cooperstown for their induction ceremonies.
Ritter’s original recordings, which are available on CD, are also housed at the Hall of Fame. The audio version allows a fan to hear the voices of the old-time players, adding depth to their first-person accounts.
In 1984, nearly 20 years after the first edition came out, a larger edition was released. This contained four additional players’ stories, including that of Hall-of-Famer Hank Greenberg.
The Glory of Their Times was a ground-breaking book for baseball, and it spawned similar collections from other writers. Ritter passed the torch to Donald Honig, who wrote in his introduction to Baseball When the Grass Was Real:
“Anyone familiar with Lawrence Ritter’s classic The Glory of Their Times will recognize immediately the inspiration for the present book. As were thousands of others, I was both charmed and entertained by Larry’s book and, like thousands of others I’m sure, wished he would do another, telling the stories of the players who followed those whose memories he had so superbly recorded…. For several years I urged Larry Ritter to do another book. For various reasons, he couldn’t. I persisted. Finally he said to me, ‘Why don’t you do it?’ The suggestion was too tempting to ignore.”
Honig’s book adopted Ritter’s format, letting the players tell their stories in the first person. Others have followed, allowing oral histories of the national pastime to trickle down from one generation to another. Had Ritter not thought to do his book, surely someone else would have done so in time. But his was the first, and most baseball librarians regard it as one of the all-time classics.
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“I actually have the book version of this and not the audio. It's a great read for true baseball fans.”
Bookworm wrote this review Saturday, September 22 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“All of the players turn out to be great storytellers which makes the author Larry Ritter all the more great. Old timers have only photographs in their younger days and reading it transports us back to America of early 1900s. Absolutely must read for baseball fans.”
anandram wrote this review Friday, September 7 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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