The backdrop for this history of four lifelong friends--once Red Sox teammates--is the trip two of them, Johnny Pesky and Dom DiMaggio, made down the East Coast two years ago to visit a third, Ted Williams, who was dying. (Bobby Doerr, the fourth, had to remain at home in Oregon with his ailing wife.) The author uses this trek to digress on the sagas of these great men who “seized on baseball as their one chance to get ahead in America.” Halberstam reflects upon the immigrant experience, the changing nature of the game, the perennial spirit of competition, and friendship’s essence as he describes, thrillingly, several of the team’s unforgettable moments. Tate Donovan’s articulate narration allows the listener to focus, foursquare, on the author’s words in this deeply affectionate treatment of very special lives and times.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2003
Duration: 6 hrs
Publisher: Hyperion Audio Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
More books have been written about baseball than any other sport, and audiobooks such as this allow the genre to flourish. Former pitcher Ron Darling, now a broadcaster, had a distinguished career, primarily with the New York Mets. Darling has met just about everyone in the sport for nearly four decades and demonstrates his knowledge and connections with the anecdotes in this entertaining memoir. Narrator Malcolm Hillgartner's relaxed delivery sounds as though he is in the broadcast booth with Darling. Like most audio sports memoirs, this book succeeds because of the narrator's engaging style. Hillgartner recognizes that even the duller moments in baseball are bolstered by the legacies of so many who have played the game, and were fortunate to have crossed paths with the author.
Pub Date: April 2, 2019
Duration: 7 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9781721342457
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Willie Mays's baseball life was a long and rich one, worthy of multiple biographies. Known as a five-tool player--he could run, field, throw, hit, and hit for power--Mays enjoyed a long career. The tag-team narration here fits wonderfully: Larry Herron speaks in a serious and deep tone that is commanding, with appropriate doses of emotion. Julian McWilliams uses a higher voice for Mays who, in fact, does have a slightly high voice. Often, when people are quoted--like President Obama--imitations are used and fit seamlessly within the story. Off- and on-the-field anecdotes are interspersed with brief pieces of advice and mini-mantras from the baseball great.
Pub Date: May 12, 2020
Duration: 11 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781250240231
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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