CASEY: The Life and Legend of Charles Dillon Stengel

The quixotic career of Casey Stengel never stopped commencin' to be amazin' right up to last year's installation in the Hall of Fame. Stengel, always the clubhouse comic, is once again an irresistible subject and his story is equal parts antics, mugging and Stengelese. He is the greatest master of circumlocution; ibid, on a troubled ballplayer: ""That feller runs splendid but he needs help at the plate, which coming from the country chasing rabbits all winter give him strong legs, although he broke one falling out of a tree, which shows you can't tell, and when a curve ball comes he waves at it and if pitchers don't throw curves you have no pitching staff, so how is a manager going to know whether to tell boys to fall out of trees and break legs so he can run fast even if he can't hit a curve ball?""... Often hilarious, New York Times sportswriter Durso catches every tick of irony in this dizzying career.