Feather-light but thoroughly agreeable recollections of a fulfilling career in professional baseball, from the New York Yankee dubbed ``Old Reliable.'' With three years out for service with the Coast Guard during WW II, Henrich played for the Bronx Bombers from 1937 through 1950, when a bum knee finally forced him into retirement at age 38. The hard-hitting right-fielder's championship seasons encompassed some of the sport's enduring moments, including the April day in 1939 when a dying Lou Gehrig took himself out of the lineup, ending his iron-man record at 2,130 consecutive games played. On a more personal level, Henrich was the lucky batter when Mickey Owen, the Brooklyn Dodgers catcher, dropped a third strike in the turning- point fourth game of the 1941 World Series, permitting the American League pennant winners to sweep on to the title. Propelled by memories like this, plus graceful tributes to a host of diamond personalities (Joe DiMaggio, Whitey Ford, Lefty Gomez, Johnny Mize, Don Newcombe, Phil Rizzuto, Jackie Robinson, Casey Stengel, et al.), the chronological narrative moves along at a rapid, albeit perhaps self-ingratiating, clip. Looking back with evident delight on his days as a member of memorable clubs, Henrich has harsh words for only a handful of umpires he deemed ``homers,'' head-hunting pitchers, and tight-fisted general managers who kept his annual earnings in the low five-figures range. In closing, however, Henrich makes a point of castigating George Steinbrenner for tarnishing the image of his beloved Yankees. As nice a baseball memoir as fans and nostalgia buffs are likely to find any time soon. (Eight pages of photographs—not seen.)
Pub Date: April 1, 1992
ISBN: 1-55972-101-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Birch Lane Press
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1992
Categories: SPORTS & RECREATION
Did you like this book?
A study of swimming as sport, survival method, basis for community, and route to physical and mental well-being.
For Bay Area writer Tsui (American Chinatown: A People's History of Five Neighborhoods, 2009), swimming is in her blood. As she recounts, her parents met in a Hong Kong swimming pool, and she often visited the beach as a child and competed on a swim team in high school. Midway through the engaging narrative, the author explains how she rejoined the team at age 40, just as her 6-year-old was signing up for the first time. Chronicling her interviews with scientists and swimmers alike, Tsui notes the many health benefits of swimming, some of which are mental. Swimmers often achieve the “flow” state and get their best ideas while in the water. Her travels took her from the California coast, where she dove for abalone and swam from Alcatraz back to San Francisco, to Tokyo, where she heard about the “samurai swimming” martial arts tradition. In Iceland, she met Guðlaugur Friðþórsson, a local celebrity who, in 1984, survived six hours in a winter sea after his fishing vessel capsized, earning him the nickname “the human seal.” Although humans are generally adapted to life on land, the author discovered that some have extra advantages in the water. The Bajau people of Indonesia, for instance, can do 10-minute free dives while hunting because their spleens are 50% larger than average. For most, though, it’s simply a matter of practice. Tsui discussed swimming with Dara Torres, who became the oldest Olympic swimmer at age 41, and swam with Kim Chambers, one of the few people to complete the daunting Oceans Seven marathon swim challenge. Drawing on personal experience, history, biology, and social science, the author conveys the appeal of “an unflinching giving-over to an element” and makes a convincing case for broader access to swimming education (372,000 people still drown annually).
An absorbing, wide-ranging story of humans’ relationship with the water.Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-61620-786-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
Categories: GENERAL HISTORY | HEALTH & FITNESS | SPORTS & RECREATION
Did you like this book?
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A basketball legend reflects on his life in the game and a life lived in the “nightmare of endlessly repetitive and constant pain, agony, and guilt.”
Walton (Nothing but Net, 1994, etc.) begins this memoir on the floor—literally: “I have been living on the floor for most of the last two and a half years, unable to move.” In 2008, he suffered a catastrophic spinal collapse. “My spine will no longer hold me,” he writes. Thirty-seven orthopedic injuries, stemming from the fact that he had malformed feet, led to an endless string of stress fractures. As he notes, Walton is “the most injured athlete in the history of sports.” Over the years, he had ground his lower extremities “down to dust.” Walton’s memoir is two interwoven stories. The first is about his lifelong love of basketball, the second, his lifelong battle with injuries and pain. He had his first operation when he was 14, for a knee hurt in a basketball game. As he chronicles his distinguished career in the game, from high school to college to the NBA, he punctuates that story with a parallel one that chronicles at each juncture the injuries he suffered and overcame until he could no longer play, eventually turning to a successful broadcasting career (which helped his stuttering problem). Thanks to successful experimental spinal fusion surgery, he’s now pain-free. And then there’s the music he loves, especially the Grateful Dead’s; it accompanies both stories like a soundtrack playing off in the distance. Walton tends to get long-winded at times, but that won’t be news to anyone who watches his broadcasts, and those who have been afflicted with lifelong injuries will find the book uplifting and inspirational. Basketball fans will relish Walton’s acumen and insights into the game as well as his stories about players, coaches (especially John Wooden), and games, all told in Walton’s fervent, witty style.
One of the NBA’s 50 greatest players scores another basket—a deeply personal one.Pub Date: March 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4767-1686-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Dec. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
Did you like this book?
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2021 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
