The WELL: inkwell.vue.159: Howard Bryant, "Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston"

#78: Steve Bjerklie (stevebj) Wed 27 Nov 02 06:39

Wed, 27 Nov 2002 06:39:00 PST

The general interest in the history of the integration of big-league baseball is fairly recent, though. Major League Baseball commemorated Jackie Robinson's achievement only in 1997, the 50th anniversary year of when he broke in with the Dodgers. Many, and perhaps even most, baseball fans have been interested in the subject since the beginning, of course, but I don't think that's true of the general public. And there's really no money in a memoir unless a publisher can see many thousands of copies being sold.

Which is to say: The income potential of Pumpsie Green's memoirs may have occurred to Mrs. Green just recently. [Read entire topic]

#77: Marcy Sheiner (mmarquest) Tue 26 Nov 02 20:31

Tue, 26 Nov 2002 20:31:00 PST

Re Pumpsie Green's wife: It sounds to me like SHE wants him to write his memoirs, not that HE wants to! 38 years retired and hasn't picked up a pen? And she's using you as the reason why? Nuts. [Read entire topic]

#76: Howard Bryant (ohmy) Mon 11 Nov 02 21:05

Mon, 11 Nov 2002 21:05:00 PST

None. I thanked him because he was critical of himself though we disagreed throughout. I believe he was wrong on many counts. He believes he was right. I sent him a book thanking him for his candor, though he may not have appreciated that.

In many ways, I found myself somewhat more interested in the McDonough personality than Gammons, because at the very least, McDonough displayed passion for his side of the argument. Peter struck me as someone for whom race was merely a topic. Some days it moved him, other days it didn't. To me, it is too important a topic for that type of moral ambivalence. [Read entire topic]

#75: Jim Klopfenstein (klopfens) Mon 11 Nov 02 11:09

Mon, 11 Nov 2002 11:09:00 PST

Howard, I just read your book this weekend, and think it's a valuable addition to my baseball library. There are so many things that, as a lifelong fan, I had never realized or thought about.

The earliest teams I watched, in the late 50s and early 60s, were all integrated and many included Latin players. But you've opened my eyes as to how recent and incomplete the process of integration was at the time (and still is, in some ways and in some places).

I found the inside information about Boston baseball writing particularly interesting, especially regarding Will McDonough and Peter Gammons. I noticed you thanked McDonough in the acknowledgements, though you were very hard on him in the book. Have you gotten any feedback from him (or from his son, Sean)? [Read entire topic]

#74: Howard Bryant (ohmy) Sat 9 Nov 02 00:57

Sat, 09 Nov 2002 00:57:00 PST

Yes, I did interview Pumpsie on dozens of occasions. Sadly, his wife was very angry at me for writing about him in such detail, for she maintains that I have robbed him of his own opportunity to write his memoirs (he's been retired for 38 years now). It was a bizarre exchange (I never heard from Pumpsie himself about how he felt about the book) which ended with me telling Mrs. Green that history does not belong to one person, even the person in the center of it. I tried to appeal to her that positive interest in my book enhances Pumpsie's chances to find publishers enthusiastic. She would have none of it, and we haven't spoken in a couple of months. Oh well. [Read entire topic]

#73: Andrew Alden (alden) Thu 7 Nov 02 13:47

Thu, 07 Nov 2002 13:47:00 PST

Pumpsie appears throughout the book. He's a crucial character. [Read entire topic]

#72: Marcy Sheiner (mmarquest) Thu 7 Nov 02 13:32

Thu, 07 Nov 2002 13:32:00 PST

I hope Howard still checks in here! I have a question ==I haven't read your book yet, but I am wondering if you interviewed Pumpsie Green? He lives in Oakland and I met him last summer. [Read entire topic]

#71: pointy, but rarely undeservedly savage (vard) Mon 21 Oct 02 22:12

Mon, 21 Oct 2002 22:12:00 PDT

heh! [Read entire topic]

#70: Howard Bryant (ohmy) Mon 21 Oct 02 18:37

Mon, 21 Oct 2002 18:37:00 PDT

Jules is a great guy, and his "Baseball's Great Experiment" is a groundbreaking work. He gave everyone who came after him a roadmap to find reporting no one seemed to have much interest in.

Despite being "Shut Out" by the Boston Globe and NYT (at least for now), The Nation offered up a very strong and insightful review of the book. The reviewer, Louis Masur, was very thorough in his commentary.

He did say that he thought I was "too hard" on Peter Gammons. [Read entire topic]

#69: Steve Bjerklie (stevebj) Mon 21 Oct 02 11:52

Mon, 21 Oct 2002 11:52:00 PDT

>>>What have you heard about that book? Worth picking up, beyond simply adding to the library?<<<

The NY Times gave Simon's "Jackie Robinson ad the Integration of Basebal" a lukewarm review in the 10/13/02 edition of the Book Review. Sample: "Simon...is at his best when giving the reader the texture of Robinson's story before he set foot on Ebbets Field... Unfortunately, Simon too often lapses into familiar honorifics for Robinson, including 'knight,' 'hero' and 'lightning rod.' Then again, one reader's banality can be another's signpost."

The reviewer, Alan Schwarz (who I'm sure you know, <ohmy>), was much more enthusiastic about "Extra Bases: Reflections on Jackie Robinson, Race, and Baseball History," the new book by Jules Tygiel, described in the review as "perhaps the leading expert on baseball and integration." This is a collection of essays by Tygiel, who is a professor of history at SF State. The one I very much want to read that's in the book is titled "Ken Burns Meets Jackie Robinson."

The 10/13 Book Review also includes a page reviewing new Mickey Mantle and Sandy Koufax biographies. [Read entire topic]