The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth
by Leigh Montville
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Book Summary Information
Author: Leigh MontvilleEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-05-01
ISBN: 0767919718
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Broadway
Book Reviews of The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth
Book Review: An Exciting Update of Babe Ruth's Legend!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is a real treat. Leigh Montville's dramatic story of the Sultan of Swat, the Bambino, the Big Bam, comes to life in exciting ways that will open new dimensions of the Babe Ruth story for you.
Leigh Montville is one of our most talented sportswriters. He could just as easily be covering a more important beat (such as the White House) or writing novels. He's that good. Why do I say that? He takes a single fact, Babe Ruth ended up in a reform school/orphanage for most of his young life, and creates a mental image of what might have happened on that morning when his father took him to St. Mary's. While relating that tale, Mr. Montville deftly points out how little we know about Babe Ruth the man (as opposed to Babe Ruth the baseball player) and why we probably won't every know very much. I especially enjoyed Mr. Montville's description of "the fog" . . . or the dense mystery about so much of Babe Ruth's life (Why did his parents abandon him? Why wouldn't he talk about his youth? Why did his wife die in another man's bed? Why did he gamble so recklessly?).
Naturally, the baseball player is more visible. Mr. Montville constructs a helpful picture of the endless baseball activities at St. Mary's, how Babe Ruth probably learned his upper cut swing that revolutionized baseball (in an era when everyone else hit down on the ball), how Babe Ruth was discovered, the transition from being a pitcher to being an everyday player and hitter, how Babe Ruth really ended up traded from the Red Sox to the Yankees, and why he was exiled from baseball after his playing days were over.
But the private person is also revealed in powerful vignettes such as the Babe's loyalty to St. Mary's and orphanages, the terrible racial taunting he received from those who believed him to be an African-American, his non-stop pace on limited sleep, and his making up with his father.
Naturally, as a long-time baseball fan, I felt I knew about Babe Ruth. But my picture was slightly out of focus. Experiencing the play-by-play of his life made the Babe come to life for me more than ever before.
Mr. Montville also does an excellent job of explaining why so much remains murky about the Babe's life -- both in terms of the Babe's reticence and the code of conduct that the press observed in those more restrained reporting days.
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