~~~I also highly recommend “Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig” ~~~

I am SO OVERDUE to read that one.

bloodyank78 – FWIW, I have wondered, at times, while reading this book, so far, how Ruth would have been viewed today. In his time, he was one major PITA for a team to deal with, for sure. Heck, the Yankees, at one point, suspended him for the remainder of a season, because of his “drama.”

I read it and loved it. However, it really showed how much baggage and distraction the Babe brought with him. Kinda like someone we know now, huh? If Steve were alive in the 20′s I wonder if he’d hem and haw to his fellow patron at the speakeasy on how the Babe’s offense should be punted for some player with less “drama for his mama”. LOL.
(http://www.waswatching.com/archives/2007/08/august_7th_the_1.html#comments

I read “The Big Bam” during the spring and enjoyed it as well. (This may be heresy, but I did slightly enjoy the author’s book on Ted Williams more, but to me guys like Ruth, Williams, Mantle, Mays, etc. cut across team loyalties as far as reading material is concerned.) I read the highly acclaimed Ruth bio by Robert Creamer some years ago, and this was a lot more readable and enjoyable.

To me, this brought Ruth the man to life and lifted him off the page, far away from the typical cliches about how many hot dogs he could eat. It’s a must read.

I also highly recommend “Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig” about the guy that’s really the greatest Yankee of all, in my eyes. The thing that kind of surprised me most of all was that in some ways, Ruth’s death was as tragic as Gehrig’s (how do you rate them though, really?). Both guys really deserved better.