Timothy M. Gay

Timothy Gray's, Assignment to Hell: The War Against Nazi Germany With Correspondents Walter Cronkite, Andy Rooney. A.J. Liebling, Homer Bigart, and Hal Boyle is a profoundly interesting book not just on the war but on some of the leading journalists who covered it.

Going in, I've already read 2 books on Edward R. Murrow and an extremely well written biography on Walter Cronkite and aware of Andy Rooney having watched him on 60 minutes my whole life but must admit to being unaware of his service as an enlisted correspondent for Stars and Stripes in World War II as well as all the other journalists mentioned.

To see another side of World War Ii was fascinating to hear of the trials and tribulations of but a small group of were responsible for bringing the news of the war to the home front. The preponderance of the book is spent on the European theater briefly touching on the Pacific and following up with a brief description of their post-war career.

I rate this as a solid 4-star book and encourage those interested in World War II to look at a non typical coverage of the war.… (mais)

Barnstorming was a way of life for professional baseball players in the 30’s and 40’s. Pay was not good, especially for players in the minors as well as Negro League players. With major portions of the country lacking a major league baseball team, barnstorming gave the fans a way to see baseball greats in action. There was no color bar in barnstorming – fans both black and white wanted to see their favorites go against the best players in the other leagues. In Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert : the wild saga of interracial baseball before Jackie Robinson, baseball scholar Timothy Gay covers the barnstorming exploits of pitchers Satchel Paige, Dizzy Dean, and Robert Feller along with a large supporting cast including Negro League greats Buck O’Neill, Monty Irvin and Judy Johnson to the DiMaggios, Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson. The war years include teams that played in the armed services, with many anecdotes of major and Negro League servicemen. As far as I can tell, this is the only book that covers interracial barnstorming in this time period along with a serious look at the racially integrated California Winter League (in existence for decades in the early part of the twentieth century.)

Gay’s book is written as scholarship and is heavily footnoted. There is an excellent bibliography and index along with statistics showing the Paige/Dean and Paige/Feller match-ups. Although the illustrations show many photos of Satch, the Dean brothers and Bob Feller, there are also photos of lesser known players.

The book can be dry reading with its plethora of facts but it is worthwhile noting that many major, minor and Negro leaguers played against each other years before Jackie Robinson would integrate the majors with results that can surprise the reader.… (mais)

Tris Speaker has been nearly forgotten by all but the baseball literati, but the author makes a very convincing case that he was a better outfielder than Joe DiMaggio, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Roberto Clemente, perhaps any of them save Willie Mays. He hailed from Texas, was a KKK member early in life but was able to grow and evolve to the point of one day tutoring Larry Doby, the AL's first black player. He had a career batting average of .345 (4th all-time) and ranks first in doubles hit. But he was even more renowned for his fielding, still holding career records for assists, double plays and unassisted double plays by an outfielder (this was because his uncanny sense of where the hit ball would go allowed him to play an extremely shallow center field. It was his glove that was known as the place "where triples go to die", although that saying was later somehow switched to Shoeless Joe Jackson. He was also a consummate base runner and stolen base man. He led the Boston Red Sox to two World Championships. Then when a gambling scandal sent him to Cleveland, he led the Indians as a player-manager to their first World Championship. He had many flaws as a human being (although he was a much better man than Ty Cobb), but his virtues were also many. The author does a fine job of humanizing an early baseball superstar whom I had barely heard of.… (mais)