BILL PENNINGTON is an award-winning sportswriter for the New York Times and the author of Billy Martin, On Par, and The Heisman. A former syndicated columnist, Pennington was also a beat writer for the New York Yankees. A fifteen-time finalist and seven-time winner of the Associated Press Sports Editors' annual writing award, Pennington lives with his family in Warwick, New York.
"Energetically reported and skillfully written, the book is
enormously entertaining. Without pretension, it explores the
question whether a baseball lifer can actually be a tragic figure
in the classic sense--a man destroyed by the very qualities than
made him great."
--The Wall Street Journal
"Through interviews with Martin's long-silent widow, his son and
others who knew and played with and for him, we get a complete
picture -- womanizing, drinking, fighting and the rest."
--New York Post "Sprawling...thorough research."
--Chicago Tribune "It's all here, copiously reported, including
interviews with more than 200 people, many of whom have since died,
making this a one-of-a-kind work."
--Newsday
"All the notable moments are here...Baseball (and Yankees) fans
will devour this like ballpark popcorn, and all will muse about the
many what-ifs of Martin's motley life."
--Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
"Martin's life was a rollicking one, and as with the life, so with
the book. Pennington's take is great fun, and the author's drive to
talk to everyone who may have known Martin--from the most arrogant
star to the humblest bartender--is impressive."
--BookPage
"A motley cast of baseball Hall of Famers, including Casey Stengel,
Mickey Mantle, Rod Carew, Ricky Henderson, Reggie Jackson, Tommy
Lasorda, and Earl Weaver, make appearances in this must-read for
fans of the great American pastime."
--Publishers Weekly
"[Pennington] provides what is likely to be the definitive profile,
which, as such, belongs in most library sports collections,
especially those where Yankee fans cluster."
--Mark Levine, Booklist
"His study of Martin is comprehensive and detailed, offering the
reader rich details on his early years and his time as a player for
several teams...Pennington expertly combines material from his
subject's personal and professional life, leaving the impression of
a complicated and flawed but unforgettable man."
--Library Journal
"Two words of advice: read this. Bill Pennington not only writes
the sprawling, brawling, no-punches-pulled narrative Martin
deserves, but also deftly illuminates the humanity of one of
baseball's epic characters."
--Tom Verducci, bestselling author of THE YANKEE YEARS (with Joe
Torre)
"The hair on my forearms was standing up by the end of the fifth
paragraph of this book's introduction. I knew Billy Martin. I
covered Billy Martin. But I never knew him like this. Congrats to
Bill Pennington for the definitive work on baseball's flawed
genius.''
--Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe columnist and bestselling author of
FRANCONA (with Terry Francona) and SENIOR YEAR
"Billy Martin has been dead for 25 years? Wow. That means there's a
generation or two that know nothing about this character of
baseball characters, this incandescent
ballplayer/manager/jerk/sweetheart, this irrepressible brawler with
a grand mind for the game. Bill Pennington cures all that with
'Billy Martin, Baseball's Flawed Genius.' This is a terrific tale
about a roller coaster life. Pour yourself a cocktail and enjoy.
The descriptions of the fistfights alone are worth the price of
admission."
--Leigh Montville, bestselling author of TED WILLIAMS, THE BIG BAM
and EVEL
"It has been easy to think of Billy Martin as a cartoon--one
created by the media and abetted by the man himself. But he was a
great American, as important to understanding our game, and our
nation, as Ted Williams or Joe DiMaggio. You'll never think of
Billy Martin in the same way again, thanks to Bill Pennington's
masterpiece of a biography."
--John Thorn, Official Historian, Major League Baseball
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
