This Side of Cooperstown: An Oral History of Major League Baseball in the 1950s

"This Side of Cooperstown" is the lively and highly enjoyable oral history of seventeen of major league baseball's most influential yet forgotten players. Informative, fascinating, and often humorous, the book focuses on recreating America's pastime during an era of unprecedented social change, when baseball was vital to the spirit of the nation. Moffi's adept and comprehensive writing assembles a vast array of anecdotes, both sweet and sour, while preserving the authenticity of voices and the integrity of the storytellers. Yet even more so than the actual histories, the dynamic voices of the seventeen players engage the reader. Because of these animated characters, "This Side of Cooperstown" is a great read for both baseball fanatics and causal fans alike.

These oral histories capture the careers of players who were not always at the heart of the order or rotation but who made a remarkable impact on their teams' success and, unwittingly, on the sport itself. Capturing the speech patterns and story lines of 17 stalwart players after their careers were over, This Side of Cooperstown depicts what it was like to be a ballplayer in the 1950s as baseball was beginning to be transformed from the all-white, low-budget pastime to the current era of big contracts, diversity, Moneyball statistics, and jet travel. The players depicted - from Vic Power and Alex Grammas to Carl Erskine and Tito Francona - are as colorful and more real than any described by Jim Bouton in a later era. Author Larry Moffi, a baseball historian and critic (see The Conscience of the Game and Crossing the Line) comes through with a clutch performance, capturing the nuances of the arc of each player's career - and character. You'll learn what baseball was like for black and Latino players who broke through barriers or to be a college-educated player among the hayseeds. Whatever team you followed or from whatever era in which you started paying attention, This Side of Cooperstown offers something unique - the soul of the game as witnessed by its under-adulated stars who did not get the big bucks or the glory but who distinguished themselves on the field and in these pages. Sheppard Ranbom

"This Side of Cooperstown" is a delight from start to finish. I loved watching these guys play (I'm showing my age, I realize) and reading this book brings them -- and my baseball-crazed youth -- back to vibrant life. Thanks so much, Mr. Moffi! Anyone from my era will enjoy the volume -- and so will younger fans, who will gain exciting and moving insights into the game's rich history. My one complaint is that "This Side" is only 288 pages long; had it been three times the length, I'd have devoured it practically nonstop.