You Never Forget Your First: Ballplayers Recall Their Big League Debuts

I pretty much agree with what the first reviewer wrote, but here's why I'm a little disappointed with the book (I'm about 1/3 through it right now) - it seems a little repetitive, getting basically the same story from a number of players. Who told them they were going to the majors, who did they call (and how), how did they get to the city of their first game. All good stuff, but a little heavy on the logistics of the call-up and not as much emotion as I'd hoped for. There are some tidbits that are really cool (such as Josh Beckett once threw a pitch at the FATHER of an opponent because he thought the guy was giving away pitch locations). What I think would make a more interesting book would be a slightly different look. Ask the players about how they were first scouted, signed, moved their way up through the minors. Did the great players always know they'd be great, or did they have their moments when they were ready to give up (as Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle both did early in their careers). Did marginal players also believe they'd have better careers than they wound up having? Also interview some highly touted prospects who never quite made it. Stuff like that. Anyway, this is a great concept turned into a worthwhile read by one of baseball's better TV announcers.

This book covers over 100 players and for each in 2-3 pages tells you a biography of a player, the player describing their debut in the bigs and a box score from that game. My favourite element was the last element though a fact about something that also happened on that day and a second fact which links the first to the player being profiled. Certainly not a book to be read in one go and best read a few stories at a time. Most of the players are fairly modern but there are a few players from the 60's and the 70's.