Let's Go To The Videotape by Warner Wolf
Harvey Frommer's Sports Book Review
by
Harvey Frommer
Let's Look at
Some More Sports Books
It seems these days that everyone who has some
connection to the wide and wondrous world of sports wants to get into the
act of writing a book. Some have something to say; others want to say
something.
A case in point is "Let's Go to the Videotape"
by Warner Wolf (Warner Books, {no relation} $24.95, 304pp.), which is a
non-self-effacing and definitely high-profile story of a sportcaster's 39
years in the business.
Known for such expressions as "Let's Go to the
Videotape," (hence the title of this opus), "Gimme a
break!", "Here's the boo of the week" and "If you had
the Clippers and 37 points - you still lost," Wolf sets out to give
the reader a tour of "All the plays - and replays - from my life in
sports". Warner does so with the assistance of co-author Larry
Weisman.
Subject matter comes and goes in a dizzying pace - a bit
like Wolf's style on CBS-TV in New York or his regular stint on WFAN's
"Imus in the Morning".
Page 205 talks about tollbooths (no kidding). "Do
you think Shaq just drops money in a toll booth, or does he slam it?"
We get five pages on the 1998 World Series and why Wolf maintains it
"was a letdown". There is a page and a half of bashing Mike
Tyson: "His toughest opponent was never the one in the ring, always
the one in the mirror".
Wolf gives his view on how in the past five decades
sports and sportscasting has changed, what it was like for him to come
into contact with Robert Redford and Robert Duvall, his "takes"
on Joe DiMaggio, Hank Aaron, John McEnroe, etc. There is even, no kidding,
a slim section on the best sports movies. The book has no index and
mercifully comes to an end after 112 sections spread thinly over 302
pages.
A more standard offering is "Sporting News Selects
50 Greatest Sluggers " by Tony DeMarco ($29.95, 174pp.). The book
loads up on 200 archival black and white and full color photographs that
fill its pages to perfection. There is the Babe and Reggie and "The
Big Hurt: and "Big Mac," Yaz, George Foster ,DiMag and Sammy and
all the rest.
The book not only profiles and ranks the 50 greatest
sluggers, it also covers in some detail the history of the run starting
with material from back in the 1890s.
Yankee immortal manager Miller Huggins said "Fans
like the fellow who carries the wallop". Fans also like sports books
that carry a wallop, and "The Sporting News Selects . . . 50 GREATEST
SLUGGERS" carries a wallop. It is definitely worth owning as a
research tool, as a lively read, as a decorative touch for your coffee
table or bookshelf.
Book Ends: "The Hot Stove League" by Lee
Allen, a re-release of a 1955 classic from Total Sports Illustrated is a
nifty read focusing as it does on what happens to players who slip through
the cracks of the game's memory and how they cope with life after
baseball.
Coming soon from Taylor Publishers - KOUFAX by Edward
Gruver. Billed as the first book in more than 30 years on the legendary
southpaw, KOUFAX relies heavily on extensive interviews including one with
your fearless reviewer.
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You can reach
Harvey Frommer at:
Email: harvey.frommer@Dartmouth.EDU
About the Author:
Harvey Frommer is his 33rd consecutive year of
writing sports books. The author of 40 of them including the classics:
"New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime
Baseball," his acclaimed REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative
history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published in 2008 as
well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime
Baseball." The prolific Frommer is at work on REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK
(2010).
Frommer sports books are available direct from the
author - discounted and autographed.
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Harvey
Frommer along with his wife, Myrna Katz Frommer are the authors of
five critically acclaimed oral/cultural histories, professors at Dartmouth
College, and travel writers who specialize in cultural history, food, wine, and Jewish history and heritage
in the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean.
This Article is Copyright ©
1995 - 2009 by Harvey Frommer.
All rights reserved worldwide.
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