“Lou Gehrig: The Lost Memoir”
The author/editor:
Alan D. Gaff
The publishing info:
Simon & Schuster
$24.99
240 pages
Due for release May 12
The links:
At the publisher’s website
At Amazon.com
At BarnesAndNoble.com
At IndieBound.org
A the author’s website
The review in 90 feet or less
When we covered “The Babe” in Day 14’s review and the SABR project that brought that all to light: In as search of the dozens of books done about Babe Ruth, one pops up called: “Playing The Game: My Early Years in Baseball,” which Dover Publications released as a paperback in 2011.
Just 102 pages, it is essentially a 12-part newspaper serial, ghost written for him in 1920, before Christy Walsh became his official agent in 1921. It’s Ruth talking and likely sportswriter (and future commissioner) Ford Frick doing the transcription, and it ended up in The Atlanta Constitution archives. The publishers call it a “breezy account of his early life that’s rich with recollections of his childhood, his transition from pitcher to outfielder, and the blockbuster trade that sent him from the Red Sox to the Yankees.” Paul Dickson provides the intro.
Eventually, Gehrig got to do his own story telling.
The Christy Walsh Syndicate saw the upside of pulling out from Ty Cobb and Walter Johnson. So as Gehrig was this 24-year-old coming off the Yankees’ historic 1927 season, he may not have been this gregarious story teller, but that’s the beauty of what made it feel more honest and sincere when you read now what.
From the very first sentence:
I guess every youngster who ever tossed a ball or swung a bat has dreams of some day breaking into big league baseball. I know I did…
Yet, who knew this stuff even existed?
Gaff, a scholar in Indiana and president of Historical Investigations company that specializes in historical research, has done books on the American Civil War and both World Wars. He briefly says in the introduction: “When I discovered these columns while researching another topic, there was no doubt they needed to be brought to the public’s attention. This sensational discovery is a unique opportunity for the world to be reintroduced to one of its most famous sportsmen.”
We wanted more info, so we emailed the 71-year-old Gaff:
How did this book happen? What were you doing when you stumbled across it as you mention in the introduction?
In 2005, my book “Blood in the Argonne” was published by the University of Oklahoma Press. This was a history of the famous Lost Battalion of World War I. In researching the officers and men of this unique unit, I found that after the war Captain Leo Stromee (from San Bernardino) had been appointed a revenue officer in California during Prohibition. During his tenure, Stromee became involved in some nefarious smuggling ring but avoided prosecution when an important witness turned up dead. I thought that an article about this war hero turned potential “gangster” might make an interesting article.
After about 16 years, I pulled my initial notes out of a file cabinet filled with literally hundreds of ideas and began to do some additional research in California newspapers from the 1920s.
This was when I happened upon the Lou Gehrig memoir in the Oakland Tribune. At this point, I lost interest in a Stromee article. Continue reading “Day 15 of (at least) 30 baseball book reviews for spring/summer 2020: Again, Gehrig is following the Babe”
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The illustrator:
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