New York, New York: New books on the Mets and Yankees reflect old school, new attitudes

Memoirs seem to be the genre of choice this year for the New York teams, both for players and writers.

It’s somewhat unusual for an active player to write a book. Such things are often left to the relative safety and reflection of retirement. But no one ever said R. A. Dickey was your run-of-the-mill athlete. You only have to hear him on an NPR interview to get a sense of his intelligence and sensitivity. That’s why WHEREVER I WIND UP: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball, written with Wayne Coffey, is so stunning for its honesty.

WHEREVER I WIND UP received the most pre-publication buzz of any baseball title so far this year (with the possible exception of John Grisham’s CALICO JOE). When word began to circulate that Dickey would reveal his story of having been sexually abused as a child by a female babysitter and a male cousin, I feared this would turn into a lurid selling point. Such a revelation would be a watershed moment; it was unheard of for an athlete to be that open about such an issue. And indeed Dickey has said this book served as a cathartic device, an opportunity to admit what to him had been a shameful and confusing part of his life --- and the first time he had ever spoken of it. It is not in the purview of this article to get into psychological considerations, but listening to those interviews, you get the sense that it has been a cleansing experience

But the abuse is not the sole subject of the book. Dickey had other, more germane, issues that face an athlete, such as spending more than the usual number of years in the minors before finding a permanent spot in the Mets’ pitching rotation. The mental wear-and-tear of worrying the direction in which your career is going is daunting for any player, let alone one with a wife and four kids to consider. But Dickey’s faith --- a main point in the book --- has helped him survive thus far and, hopefully, will see him through a long and successful career.

In TURNING TWO: My Journey to the Top of the World and Back with the New York Mets, Bud Harrelson, a staple of the pennant-winning Mets of 1969 and 1973, offers a “throw-back” to the days when sports autobiographies/memoirs were above dishing the dirt.

He may not have been a superstar along the lines of a Tom Seaver, or a slugger like Tommy Agee, or a high-average hitter like Cleon Jones, but Harrelson was perhaps the heart and soul of the team, a gutty little player who smoothly handled shortstop and was the glue of a solid defensive infield.

The “highlight” of his career came in the 1973 playoffs when Pete Rose, the rock-solid Cincinnati Red, ran into him at second base trying to break up a double play. Shoves ensued, followed by punches --- Harrelson’s great line: “I hit him in the fist with my face.” --- and one of the most famous bench-clearing incidents in baseball.

Harrelson was the only Met to be a member of their only World Championship teams: in 1969 as a player, and 1986 as a coach. He also served as manager, compiling a fairly impressive record before the team went into the tank and he was fired.

But there is no bitterness in him. Indeed, he has produced the kind of book many memoirists describe as “something they would like their kids to be able to read,” that is, without scandal, with lots of cheer and upbeat, and few (if any) cussing.

Harrelson is ably assisted in his project by Phil Pepe, the always-busy author and former sportswriter for the New York Daily News.

Moving across town, we have a trio of books about the New York Yankees.

Harvey Araton tells a touching story in DRIVING MR. YOGI: Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry, and Baseball's Greatest Gift.

Reminiscent of David Halberstam’s 2002 THE TEAMMATES, DRIVING MR. YOGI is a bit more upbeat as it focuses on the relationship between Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra --- one of the last members of those awesome Yankee teams of the late 1940s through the early1960s --- and Ron Guidry, a star pitcher of a subsequent generation.

Each spring training for the past several years (since Berra returned to the Yankee fold after a reconciliation with the late George Steinbrenner, which is covered in great detail by Araton, a sports columnist for The New York Times), Guidry has been meeting the iconic catcher at the Tampa airport, serving as his companion and driver during Spring Training. The affection between the two is genuine and mutual, almost like father and son.

In between the contemporary story, we get a sense of what each man meant to his team, both coming from relatively humble origins --- Berra in Missouri, Guidry in Louisiana --- to find success in the big city

The book does take on an emotional tone as Berra, who turns 87 this month, becomes a bit more dependent on Guidry for support. The reader wonders how many more trips to Tampa will be made. Still, DRIVING MR. YOGI is a sweet tale harkening back to a kinder, gentler society where elders are cherished for their wisdom and accomplishments.

Jim Abbott tells an old-fashioned tale of hard work, dedication, and refusing to give up in IMPERFECT: An Improbable Life, co-written by Tim Brown.

Born without a right hand, Abbott nevertheless gained success as an outstanding athlete. The book uses a familiar back-and-forth concept, alternating between his September 4, 1993 no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians and his recounting of how he arrived at that point.

Abbott excelled at the University of Michigan; he was the first baseball player to win the Sullivan Award as the nation’s outstanding amateur athlete and was selected for the U.S. Olympic team in 1988. The year before he led the American team to its first win over Cuba at the Pan-Am games.

His “inconvenience” (Abbott would probably not appreciate the term “handicap”) did not deter scouts from checking him out. He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1985 but chose to attend school instead. Abbott signed with the then-California Angels in 1988, making the team out of spring training the following year without spending even a day in the minors.

This could have been a sideshow attraction, but Abbot truly belonged in the Majors. He was 12-12 in his rookie year; three years later, he won 18 games and finished third for the American League Cy Young Award, emblematic of the league’s best pitcher. After missing the 1997 season, he won each of the five games in which he appeared for the Chicago White Sox. Abbot enjoyed a 10-year career, finishing with a record of 87-108 and a respectable 4.25 earned run average.

Abbott now works mainly as a motivational speaker, which is no doubt a reason he wrote the book.

Former Sports Illustrated executive editor Rob Fleder assembled his own literary All-Star team for DAMN YANKEES: Twenty-Four Major League Writers on the World's Most Loved (and Hated) Team.

The roster includes such “players” as Roy Blount Jr., Dan Barry, Jane Leavy, Charley Pierce, Will Leitch, Colum McCann, Daniel Okrent, Frank DeFord, Bill James and Tom Verducci, among others.

Not everyone is enamored of the Bronx Bombers, which is refreshing. Some take issue with the team for being too good, or too cocky, or too conservative (they were among the last teams to sign a black player). Blount and Pierce, being “outsiders” (the former was born in Indianapolis but grew up in Georgia, the latter is a staunch New Englander), can be expected to be a bit on the “negative” side, while Leavy, a Mantle fan since childhood, writes about her favorite player’s home run relationship with a Red Sox pitcher. McCann recalls how he indoctrinated his Irish father into the ways of the national pastime via the Yankees. And Nathaniel Rich sticks up for his favorite NY team, the Mets, as he discusses the almost symbiotic relationship between the rivals’ fans and whether the word Schadenfreude is really appropriate.

Some contributors, merely by dint of being writers, have had problems with the team, as players who might be heroes to others have different feelings towards the media. Kudos to all the participants for sharing their personal feelings on the topic.

--- Reviewed by Ron Kaplan (http://RonKaplansBaseballBookshelf.com)