The Glory of Their Times

[baseballart]

Originally Posted by mr2686

Has anyone ever seen autographed copies of Glory of Their Times? Just wondering if any come up for sale very often?

I thought I'd post the answer to this in its own thread. I have seen three multiple signed copies of the book, and I suspect there are a number of other copies around. The book was published in large numbers.

I have a few signed order forms that I have posted before, and a friend has this nice example

[mr2686]

Max, that is so cool! If your friend ever wants to sell it, please send him over here

[T206Collector]

...used to pass those things out everywhere, and were always looking for a chance to promote the book.

[Oldtix]

The best baseball book I've ever read.

To add to the discussion, Lawrence Ritter worked with the famous Olympics filmmaker Bud Greenspan on a one-hour 1971 film based on the book. I had the opportunity to meet Greenspan at a speaking appearance about 15 years ago and he lit up when I asked him about the film. We wound up sitting together talking baseball for an hour and he signed the VHS box for me. That's his signature in blue on the baseball image. A wonderful memory.

[Jay Wolt]

Have a bunch of endorsement checks from Larry Ritter to some of the players in the book.
Here's 3 of them

[baseballart]

The Glorious of their Times

[springpin]

This post brought back a great memory. When the book came out (it was either 1966 or 1967) there was a special book signing. It was held at a famous NYC bookstore called "Brentano's". I don't know if it still exists. I was 19 and took the train to the city from my home in Connecticut. The signing had been promoted by ads published in The New York Herald Tribune which my parents had delivered to our home every morning.

I got to Brentano's, bought a copy of the book, and saw five men seated behind a table who were signing autographs. One was much younger than the rest (Ritter). He inscribed my book, "To Paul" on the title page. The other four were older: Lefty O'Doul, Edd Roush, Rube Marquardt, and Chief Myers. I recall O'Doul looked great, almost like he didn't really belong with the other three. He signed, along with Roush and Marquardt. O'Doul and Roush had a strong signature. Marquardt's was a little shaky, but still very clear. Myers' was considerably shaky. He asked me what my name was, I told him, and he started to write an inscription, "To ---, but realized he was mis-spelling my name. He apologized, and then said he "would give me a little something extra" for his mistake. So he signed twice, and wrote a little note next to each signature. Each man signed by his photograph in the book.

Myers was the highlight of the show to me. I tried not to stare at his hand, but his throwing hand looked more like a mis-shaped claw than a hand with four fingers and a thumb. Every digit was broken from foul tips, and some had multiple breaks. The best description might be five twisted pipe cleaners extending from his palm.

There were few people in the store when I was there, so I took full advantage of the opportunity. I remember asking Myers why he thought the best pitcher award in the MLB was called the "Cy Young Award" (and I believe at that time there was not one per league, only one overall) instead of the "Christy Mathewson Award". I don't know when the Cy Young Award was first given out, but I believe Young himself died in my lifetime. Myers said Mathewson was indeed a better pitcher than Young (I anticipated this answer since Myers caught Mathewson), but his explanation for the named pitching award caught me somewhat off-guard. Myers simply said, "Because no one today remembers Mathewson". I recalled reading that Mathewson died sometime around WWI, which would have been almost a full 50 years earlier. My trip to Brentano's was 43/44 years ago, and I still remember it. Looking back, I would have thought some old time (in the 1960s) sportswriters would have remembered Mathewson, but I guess "The Chief" was right.

The next day Myers, Ritter, et al. appeared on "The Today Show" and later in the week Myers and Ritter were Curt Gowdy's guests on NBC's broadcast of "The Game of the Week". I remember feeling I had been in the company of greatness when I saw these men on TV.

Thanks for giving me a reason to recall those great memories. By the way, I still have my signed copy of the book. I also remember buying a few pins on that trip from junk shops in NYC, back when the rents still permitted NYC to have junk shops.

[GrayGhost]

What an amazing story. Sadly, I have never had any memories like that, but that is just fantastic. When you look at the book nowadays, you must really have fond memories.

[T206Collector]

The story about the book signing is terrific. Really great stuff.

Here's my Rube Marquard index card, which discusses the book and the advertising card....

From Misc. Pre-War

[springpin]

Scott, you have more memories to recall and share than you realize. When you are older you will remember stuff of your yesterdays and todays. It may not seem like much now, but it will be something of value later, including perhaps "Once upon a time there was this internet sports memorabilia site where a bunch of people who collected sports stuff could talk about the hobby we all enjoyed so much".

[Hankphenom]

I love this thread, and can't help but mention my thrilling experience of having co-produced and edited (with Neal McCabe, author of "Baseball's Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon") the audio version of Glory, published in 1998 and still available on Amazon. Other than becoming friends with Larry Ritter, I guess the biggest thrill of so many of them during the course of the project was the otherworldly experience of doing with Larry what he did with the players--sitting him down in his house for questions about his "playing days" so many years earlier, i.e., working on Glory, his relationship with the players, etc., which we fashioned into the introductions to the set and to each player segment. As for memorabilia, I did get Larry to sign a book for me, of course, and some other things, but I guess the most treasured would be the file of numerous letters, contracts, etc., signed by Larry and sent to me in the course of our work together. Funny, but I have never thought of that file as memorabilia until just now, reading this thread, since for so long it has been "just" a working file. Larry also gave us his collection of reel-to-reel tapes of his radio and TV promotional appearances with the players, the only copy of many of those extant, I'm sure.
Hank Thomas

[baseballart]

Hank

The 4 CDs of Glory is by far the best music I own. Simply the best. My one regret of this thread is that I far too briefly and superficially corresponded with Larry Ritter, and never got to meet him. His contribution to the history of baseball and my enjoyment of it is unsurpassed. (Now if my friend would simply give me that signed copy, all would be right with the world)

Max

[Oldtix]

Thank you Hank...the audio CD set is far and away my favorite recording to hear on a long drive. And Larry's chuckling as he related the stories (Chief Meyers gifting of the sacred stones, for example) made it an enhancement to the book. As they say back home..."you done good."