Larry Ritter
 

Memory is a funny thing.

Ritter told Mike Shannon that he interviewed Bill Werber. He considered the interview "terrific." It was kind of explosive. Weber had second thoughts and threatened to sue Ritter. Okay. Werber stayed out of the book.

When Don Honig began his tape recorded interviews with former players, Bill Werber turned up in his second book, "Baseball Between The Lines."

Ritter gave Honig three of the interviews that never made it into "Glory." We can assume that the Werber chapter is one of the three.

Werber, by the way, once threatened Red Smith before the start of a game. Smith recalled that he was ready to hit Werber with his typewriter. Why would anybody threaten Red Smith?
lumberjack

Thanks for the information, my memory is certainly not what it used to be. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that Larry told us the reason Werber declined to let him use the interview had to do with money, that Werber figured he could cash in on his memoirs so why would he give it away? I'm guessing after the success of the book and the renewed prominence it gave the players, Werber realized he had made a mistake and allowed Donald Honig to use it. And yes, Larry said that his friend Honig kept bugging him so much about doing a sequel to "Glory" that Larry gave Honig the four interviews he hadn't used and told him, "I did my book, if you think there should be a sequel then go ahead and do it yourself!"

ritter
 

Henry, I believe you. Ritter did all of those interviews in the early '60s, however, and maybe he developed sort of a composite memory of what happened as the decades rolled by. "Glory" remains a treat.
lumberjack

[QUOTE=lumberjack;1948596]Henry, I believe you. Ritter did all of those interviews in the early '60s, however, and maybe he developed sort of a composite memory of what happened as the decades rolled by. "Glory" remains a treat.
lumberjack[/QUOTE

Larry did develop a selective memory around certain aspects of Glory, as Neal and I discovered to our amusement when we were working with him. (He's quoted as extending the period of his searching and interviewing to as many as six years, when it actually all took place within and year and a half, for instance.) Other aspects of the Glory legend, in his telling, don't hold up to scrutiny, either, but none of it diminishes or tarnishes the monumental significance of what he accomplished. It's still hard for me to believe, even now, that I was lucky enough to have contributed in a small way to his incredible project.

This is really interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing the info so it won't be lost for future hobbyists.

Thanks to you, Leon, for providing such a worthy forum.

Reviving old thread that got a little side tracked on Cobb. I just finished listening to the audio book and oh my god I loved every minute. My absolute favorite was the story of Charlie Faust as the unexpected mascot (good luck charm) for the Giants winning the pennant every year.

After listening to the book I have concluded (obviously):
1) Walter Johnson was the hands down best pitcher of his era. Basically every single player asked said so, always the first name that came up.

2) Christy Mathewson was the coolest guy. I am pretty much going to save every penny from now on to buy one of his T206s. He just seemed like the all American type guy - great pitcher, great man, great teammate. Although have to admit my excitement was a little tempered by Joe Posnanski’s recent article on The Athletic website counting down the top 100 players of all time. He has Matty at 36 and although corroborates his reputation for being good at everything and well respected, he tells a lot of stories about Matty blaming teammates and throwing them under the bus for some of his loses after the fact.

I finished the book wishing I had about 20 more of those CDs to keep going. Anyone have any other suggestions for books, audio or movies in the same vein?

In keeping in the same vein as Glory of their times, there is an excellent book by former 1930's-1940's pitcher Elden Auker called "Sleeper Cars and Flannel Uniforms: A Lifetime of Memories from Striking Out the Babe to Teeing It Up with the President". It's a good read if anyone is interested

I'm in the middle of "We Played the Game" and this 600+ page book is great. I don't <strike>have</strike> take the time to read much outside of waiting rooms, so I'm only on 1956 and it'll be a while until I get through the '60s.

https://www.amazon.com/We-Played-Gam.../dp/0786860081