Quote:
Originally Posted by Cy2009
In addition to writing the Big Train. Hank also listened to, edited and recorded some of the interviews from The Glory of Their Times. Yes, Hank Thomas, member of our Net 54 board did that. He would never toot his own horn. But doing that tedious piece of work is one of the greatest contributions to the history of Pre-War baseball. To think that these classic recordings easily could have been thrown away would have been a travesty to the history of baseball because now we get a first hand impression of how the game was played.
I do give the main credit to Larry Ritter. Hank and I have talked about this at length. I truly believe that Larry Ritter should be in the Hall of Fame because of these recordings. Larry also wrote some other great books. But to actually hear the stories of men who played major league baseball in the first decade of the 1900s is amazing. If you do not own this four disc set, contact Hank Thomas and get one. It is THE best baseball book/recording/video out there, bar none. When you hear Smoky Joe Wood, Sam Crawford, Jimmy Austin, Hans Lobert (these are my favorite two of the group) and others, you will really get excited and, if you are like me, you will want to go out and buy more Pre-War baseball cards.
I have told many people about these recordings. But if you don't own them, you are definitely short-sighting your enjoyment into Pre-War baseball.
Cy
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...and you're right that Larry does belong in the writer's wing of the HOF. Fifteen years later, it still amazes me that I, along with my co-producer/ editor, Neal McCabe, got the chance to do the audio version of "The Glory of Their Times," and to replicate with Larry what he did with the players by recording his experiences in putting the book together many years earlier. What a loss it would have been not to have gotten his recollections on tape, the edited versions of which make up his introduction to the set and to each player segment, before he passed away just a few years later. The hand of fate was heavy on that project from the beginning, no question about it. While I'm at it, and on the subject of baseball books, let me put in a plug for my friend Neal McCabe's sequel to his definitive work of baseball photography, "Baseball's Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon," the new one titled "The Big Show: Charles M. Conlon's Golden Age Baseball Photographs." Just out, "The Big Show" is every bit as stunning as the original, both the photos and Neal's research on their subjects.
Hank Thomas