Morey, Ritter & the Glory of Their Times

[toppcat]

The Glory of Their Times and The Boys of Summer are the two books directly responsible for me becoming very interested in the history of baseball. I read both of them when I was about 13 and they have stuck with me for a long, long time now.

[FrankWakefield]

Paul, that is one fine letter. I wrote Mr. Ritter about 7 years ago, hoping to get his autograph, but I got no reply. Great article, David.

It seems to me that a collector of our dear old cards must read The Glory of Their Times, I love the source of the title, and the "How dear to my heart" verse at the beginning of a couple of the chapters. We all owe Mr. Ritter a debt of gratitude. What a book!!!

[Kawika]

Originally Posted by FrankWakefield

We all owe Mr. Ritter a debt of gratitude. What a book!!!

What Frank said. Aficionados of baseball in those thrilling days of yesteryear would be infinitely more poor if Lawrence Ritter had not undertaken his oral history project.

[rc4157]

I agree with all regarding the excellence of the book, plus if you haven't had a chance to listen to the audio interviews that Mr. Ritter recorded during his research, it is something you should definitely do.

There are about 5 hours of audio with this cd set.

RC

[Jay Wolt]

Paul, great stuff, thanks for posting the letter
The Glory Of Their Times is a great book & every hobbist should read it.

Here are some of my royalty checks from Ritter

[FrankWakefield]

Nice checks.

And it would seem likely that those guys endorsed their checks on the back...

So how do I find myself just one of those?

[Gary Dunaier]

Originally Posted by Jay Wolt

Paul, great stuff, thanks for posting the letter
The Glory Of Their Times is a great book & every hobbist should read it.

Here are some of my royalty checks from Ritter

Awesome! I collect checks signed by celebrities and these are collectible even if the players didn't endorse them.

[baseballart]

Originally Posted by FrankWakefield

Paul, that is one fine letter. I wrote Mr. Ritter about 7 years ago, hoping to get his autograph, but I got no reply. Great article, David.

It seems to me that a collector of our dear old cards must read The Glory of Their Times, I love the source of the title, and the "How dear to my heart" verse at the beginning of a couple of the chapters. We all owe Mr. Ritter a debt of gratitude. What a book!!!

Frank

Larry passed away in February 2004.


Max

[joeadcock]

Great thread

[WillowGrove]

I read the book as a 14 year old and have been taken by the era ever since. And when I found the CD a few years ago - whoa -you gotta listen to it. To hear Chief Meyers laugh at traveling with the LA Dodgers! Hans Lobert telling what JOhn MCGraw thought of him bunting with two strikes as a rookie? It is amazing stuff and makes any car ride or work out fly by!

I too would love to get a check or some other Larry Ritter stuff related to what I call, "the book".

For now I collect photos of the players in the book from the time they were interviewed for it. Picked up a great photo of Goose Goslin at his boat dock while sifting through the SPorting News' acrhives. Love it.

The gentleman running that set up told me he owns the original UNEDITED recordings from Ritter's interviews and they will be available to buy via download in about a year.

and so I shall wait......

[Chris-Counts]

I first read the book when I was about 12 and I've been reading it now for nearly 40 years. It's still my favorite all-time baseball book. The Sam Crawford part is my favorite. He tells Ritter at the beginning of the interview that he doesn't have much time to talk, and then he proceeds to talk the writer's ears off! If I recall, Crawford's was the longest chapter in the book ...

[familytoad]

That &*%^$ book ( the all-time classic) has cost me thousands of dollars!

I had to get accompanying old baseball cards to go along with the chapters...including a bunch of Wahoo Sam cards, as he quickly became one of my favorite HOFers.

Some of those cards have moved along in trades, but the HOFers remain here...someday I may get back into that collecting niche, probably brought on by re-reading the book again...perhaps this approaching winter

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by WillowGrove

For now I collect photos of the players in the book from the time they were interviewed for it. Picked up a great photo of Goose Goslin at his boat dock while sifting through the SPorting News' acrhives. Love it.

The gentleman running that set up told me he owns the original UNEDITED recordings from Ritter's interviews and they will be available to buy via download in about a year.

and so I shall wait......

That would come as a big surprise to the Hall of Fame, to whom Larry donated his original tapes in 1970.
Hank Thomas

[Hot Springs Bathers]

At a SABR Deadball Era Committee "Boiling Out" conference about 5 years ago several members told about their last visit to Ritter's apartment in NYC. Rich may have been with me when we listened to their stories.

Apparently Mr. Ritter had a feeling that it was time to part with some of his stuff. He gave those visitors several autographed baseballs he had picked up on his tour.

Both of them said he was without question one of the nicest people they had ever met in their baseball research.