Burleigh Grimes: Baseball's Last Legal Spitballer
Burleigh Grimes--forever remembered as the ill-tempered spitballer with the perpetual five o'clock shadow. For nearly two decades, he brought his surly disposition to the pitcher's mound. His life-or-death mentality resulted in a reputation as one of the game's great competitors and a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Along the way he suited up for eight different ball clubs and played alongside a record 36 Hall of Famers. In all, Grimes spent over half a century in professional baseball as a player, manager, coach and scout. This biography covers all aspects of his life. From his early childhood in Clear Lake, Wisconsin, to his twilight years in that same town. In between are World Series highs and lows, brawls, five marriages, a near-death experience and 270 major league victories
"A well-researched biography essential for every fan of the Dead Ball Era" -- Dorothy Seymour Mills, author of Chasing Baseball: Our Obsession with its History, Numbers, People and Places
"Through diligent research, with skilled craftsmanship and thoughtful insights into the man and his time he has illuminated the past and returned Burleigh Grimes from the shadows and back into the light of center stage." -- Donald Honig, author of The Fifth Season, Tales of My Life in Baseball
"Joe Niese tells the story of Burleigh Grimes in marvelous detail, enriching bare numbers with anecdotes culled from a wide range of published sources. Niese makes a candid assessment of how his subject's behavior contributed to both his successes and limitations, and the result is a very balanced work of scholarship...Excellent" -- Nine
Links:
"Thin Ice: Author's baseball books connect with readers" - Eau Claire Leader-Telegram
"Spitball Saga hits a home run" - Living & Playing Magazine Review
Burleigh Grimes Interview - Joe interviewed on WPR Spectrum West with host Al Ross about his new book- Burleigh Grimes: Baseball's Last Legal Spitballer