Lefty : an American odyssey / Vernona Gomez and Lawrence Goldstone.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gomez, Vernona.

Contributor:

Goldstone, Lawrence, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gomez, Vernon, 1908-1989.

Gomez, Vernon.

Baseball players--United States--Biography.

Baseball players.

United States.

Pitchers (Baseball)--United States--Biography.

Pitchers (Baseball).

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xx, 393 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Ballantine Books, [2012]

Summary:

"A baseball legend distinguished by his competitive nature, quick wit, and generous spirit, Lefty Gomez was one of a kind. Told for the first time, this is his remarkable story. Born to a small-town California ranching family, the youngest of eight, Vernon "Lefty" Gomez rode his powerful arm and jocular personality right across America to the dugout of the New York Yankees. Lefty baffled hitters with his blazing fastball, establishing himself as the team's ace. He vacationed with Babe Ruth, served as Joe DiMaggio's confidant, and consoled Lou Gehrig the day the "Iron Horse" removed himself from the lineup. He started and won the first-ever All-Star Game, was the first pitcher to make the cover of Time magazine, and barnstormed Japan as part of Major League Baseball's grand ambassadorial tour in 1934. Away from the diamond, Lefty played the big-city bon vivant, marrying Broadway star June O'Dea and hobnobbing with a who's who of celebrities, including George Gershwin, Jack Dempsey, Ernest Hemingway, Marilyn Monroe, George M. Cohan, and James Michener. He even scored a private audience with the pope. And even when his pro ball career was done, Lefty wasn't. He became a national representative for Wilson Sporting Goods, logging over 100,000 miles a year, spreading the word about America's favorite game, and touching thousands of lives. In 1972 he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Three baseball fields are named for him, and to this day the top honor bestowed each year by the American Baseball Coaches Association is the Lefty Gomez Award. Now, drawing on countless conversations with Lefty, interweaving more than three hundred interviews conducted with his family, friends, competitors, and teammates over the course of a decade, and revealing candid photos, documents, and film clips--many never shown publicly--his daughter Vernona Gomez and her award-winning co-author Lawrence Goldstone vividly re-create the life and adventures of the irreverent southpaw fondly dubbed "El Sęor Goofy." "I'd rather be lucky than good," Lefty Gomez once quipped--one of many classic one-liners documented here. In the end he was both. A star-studded romp through baseball's most glorious seasons and America's most glamorous years, Lefty is at once a long-overdue reminder of a pitcher's greatness and a heartwarming celebration of a life well-lived"--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part I "American's pastime for barefoot Boys"

1 The Cowboy's Son 3

2 "An Aberrant Deviation in the Evolutionary process" 9

3 "Pick a spot, make a diamond" 21

4 "I'd go Anywhere to pitch'' 27

5 "About as skinny as you can get and still be living" 35

6 "His Name's Gomez Go warm him up" 43

7 "I had to stop gomez" 50

8 Ping, babe, duster, sloppy and lefty 59

9 Class d baseball seven days a week 65

10 Birdlegs and walter the great 72

11 A Death in new york 81

12 Hollywood, Goat's milk, and spinach 89

Part 2 "What do you think of my boy vernon now?"

13 "I Don't talk to bushers" 95

14 The Doctor and the dictator 109

15 June in June 120

16 A Pitcher's pitch 135

17 "The Greatest thrill of my career" 143

18 "No Lipstick lefty" 153

19 Pitzy and fung 156

20 Game of the century 166

21 For want of an inning 170

22 Let loose to run around the world 180

23 "The yankees pay you eve when you lose?" 193

24 "He Can't hit it, if i don't tgriw it" 204

25 Farewell to rodeo 215

26 June in january... And february 226

27 The not-so-perfect crime 232

28 Immortality, achieved and denied 246

29 "You don't tell june she can't do something" 257

30 "They'll have to cut the uniform off me" 265

31 Eighty innings 277

Part 3 "When i married lefty, I married Baseball"

32 "You could see it was gone" 285

33 Field general 296

34 "Never Measure a Player when he's gone 0 For 4" 310

35 "I only do what i like to do" 320

36 "The Best Possible sports experience for every child who has desire to play" 327

37 "My own damn fault" 331

38 Winning friends and influencing people for the united states on ten dollars a day 335

39 "You don't have to shovel rain" 339

40 Something you can only hope for 345

41 Duane 351

42 "We're going to miss lefty" 357.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

9780345526489

0345526481

OCLC:

753624861