Spring Roundup (Part VI)
"Knuckler" by Tim Wakefield (HMH, $25.00, 274 pages) is a winner. The Red Sox vet (now age 44) flutterballer lets it all go in this up close and personal story of his life and times and of course his up and down moments with his favorite pitch. A wonderful idea for a book that mixes and matches Wakefield's life with the legend and lore of the knuckler. BUY IT

Another pitcher, another story - -"Nobody's Perfect" (Atlantic Monthly Press, $24.00, 246 pages). Most baseball fans recall the imperfect perfect game pitched on June 2, 2010 by Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers, the gem that was almost the 21st perfect game flubbed by home plate umpire Jim Joyce. Now like Torrez and Dent, or like Thomson and Branca - the pitcher and umpire linked together tell all about their roads to that momentous moment in baseball history. The book stretches to fill pages...but it has its moments.
"Evel" by Leigh Montville (Doubleday, $27.50, 378 pages) is a full blown bio with an attitude by one of the best sports authors around these days. The magnificent Montville touches all the bases in this evocative and provocative tome focused on the life and times of the high-flying Evel Knievel: American Showman, Daredevil and legend. HOME RUN
Another bio of Ernie Banks. And why not? Under the deft hand of Phil Rogers "Ernie Banks Mr. Cub and the Summer of '69 (Triumph, $24.95, 288 pages) goes over a lot of the same old territory but in such a winning way that engagement with this book makes for pleasant warm weather reading. The inspirational hard times to good times story and Banks' musing about people along the way is engaging.
Now in paperback "The Last Hero" by Howard Bryant (Anchor Books, $16.95, 600 pages, paper) is a winner based as it is on massive research and many interviews to bring forth "A Life of Hank Aaron."
"The Dickson Baseball Dictionary Third Edition (Norton, $25.00,paper) Is a mother lode of info on the language of the national pastime that includes more than 10,000 terms and 18,000 individual entries and 250 or so photos. Mother lode and load. Even two of my books are included in the bibliography - -"Sports Roots" and "Sports Lingo." If you into baseball and especially into words this terrific tome is for you.
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2011 marks Harvey Frommer's 36th consecutive year of writing sports books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 41 sports books including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his acclaimed REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative history was published in 2008. Frommer's newest work is REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK - (http://harveyfrommersports.com/remembering_fenway/)
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