Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman by Richard P. Feynman

I have to understand the world you see. ~ Richard Feynman

Richard P. Feynman was a Nobel Prize-winning American theoretical physicist. Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman might be described as an autobiography, but I believe it is more of a memoir. In the introduction, another scientist, Albert R. Hibbs, describes Feynman as having…

Indignant impatience with pretension and hypocrisy…

Indeed. He was a fascinating man, so much more than a physicist, and so unintimidated in pursuit of unlocking the secrets of the universe.

 

The title is taken from an early Princeton experience: He was invited to a formal social event. When asked if he wanted cream or lemon in his tea, being unfamiliar with tea protocol, he said he’d take both. The hostess laughingly replied…

Surely you’re joking Mr. Feynman!

After his student days, he describes his work on the Manhattan Project, where he associated with some of the great scientific minds of the 20th century. He asserts that he was not very distinguished yet, but he did make some substantial contributions. He was a constant challenge to the censors, who reviewed incoming and outgoing mail. The censors thought he was sending unauthorized coded messages to his wife, that were completely innocent, so to confound the censors, he developed code to hide his everyday communication with her that would not arouse suspicion. He also became a safecracker. This to access data and research if the proper custodian was out of office. Also, he just loved the challenge.

I love puzzles. One guy tries to make something to keep another guy out; there must be a way to beat it!

I was in the military and later a defense civilian. I worked with contractor scientists and classified information. I can appreciate that Feynman must have driven the government bureaucrats crazy.

 

He never faced a puzzle he couldn’t solve and never let his lack of knowledge deter him. When planning a trip to Brazil, he simply decided to learn Portuguese. While in Brazil, a trip to Japan became necessary, so he learned Japanese from a Brazilian woman. He also liked Samba music and learned to play the samba drums well enough to be part of several bands in Brazil.

 

At another point in his eclectic life, he befriended an artist. When they discovered some communication barriers due to their different fields, they traded art lessons for physics lessons. Feynman became an artist of some distinction under the pseudonym Ofey. Of his art career, he said…

It’s fun to be in a different world!

These, and many other stories, demonstrate what I found to be his most impressive quality. If he didn’t understand something – he’d learn it.

 

While contemplating physics problems, he would walk outside his city home. His odd behavior drew the attention of the police.

On earlier occasions I was often stopped by the police, because I would be walking along, thinking, and then I’d stop – sometimes an idea comes that’s difficult enough that you can’t keep walking: you have to make sure of something. So I’d stop, and sometimes I’d hold my hands out in the air, saying to myself, “The distance between these is that way, and then this would turn over this way…”

 

I’d be moving my hands, standing in the street, when the police would come: “what is your name? Where do you live? What are you doing?

They eventually got used to him.

 

He tells how he wanted the experience of having a hallucination.

I had once thought to take drugs, but I got kind of scared of that. I love to think, and I don’t want to screw with the machine.

He opted for a clinical sensory deprivation lab, which produced his desired experience.

 

And the final chapter: "Cargo Cult Science", I nearly stood and cheered. Published in 1985, it is as relevant today as ever. He exposes lazy, faulty, invalid studies, falsely called science, that do not tolerate scrutiny. I cannot do it justice here.

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself.

He opines that scientists must have

…extra type of integrity that is not lying, but bending over backwards to show how you’re maybe wrong, that you ought to have when acting as a scientist.

And also…

It is very dangerous to have such a policy in teaching – to teach students only how to get certain results, rather than how to do an experiment with scientific integrity.

This book was a departure from my usual reading. It was a gift from a colleague upon my retirement. I thoroughly enjoyed it. What a remarkable man.

 

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Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino

One of the blessings of being a reader is that people give you books as gifts. Or is that a curse? My “to be read” list is literally over 2,000 titles, and the gifts are often not something I would pick up on my own.

 

Cinema Speculation is such a book: a gift from a friend and not in my normal wheelhouse. But it is a blessing because it is sometimes good to get out of one’s comfort zone.

 

Cinema Speculation is Quentin Tarantino’s examination of a select group of movies from the 1970s. At first, I thought they were his favorite films from the era and his adolescence, but while some are probably among his favorites, others are not. I think they represent films that were formative for the future Oscar winner and that represent, in his speculation, a new era in Hollywood filmmaking.

 

Some are Oscar winners (Bullitt, Deliverance, Taxi Driver), others obscure (The Outfit). Some are iconic (Dirty Harry), others all but forgotten (Sisters, Hardcore). Some I’ve seen, others I’ve not, but with one exception, I now want to.

 

I’m not a film buff (reader after all), and I feared this book would be quite esoteric. But it’s pretty accessible. Tarantino does drop a lot of names I’m unfamiliar with, and he refers to many other films for comparison, often films I’m not familiar with. Still, it was a pretty easy read. He does a good job of speculating what made a film work or fail – almost always a combination of screenwriting, casting, acting, and directing. Things that, for me, a casual filmgoer, are largely transparent and not something I give a lot of thought to.

 

For example, after discussing Martin Scorsese’s gritty masterpiece Taxi Driver, Tarantino speculates on what the film would have been had Brian De Palma directed it. In Scorsese’s version, the cabbie is perceived as a bit of a nut but also a sympathetic hero. Tarantino speculates that in De Palma’s version, he would have been more of a deranged killer.

 

Tarantino brings out many points I’ve never considered, like Taxi Driver was a thematic remake of John Ford’s The Searchers. I see it now.

 

Well, there’s much more: lots of anecdotes about changes in actors, screenwriters, and directors and how they changed a film. Or how a movie almost wasn’t made and how and by whom it was rescued. Again, this is mostly stuff I’d never thought of before, and much of it insider stuff I couldn’t know unless someone like Tarantino writes about it.

 

A very thought-provoking read. Warning: this shouldn’t shock anyone, but Tarantino drops the F-bomb…A LOT.

 

And as the friend who gifted this to me said in his inscription, it…”will also make you want to rewatch these 70s classics.”

 

Indeed!

 

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Lion of Liberty: The Life and Times of Patrick Henry by Harlow Giles Unger

If this be treason, make the most of it. ~ Patrick Henry

While reading Thomas Jefferson: A Life, I realized a desire to read about Jefferson’s nemesis: Patrick Henry. Thomas Jefferson, the Revolution’s greatest writer, is a fascinating contrast with its greatest orator, Patrick Henry. Nemesis may be a bit strong, but I’ve read of no one else who could both astound and confound Thomas Jefferson, a man not easily affected in either extreme.

 

In contrast to Jefferson, the Tidewater aristocrat, Patrick Henry was a backwoods frontiersman – though classically educated. And in contrast to the ever deliberate and composed Jefferson, Patrick Henry let his passions blaze, though still quite deliberately and with amazing effect.

 

He was responsible for making the risks and hardships of the revolution popular with the common man, perhaps more so than any other individual.

 

First learning the art of persuasion as a criminal lawyer, Unger writes of Henry…

 

He left courtroom spectators stunned, breathless, helpless – in effect, captives.

 

He is best known for the famous line…” Give me liberty or give me death,” when addressing the Virginia convention in 1775.

 

But I found his most brilliant speech was ten years earlier, as a 29-year-old member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. He railed against the tyrannical Stamp Act. In summation, he declared…

 

Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third…

 

***Dramatic pause for effect***

 

Met by cries of “Treason” by the Senior Burgesses before Henry continued, I must imagine with a mischievous sparkle in his eye…

 

George the Third,” he boomed in defiance, “may profit by their example! If this be treason, make the most of it!”

 

Thomas Jefferson would describe the moment…

 

I attended the debate…and heard the splendid display of Mr. Henry’s talents as a popular orator. They were great indeed; such as I have never heard from any other man…

 

George Mason would say of Henry…

 

He is by far the most powerful speaker I have ever heard.

 

Every word he says not only engages but commands the attention; and your passions are no longer your own when he addresses them. But his eloquence is the smallest part of his merit. He is in my opinion the first man upon this continent, as well in abilities and public virtues, and had he lived in Rome…Mr. Henry’s talents must have put him at the head of that glorious commonwealth.

 

At one point, in the debate over the Constitution, Henry’s oratory became a nearly supernatural legend; while expressing his most vehement passions in warning against the Constitution, the skies broke, and thunderclaps seemed to accentuate his every pause and point. Again, I imagine a sly grin as he made nature’s fury his own.

 

History has been a bit unkind to Patrick Henry for his opposition to the Constitution. He was a firm Anti-Federalist and envisioned a loose confederation of independent states. He feared the Constitution gave Congress tyrannical powers. He was also adamant that it sorely lacked a “Bill of Rights.” He proved insightful on that point, and I am not convinced his fears of almighty federal over-reach are not similarly justified.

 

During his day, and apart from George Washington, Patrick Henry was probably the nation’s most beloved founding father. He would likely have been the third president had he not declined the many calls for him to run. Despite his public declination, he finished fourth behind Jefferson, Adams, and Thomas Pinckney.

 

He was a devoted husband and father, with 15 children from 2 marriages. He kept a strict moral code, avoiding alcohol and gambling. He was a student of the Bible, saying…

 

This book is worth all the books that ever were printed.

 

Harlow Giles Unger’s work is a concise and compelling narrative. Concise, likely of necessity. In yet another contrast to Jefferson, Patrick Henry left few written records. Much of what is known of him is gleaned from the writings and memories of other founding fathers. And while he is neither perfect saint nor sinner, I now have a better understanding of and greater respect for the Lion of Liberty.

 

I’m going to claim lineage tracing to Patrick Henry. His daughter, Martha, married John Fontaine, a descendent of Huguenots, the de la Fontaines. Most of my clan have accepted further Anglicization to Fountain, but yeah…I’m apparently the great-great-great-great grandson or something like that of Patrick Henry 

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Ernie Harwell: My 60 Years in Baseball by Tom Keegan

Ernie Harwell: My 60 Years in Baseball by Tom Keegan

This biography is about the greatest sportscaster of all time. That’s just my opinion – not sorry. Ernie Harwell was the voice of summer.

His biography took me back to the summer of 1967; I was 6. I didn’t know much of America’s pastime yet, but I learned that summer my father was a Detroit Tigers fan. He and several neighbors would gather on our front steps and listen to Ernie call the games. There was excitement that year as the Tigers were in a race to the American League Pennant – we lost the race on the final day of the season to the Red Sox. That first sports heartbreak of my life was relieved the following season, when the Tigers ran away with the Pennant, beating the “Birds” (Baltimore Orioles) by 12 games, and then won the World Series – beating the other “Birds” (St. Louis Cardinals) in seven.

In those two seasons I began to learn the names: Dick McAuliffe, Mickey Stanley, Norm Cash, Jim Price, Bill Freehan, Mickey Lolich, Denny McLain Willie Horton, and Al Kaline. I learned them from Ernie Harwell. I did not learn till decades later that it was Harwell who, with the exception of Kaline, would be the more legendary Detroit Tiger.

Harwell began his broadcasting career in 1943 with the minor-league Atlanta Crackers. He got his major-league debut in 1948 when Branch Rickey* traded a catcher to the Crackers for Harwell’s services in the Dodgers’ broadcast booth. (*Rickey was a MLB pioneer, best known for signing the first African-American, Jackie Robinson, to play MLB.)

For the next 12 years, Harwell would call games for the Dodgers, Giants, Orioles, and the occasional golf tournament or college football game, before joining the Detroit Tigers – where he called games for all but one season between 1960 and 2002.

In addition to being the first, and only, broadcaster to be part of a player trade, Harwell was the first broadcaster inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (1981). He is in three other Halls of Fame: National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame (1989), The Michigan Sports Hall of Fame (1989), and the Radio Hall of Fame (1998). He is one of the very few sportscasters with a statue at their team’s stadium.

But, more notable than these official honors, the biography very clearly depicts Harwell’s most impressive quality – you just can’t find anyone with a bad word to say about Ernie Harwell. He was loved and/or admired by everyone who met him. He was a Christian gentleman, who took the golden rule literally.

I’m going to try to find somebody who doesn’t like Ernie Harwell. I hope I live long enough to do that because that means I’ll never die. ~ Al Kaline

I can honestly say there is nobody better that I’ve met in all facets of life. He’s a great announcer and a great human being. I miss him. I really do miss him. ~ Alan Trammell

There was one debacle in his career, for which Harwell bears no responsibility. In 1990, Harwell’s long-time broadcasting partner Paul Carey informed management he was going to retire after the 1991 season. Management thought it good time to make a complete change, presumably to attract a younger audience. They offered Harwell a one-year contract, hoping he would accept it and retire gracefully. Harwell however, made it clear that he was in good health and wished to continue broadcasting. Management was firm and put him on notice. When Harwell made a public announcement, stating simply and truthfully that 1991 would be his final season in the Tiger’s booth, not by his own choice, the outcry was immediate and widespread. The Detroit News called it…

…the most flagrant public relations disaster in the history of sports

The station and the team could hardly handle the calls and mail, which ran 97% in support of Harwell. But management only entrenched their position more firmly – or perhaps more stubbornly. After the 1992 season, when Harwell broadcast for the California Angels, the Tigers were purchased by a new owner, who made it his first priority to rehire Harwell, and subsequently to fire the management team that forced his departure. Harwell took the high road throughout, and proved that nice guys don’t always finish last.

Besides reliving the satisfying poetic justice of that incident (I was one of the outraged fans), I had a very personal reaction and moment of pleasure from this book. In the opening chapter, A Gentleman Wronged, the biographer describes that Harwell was encouraged, during the painful events just described, by letters from fans, especially young fans. He quotes from two letters, and then one more…

At that point, [after Harwell was fired] most believed the only way to listen to Harwell calling a Tigers game again would be to listen the way a missionary boy who had left Detroit for Papua, New Guinea, with his family listened. 

Isaac Michaels wrote to Harwell: “I am not able to listen to baseball games over here and so I listen to a tape of an old Tiger game with you broadcasting on it and I still go to bed listening to a Tiger game, just like I did when I was eight or nine years old.”

That young fan, is my wife’s first cousin, whom I have shared Tigers memories with more than once over the years.

Ernie was always ready with advice for aspiring broadcasters. He said there were four things needed to be a good broadcaster

          Have the enthusiasm of a fan

          The reactions of an athlete

          The impartiality of an umpire

          And the background knowledge of a writer

Ernie Harwell was also a poet. Here is a recording of Ernie's golden voice reciting his poem, The Game for All America.

Harwell was known for several catch phrases – part of the glorious color of baseball:

Two for the price of one ~ a double play

Long gone ~ home run

Souvenir caught by the lucky fan from Kalamazoo [Ernie would insert some random Michigan city here] ~ foul ball

And my favorite – he stood there like the house by the side of the road ~ when a batter takes a called strike

And regarding that unfortunate chapter when he was forced to take a year off from calling Tigers games, Harwell simply says…

It doesn’t matter. All that matters is everyone is forgiven.

With this biography, I’ve wrapped up a series of biographies I chose on Detroit Sports legends: Harwell, Tiger great Ty Cobb, Red Wings legend Gordie Howe, Lions champ Bobby Layne, and Pistons star Isiah Thomas.

My edition of Tom Keegan’s biography is autographed by Ernie Harwell. He didn’t sign for me in person; I just bought it, but it is still one of my prized books.

Final note: according to popular legend, Ty Cobb was the most hated man in baseball, and in retirement was reportedly bitter and incorrigible and rarely granted interviews. Harwell however once requested an interview with Cobb and was quickly invited to visit Cobb in his home. Harwell found Cobb courteous and gregarious. 

Oops, one LAST final note: Harwell has a couple literary connections. Fellow Georgian Margaret Mitchell was a customer on Harwell’s boyhood paper route. Harwell’s older brother Dick Harwell was a friend of Mitchell’s and one of her numerous biographers. Much later in life, Ernie and his wife Lulu lived next door to, and occasionally entertained, Erskine Caldwell. And finally, in the movie adaptation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Harwell’s voice can be heard calling the 1963 World Series.

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From the Backcourt to the Front Office: The Isiah Thomas Story by Paul Challen

From the Backcourt to the Front Office: The Isiah Thomas Story by Paul Challen

This is the fourth in a series of biographies I am reading/reviewing about Detroit sport legends: Ty Cobb, Gordie Howe, Bobby Layne, and Isiah Thomas. Although each played a different game, there are several common threads: each played either the entirety or majority of their career in Detroit, each had Hall-of-Fame careers, each brought championships to the Motor City, and each had a somewhat notorious reputation. 

Isiah (Zeke) Thomas is the only living member of this set, and his biography had a distinctly different feel than the others. The first three told all: the good and the bad, but I thought the Thomas bio was a bit too generous in its praise and too gentle in its critique. As the name implies, the biography details Thomas’ career as a player, and then as a basketball executive, coach, and even owner of a minor-league basketball league.

Thomas’ playing career was stellar. ESPN ranks him as the 5^thgreatest point guard of all time, and 26^thamong players of all positions. Zeke led Indiana University to a National Championship, and the Detroit Pistons to back-to-back NBA Championships. He was a perennial All-Star and was inducted into the Basketball Hall-of-Fame. As a player, he was one of the best ever.

Thomas’ greatest success after his playing days was probably that of General Manager and part owner of the expansion Toronto Raptors beginning with the 95-96 season. Thomas made some unpopular and questionable moves, such as selecting undersized point guard Damon Stoudemire, whose size and playing style was reminiscent of Thomas, as the Raptor’s first ever draft pick, Stoudemire silenced the critics by winning Rookie of the Year honors. As a team the Raptors exceeded expectations on the court and at the box office each of their first two seasons. When Thomas left early in the third season, the Raptor’s record plummeted. And even though the Raptors didn’t have a winning season during Thomas’ tenure, he was largely responsible for creating basketball culture in Toronto. Challen, a Canadian, gave Thomas some well-deserved, and often overlooked, credit for bringing the NBA to Canada and ensuring its continued success. 

The rest of Thomas career as executive and coach are not so impressive.  As a General Manager, his teams rarely made the playoffs and as a coach, he had a losing record. When his teams did make the playoffs, they were eliminated first round. 

The notorious reputation I mentioned? He had a petty feud with Michal Jordan that marred his reputation and probably cost him a spot on the 1992 Olympic Dream Team. You don’t run afoul of the greatest ever without consequence. He had another flap with Larry Bird that may have cost him a head coaching position with the Pacers. And then there’s the “Bad Boys” reputation of the Pistons – they were hated around the league – because they won.

Like the other Detroit legends I read about, Thomas dubious reputation was mostly undeserved and overstated. In spite of a few personal foibles, he takes the high ground with his critics and always wears a smile. Unlike the other three – The Isiah Thomas story isn’t finished yet. He may yet win another championship.

In a way, he already has. The Toronto Raptors just won their first ever NBA Championship. It is impossible to measure Thomas’ impact on the championship so many years after his departure – but he definitely made an impact. The Raptors organization recognized this and paid him courtside honors at game one of the finals.

And by the way, – the other Canadian expansion team from 95-96, The Vancouver Grizzlies – no longer exists.

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Heart of a Lion: The Wild and Wooly Life of Bobby Layne by Bob St. John

Heart of a Lion: The Wild and Wooly Life of Bobby Layne

Bobby Layne never lost a game in his life. Once in a while time just ran out on him. ~ Doak Walker lifelong friend and teammate. 

This is the third in a series of four biographies I am reading/reviewing about Detroit sport legends: Ty Cobb, Gordie Howe, Bobby Layne, and Isiah Thomas. Each the greatest to ever play their respective games.

And while that superlative statement may genuinely apply to Cobb and Howe, I wouldn’t seriously say Bobby Layne is the greatest Football player of all time, or even the greatest quarterback ever. But at one time, he was the best.

When Time magazine ran its November 1954 edition with Bobby Layne on the cover (the first football player to ever grace the cover), the article read: 

The best quarterback in the world is Robert Lawrence Layne.

When he retired after the 1962 season, Bobby Layne was the NFL record holder for most touchdown passes, with 196. He won three NFL championships (before they were called Super Bowls) in the 50s, and is inducted into eight different Halls of Fame:

     -- NFL Hall of Fame

     -- National Quarterback’s Hall of Fame

     -- College Football Hall of Fame

     -- Texas High School Football Hall of Fame

     -- University of Texas Hall of Fame

     -- Texas Sports Hall of Fame

     -- State of Michigan Hall of Fame

     -- State of Pennsylvania Hall of Fame

He probably could have had a career as a professional baseball player as well. In his freshman year at Texas he was a perfect 26-0 as a starting pitcher.

But I think his success on the field had more to do with intelligence, attitude, integrity, and work ethic than sheer athletic ability. He was gracious in defeat, but he always played to win. He said

Winning is the greatest thing in the world. Hell, I wouldn’t give you a nickel for any guy or any team that’s interested in finishing second. Second or last, there’s not a damn bit of difference.

He once stunned his general manager when he demanded a pay cut after a sub-standard season. 

And he was all about teamwork. He demanded full effort and execution from his teammates and would dress them down when they didn’t give it, but then…he established a team meeting the day after each game – 100% participation required – usually held at the bowling alley to go over any problems, patch up any personal grievances, and then to relax and bond as a team. 

As quarterback, Layne was paid three or four times more than other players, but when the team was collectively punished for a curfew violation, and each individual was given the choice of a fine or special workout – Layne knew the fine was not easily affordable to his teammates, so he did the grueling workout along with them.

Bobby Layne is also known for wearing no facemask on his helmet, and only minimal pads.

In addition to his legendary accomplishments on the gridiron, Bobby Layne possesses a rather notorious reputation – that of being a legendary carouser – “legendary” being a key word, as it turns out it is mostly just legend. He did like to party, but the stories of Lions coaches bailing him out of jail Saturday night so he could play Sunday morning, or the smell of alcohol on his breath in the huddle are just untrue. 

He was in fact – rather a prince of a human being.

When the wife of a teammate died suddenly due to a pregnancy complication, her parents flew to Detroit and were quickly overwhelmed by the big city and the enormity of their grief. Bobby took them personally under wing, helping them with arrangements and costs.

He was a devoted family man, fiercely loyal friend, successful business man outside of football, charitable to a fault, and seemed to always look on the bright side. He had a determined ability to put bad things behind him. And there were some bad things.

His father died when Bobby was eight, and a few months later his mother decided she could not cope and sent Bobby to live with an Aunt and Uncle. But according to Bobby’s sons, he never expressed bitter feelings toward his mother, but when recounting his childhood, he focused on what wonderful “parents” his aunt and uncle were.

He died young (59), happy, respected, and loved. He was planning a big Texas shindig to celebrate his and lifelong friend Doak Walker’s 60^th birthdays – but borrowing from the Doak Walker quotation – time just ran out on him.

Excerpts:

I have no complaints. Life’s been good. I wake up every morning and I say, ‘Good morning God.’ I never say, ‘Good God, morning.’

Bobby Layne never lost a game in his life. Once in a while time just ran out on him. ~ Doak Walker lifelong friend and teammate

Most of the stuff written about me was an exaggeration or a darn lie.

The best quarterback in the world is Robert Lawrence Layne, a blond, bandy-legged Texan with a prairie squint in his narrow blue eyes and an unathletic paunch puffing out his ample 6’1”, 195 frame. ~ Time Magazine Nov 54

I never even encouraged them [his two sons] to play football. I left it up to them. Everything was up to them and their coaches. They can play a piccolo if they want, as long as they’re good at it.

Trivia: Layne is rumored to have cursed the Lions when he was traded mid-season 1958. Legend has it that Layne said the Lions wouldn’t win a championship for 50 years. In the ensuing 50 years, the Lions were the most hapless team in the NFL, rarely making the playoffs, and in the final year of the curse posting the NFLs first ever 0-16 season. They still haven’t won a championship, and it’s now over 60 years, but they have been winning a bit more. That started the year after the curse expired and the Lions drafted Matthew Stafford – who attended the same high school as Bobby Layne.

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Gordie: A Hockey Legend by Roy MacSkimming

Gordie: A Hockey Legend by Roy MacSkimming

Gordie Howe is still the greatest all-round player. ~ Ted Lindsay

This is the second biography, in a series of four, which I am reading/reviewing on Detroit sport legends: Ty Cobb, Gordie Howe, Bobby Layne, and Isiah Thomas. Each the greatest to ever play their respective games.

I might be a bit biased, and not entirely serious, but for Ty Cobb and Gordie Howe at least there is a pretty strong case. I doubt you could find a baseball or hockey enthusiast who would say they don’t at least belong in the debate. For baseball, there are only three names: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron.

For hockey, there are only two: Gordie Howe (Mr. Hockey) and Wayne Gretzky (The Great One). To be fair, I have to give the nod to the Gretzky – you just can’t argue with his numbers. He broke all of Gordie Howe’s scoring records, and did it in fewer games. However, there are a fair number of hockey scholars who still argue that Howe is the greatest – based primarily on the differing eras the two played in. Regardless, Gordie Howe is ONE of the greatest to ever play the game. He won four Stanley Cups and owned all the scoring records when he retired in 1980.

Oh and…the Great One himself has this to say:

When I was a kid, I wanted to play, talk, shoot, walk, eat, laugh, look and be like Gordie Howe. He was far and away my favourite player…he’s the best player ever.

Like Cobb, Gordie Howe also has a reputation for being mean on the playing field (ice in his case). Unlike Cobb, who in my opinion suffers from an unfair reputation, Howe was indeed a bit mean – but only on the ice.

But as I’ve hinted – off ice he was a gentleman, humble, quiet, and unassuming.

I might as well keep up the comparisons with Ty Cobb. Unlike Cobb – who retired decades before I was born, I did have the privilege of watching Gordie Howe on television. Unfortunately, it was well after the glory days of the 50s when the Red Wings won four Stanley Cups. By the time I would watch the Wings were floundering in mediocrity, but Howe was still exciting to watch. In fact, in the 60s it is said there were four strong teams in the NHL: Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, and Howe.

Gordie Howe: A Hockey Legend traces his career from childhood playing on frozen ponds in Saskatchewan, to his early playing days for Detroit’s junior hockey teams, to his prime, to his later years playing into his 50s on the same team as his two sons, and of course the totality of his Hall-of-Fame career. 

Gordie was raised in a large family (nine siblings), during the depression in Saskatoon Saskatchewan. His father was hard working, pragmatic, and a bit aloof. Still Gordie often cited him as imparting this valuable wisdom:

Never take any dirt from nobody.

But Gordie was a bit of a momma’s boy. He was shy, and conscientious about his own physical size and strength – considerably larger than children his own age. The author claims that Gordie inherited a mixed legacy from his two very different parents.

He is by turns self-deprecating and proud; introverted and outgoing; kindly and aggressive, excessively dependent and boldly risk-taking; guilelessly naïve and shrewdly down-to-earth.

The story of Gordie’s first skates has reached nearly mythical proportions in Canada. A neighbor came to the house one day, offering to sell a bag of “stuff” in order to buy food. Mrs. Howe gave her what she could spare and when the sack was emptied, out fell a pair of skates. Gordie pounced, claiming them as his own – and the rest is history (though he did have to share them for a while with his sister).

My favorite part of the book though tells of Howe’s early years in the NHL and of his friendship with teammate Ted Lindsay. Lindsay passed away yesterday, the day I finished reading Gordie: A Hockey Legend – rest in peace Terrible Ted. According to Colleen Howe, Gordie’s wife…

Ted was family to Gordie, really the only family he had outside of Saskatoon.

Lindsay and Howe were opposites off the ice. Lindsay was bold and confident, helping the shy kid from the Canadian plains adjust to the big city and the spotlight. On ice, they were two-thirds of Detroit’s legendary “Production Line” (marvelous word play): Howe at right wing, Sid Abel at center, and Lindsay at left wing – one of the greatest front lines in hockey history.

There is much more of course. The narrative tells how Gordie was guided and protected in early life by his mother, later by teammate Lindsay, and eventually by wife Colleen. It tells of his epic rivalry with Maurice “Rocket” Richard, the man who previously held all the scoring records, and of his near fatal injury during the 1950 Stanley Cup playoffs. And there are some wonderful pictures, mostly of Gordie in action, but also one of a young teenager named Wayne Gretzky meeting his idol.

And there is the story of the most famous of all NHL fights – Gordie’s epic bout with NHL tough guy Leapin Louie Fontinato in 1959. Fontinato started the fight, but Gordie ended it. According to the author it was Howe’s last major bout…

Not because he lost the stomach for it, but because it put the word around the league that challenging him face-to-face was not an intelligent move.

And one more story, that explains one of the oddest traditions in North American sports. In the 1952 Stanley Cup playoffs, Detroit swept Toronto in four straight in the semis, and then swept Montreal in four straight in the finals. It was the first ever eight-game sweep in the playoffs. And eight you know, eight’s an important number now, and an octopus has eight tentacles – which somehow represent the eight-game sweep. And now, at moments of extreme fan delight at Detroit home games, fans are known to throw octopi onto the ice.

A very enjoyable and thorough look at Mr. Hockey.

Trivia: A “Hat Trick” in hockey is when a player scores three goals in a game. A “Gordie Howe Hat Trick” is scoring a goal, an assist, and a fight in one game. 

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Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty by Charles Leerhsen

Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty by Charles Leerhsen

The great trouble with baseball today is that most of the players are in the game for the money and that's it. Not for the love of it, the excitement of it, the thrill of it. ~ Ty Cobb

Before I tell you about this book, let me tell you a little about the greatest baseball player ever – not Babe Ruth, not Hank Aaron, not Willie Mays – Ty Cobb. Not an opinion – just a fact.

Evidence: There are six important stats for a position player (non-pitcher). Cobb is in the TOP 10 lifetime for 5 of the 6: #1 all-time batting average .366; #2 all-time hits 4189; #2 all-time Runs 2246; #4 all-time stolen bases 897; and #8 all-time runs-batted-in 1937. He was not a power hitter and doesn’t crack the top 100 in Home Runs. Ty Cobb is the only player Top 10 in 5 of the 6 stats.  Only Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron are TOP 10 in 4 of 6. He also owns lesser records such as #1 stealing home, #1 stealing multiple bases in one plate appearance, #2 all-time singles, and #2 all-time inside the park home runs. From 1907-1919 he was the American League batting champion every year but 1916 (when he was second) and the MLB batting champion every year but 1908 and 1916. He holds the MLB record for the most MLB records. Finally, in 1936, first-ever Baseball Hall of Fame induction, Cobb was named on 222 of 226 ballots, ahead of Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson. Greatest of All-Time – BOOM!

He was also the most hated man in baseball – well, maybe not. Charles Leerhsen’s book Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty attempts to dispel that myth.

Tyrus Raymond Cobb – The Georgia Peach – played from 1905-1928. Popular legends about Cobb: He was universally hated by opponents and teammates, he was a racist, he was mean, he despised children (probably puppies as well).

In addition to presenting real evidence contrary to these myths, Leerhsen also offers insight as to how the legends were created and how they persist. It’s complicated to say the least but perhaps the most compelling is that we are intrigued by monsters.

…a villain who inspires self-congratulation makes for one hell of a tenacious myth

At least one biographer capitalized on, or perhaps more precisely created much of the myth. His fantastic accounts are conspicuously lacking in sources. But demonizing a legend is sure to titillate – and sell.

History became legend. Legend became myth and myth became fact.

And if an Academy Award winning actor portrays the myth – it must be fact. (The film Cobb was based on the unsourced biography noted above)

Oh, and one other thing – if Cobb was “hated” by opponents it was mostly because he made them look like silly. But this “hatred” was respect, bordering on awe of the greatest batter/baserunner ever. Leerhsen offers testimony after testimony from Cobb’s contemporaries that are generous in praise and almost completely lacking in criticism.

Another myth was that Cobb was a natural-born hitter – a description he detested. He was a student of the game and trained constantly. He was an innovator, rule breaker, and risk taker. According to Leerhsen

Almost everything he did on the field was a considered, conscious decision based on his theory of the game.

Cobb was no saint. He had an ego, a temper, and was a brawler – but this was true of most ballplayers at the turn of the century. Leerhsen simply attempts to set the record straight. He casts doubt on, if not outright disproves most of the infamous Cobb behavior with substantiated facts and first-hand testimony.

Just one example: In August 1909 while sliding into third, Cobb’s spikes cut the arm of A’s third baseman Frank Baker.  Connie Mack the legendary manager of the A’s raised Cain – probably trying to get Cobb ejected – which wouldn’t hurt the A’s chances. After much bluster, there was no ejection and Baker was able to continue play. However, the incident became a scandal with a handful of players and managers around the league asserting Cobb was a dirty player who tried to maim opponents, though there were more who came to his defense. The American League president, Ban Johnson publicly admonished Cobb after hearing only Connie Mack’s version of the incident, but a few days later, a photograph of the play surfaced that clearly shows Cobb sliding away from the tag, showing it was Baker who caused the minor injury – something Baker himself did not dispute.

But the damage was done – the reputation stuck. Cobb was a dirty player.

Leerhsen cites dozens of other incidents that similarly show Cobb’s villainous reputation is largely undeserved. Some dispute this of course, but for me at least, he presented conscientious, substantiated and unbiased evidence

But this biography is not only about disproving the less flattering aspects of the Cobb myth, it is also about his passion, his wit, his values, his foibles, his scholarly view of the game and his legendary accomplishments on the field.

It is about his wounded ego, at the end of his career and the end of the dead-ball era, when Babe Ruth emerged on the scene, and it is about his failed experiment as a player manager.

It is also about his failure to win a World Series. The Tigers made it to the series three years in a row 1907-1909, but never managed to win it all. In the final two years of his career, Cobb played for Connie Mack and the Philadelphia A’s. The A’s won the World Series the year AFTER Cobb retired.

And then there is the most bizarre chapter in his extraordinary life in which Cobb’s mother shot and killed his father, probably mistaking him for a prowler? She was acquitted but like the rest of the Cobb legend, some prefer a more scandalous explanation.

Oh and, Cobb was a voracious reader – enjoying biographies of Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon, and the novels of Victor Hugo, James Joyce, Henry James, Wilkie Collins, and others. On road trips to Washington D.C. he was known to visit the Library of Congress.

Quotations about Ty Cobb:

He didn’t out-hit the opposition and he didn’t out-run them; he out-thought them. ~ Sam Crawford

Cobb was the roughest, toughest player I ever saw, a terror on the base paths. He was not dirty, though. I never saw him spike a player deliberately. ~ Burt Shotton

I’ve been on top of many plays in which Cobb was the runner and I never saw him cut anyone intentionally. ~ Silk O’Loughlin (Umpire)

I would take Cobb. I like to see Ruth hit the long ones, but nothing has thrilled me more than the sight of Ty Cobb dashing around the bases, taking chances, outwitting the other side. You could never tell what he was going to do, and it was fine fun trying to figure out what he might do next. You don’t get that with Ruth. ~ Tom Yawkey, Boston Red Sox owner

I’d want him [Cobb] over Ruth on my team. Ruth would fill your stadium. Cobb would beat you in it. ~ Carl Mays

Cobb lived off the field as though he wished to live forever. He lived on the field as though it was his last day. ~ Branch Rickey

Every time I hear of this guy again, I wonder how he was possible. ~ Joe DiMaggio

Hornsby could run like anything but not like this kid. Cobb was the fastest I ever saw for being sensational on the bases. ~ Casey Stengel

I never saw anyone like Ty Cobb. No one even close to him. He was the greatest all time ballplayer. That guy was superhuman, amazing. ~ Casey Stengel

Let him sleep if he will. If you get him riled up, he will annihilate us. ~ Connie Mack

The Babe was a great ballplayer, sure, but Cobb was even greater. Babe could knock your brains out, but Cobb would drive you crazy. ~ Tris Speaker

The greatness of Ty Cobb was something that had to be seen, and to see him was to remember him forever. ~ George Sisler

When I get the record, all it will make me is the player with the most hits. I'm also the player with the most at bats and the most outs. I never said I was a greater player than Cobb. ~ Pete Rose

He was a man who needed a tremendous amount of love – but who nevertheless pushed everyone away. ~ Peggy Cobb Shugg, granddaughter

This is the first biography in a series of four that I will read on Detroit sports legends Ty Cobb, Gordie Howe, Bobby Layne, and Isiah Thomas. Besides playing in Detroit they also all share rather infamous reputations, though to varying degrees.

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