Product Description

Melvin Thomas Ott was smaller than most home run sluggers, at 5'9", 170 pounds, but he could sure hit 'em as far as the big boys. Over a 22-year playing career with the New York Giants, Ott slapped 511 homers, then a National League record. At the tender age of 20, he erupted on the scene with career highs of 42 home runs and 152 RBIs. He went on to win or share six home run titles, appear in 11 All-Star Games and play in three World Series. It was a foregone conclusion when Ott was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1951. This is the first-ever biography of baseball's renowned "nice guy." Every aspect of his remarkable baseball career is covered, from his jump to the big leagues at age 17 to his tragic death at age 49. Ott's managerial and broadcasting careers are also discussed.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1891000 in Books
• Published on: 1999-04
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .72 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 239 pages

From Booklist
Mel Ott hit 511 home runs for the New York Giants between 1926 and 1947, and he managed the Giants from 1942 through 1948. What makes his story of interest today, however, is the way it captures baseball in a very different era: before and during World War II. Stein evokes the period nostalgically but accurately: a time when fans followed the game on the radio and when the press, given to hyperbole, created archetypes out of star athletes. Ott was the nice guy, the 17-year-old from Gretna, Louisiana, who impressed hard-bitten Giants manager John McGraw with his sweet stroke and odd stance (right leg lifted off the ground). And yet, as Stein recounts, Ott's very niceness led to the inevitable rap of being not tough enough, and when he was replaced as manager by the fiery Leo Durocher ("Nice guys finish last"), the nice guy had come full circle. The best baseball myths always carry a bittersweet tang, and this first biography of Mel Ott passes that taste test with ease. Leon Wagner

USA Today Baseball Weekly
"here's the full story of one of the best-and nicest guys to play the sport"

Library Journal
"the author, a retired federal official who has written three books on the New York Giants, turns his attention to one of that team's greatest figures, Mel Ott"