On Sunday January 21, I posted the following to the Pirates e-mail list:
Has anyone else read Twin Killing: The Bill Mazeroski Story by John T. Bird? Santa brought it to me, and I read it immediately over the holidays. Here's my review:
The concept of the book was interesting. The author found
at least one player at each position who had played with Maz at
sometime during his career and did a separate chapter on each
player and his memories of Maz. The author also included a
manager, a coach, and one opponent. When you stop to consider
that some of Maz's teammates have already passed away, the
selection seems pretty extensive. The line-up looks like this:
The good points of the book include some nice whimsical stories of "I remember when...". I'll include a few short one's below.
There are several flaws to the book that I have to mention also. Some chapters are more fun to read than others. Although I enjoyed reading stories about various players, at times, it seems the author lost track of WHO the book was supposed to be all about. For example, the first chapter with Dick Groat seems to follow this format:
The style of writing is not very polished either (very similar to this e-mail note). The chapters read very much like I imagine the ballplayers described them to the author; in fact, the author addresses this point in his introduction and states his editing was a matter of subtraction and the words are "most assuredly the words of these players."
Also, the book is a thinly veiled promotional effort to get Billy Maz enshrined in the Hall of Fame. The author devotes most of the epilogue to listing the Mazeroski record and various statistics from Total Baseball (Fielding Runs - single season, lifetime; Total Player Rating). It makes many of the same points (and misses a few) that we discussed in our thread on Maz and the Hall of Fame. For those of you new to the list, you can find a summary of that thread on my Pirates page in the Maz section off of the "Retired Uniform Numbers" Page.
Despite these negative factors to the book, I still recommend it to my fellow Bucco fans. Taken as a whole work, I think you will find a few stories, observations, quips, and claims that you will enjoy. I've included a few Maz-specific clips below; you'll find other clips from the book on:
Virdon was a roommate of Maz's; both are known for their always present chewing tobacco on the field, but they never chewed in their rooms. Another tidbit from the book is that Maz gave up chewing tobacco a few years ago.Roy Face's chapter may be one of the best in the book; there are too many anecdotes to list them here.
In several chapters, it was noted that Maz credits his high school coach for teaching him many of his fundamentals: always, always, always catch with two hands - Maz would practice in high school with a rubber ball or tennis ball - they are difficult to control if you don't catch them with two hands. Maz also says he tried to catch the ball near his right shoulder; it would put him in a good position to throw immediately.
Nellie King on Maz: King described how in 1966, Maz only had 2 errors going into August; King said, "you drop that many balls playing catch in your living room with somebody!"
Briles relates the best story in the book about Maz. It's too long to include here, but I'll post it in the next few days.
Veale on Maz: "Maz was just like a river; he ran quiet."... "If anybody deserves being there (in the HOF) on his own merits, it is my buddy Maz, a great player, and a fine man. He's the kind of man you'd want your son to be like."
In Sanguillen's chapter: Maz, Clemente, and Sangy were touring Panama in 1971. After Maz was introduced, Clemente appeared and the crowd went crazy. Maz leans over to Roberto and Manny and said with a twinkle in his eye, "Man, these people in Panama love me!"
Maz's first double play??? He doubled up Willie Mays - you can look it up (pg 263).
On final clip: Many of you know I have previously said I don't particularly care for Bob Costas' broadcast style; that's why I liked this quote from the back cover so well: "As an 8-year-old Yankee fan in 1960, I literally wept when Bill Mazeroski's home run cleared the ivy-covered wall of Forbes Field. 35 years later, I believe I have come to terms with it, and can see Bill Mazeroski for what he really was: one of baseball's all-time great second baseman." Bob Costas, NBC Sports
If you grew up as a young ball player looking up to Bill Mazeroski for his defensive skills, then this book is for you. The author states up front that Alex Grammas predicted that the author could travel all over "and not hear one bad word about Bill Mazeroski. Alex was right. Bill Mazeroski was an exceptional ballplayer who happens to be a very fine fellow. Pull up a chair and listen to his story."
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