num_pages: 347
description: Anyone who followed baseball during the 1950s will remember Hall of Fame third baseman Eddie Mathews, who played on two World Series teams (1957 and 1958) for the Milwaukee Braves and spent 16 years in the National League before being traded to the Detroit Tigers. Beginning with his days in Class D ball in 1949, Mathews follows his career and to a lesser extent his personal life in this appealing autobiography. Although the book isn't written in a sophisticated style ("the whole subject of player salaries today makes me want to puke"), Mathews' laid-back tone seems a perfect match with his down-to-earth personality. As someone who played with Hank Aaron (the two still hold baseball's record for most homers as teammates), roomed with Bob Uecker ("like rooming with the Marx Brothers"), and drank with Billy Martin ("if you backed him into the corner, he'd punch your lights out"), Mathews has plenty of stories to relay. Out of baseball now (he frankly admits his drinking cost him a number of coaching jobs), Mathews, like so many retired players, remembers his big-league days as the best years of his life.
language: English
title: Eddie Mathews and the National Pastime
titlecomplete: Eddie Mathews and the National Pastime
ratings_count: 13
publisher: Douglas Amer Sports Pubns