A mainstay of the 1949 team, Kinder arrived in Cleveland one morning so drunk that he had to be rolled through the train station in a wheelchair. Ellis did love a good time,'' his widow said. The Amateurs,'' bobbles too many unintended metaphors for a writer of his major-league standing, and he fails to run out some of his anecdotes. Nonetheless, his narrative is vigorous, altogether engrossing, loaded with dugout insight and wonderful vignettes. Joe DiMaggio of the Yankees, playing one of his last seasons, and Ted Williams of the Red Sox, whose baseball career would end in 1960 with a home run his last time at bat.
Immortality is non-transferable.
Justin Kaplan is a former Yankee fan now living in Boston.