Mel Ott: The Little Giant of Baseball
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