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Nice Guys Finish First:
The Autobiography of Monte Irvin
Monte Irvin and
James A. Riley, Carroll
& Graf, 1996.
Reviews
Monte Irvin is an American Hero. With
courage, belief and talent, he overcame great
obstacles to realize his dream. And in this
powerful autobiography, he tells the remarkable
story of how he became a Hall of Fame baseball
player and a man Americans can admire.
Monte Irvin had a mission in life--to
be a baseball player. But before he could realize
this goal, Irvin survived a near fatal illness as
a teenager and lived through Both the Great
Depression and World War II, which interrupted
his college playing and his career in the Negro
National League. He lost many of his prime
ballplaying years to racial injustice that kept
African Americans out of major league baseball.
Still, after a lengthy career with the Newark
Eagles, he became a major league star and played
in two World Series with the New York Giants.
Then he embarked on a second career as a Special
Assistant to the Commissioner of Baseball.
Monte Irvin was a baseball pioneer. He
was the Negro League owner's choice to be the
first black player to enter the major leagues and
break the color line, but his army service held
him back. Still, Irvin became one of the first
African Americans to play major league baseball
when he was signed with the Giants in 1949.
Later, after seven years as the Giant's
centerfielder and clutch hitter, Irvin was
inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973.
Readers will learn about the good
times and hard times of life in the Negro
Leagues, and New York Giants fans will be
enthralled as Monte recounts his experiences with
Leo Durocher's teams, including the dramatic 1951
comeback that triumphed with the most memorable
single play in baseball history--Bobby Thomson's
"Shot Heard around the World." He also
relates his conversation with Willie Mays as the
two trotted off the field after what is still
referred to as "The Catch" in the 1954
World Series.
Leo Durocher made few mistakes as the
Giant's manager; however, he did make one slip
when he said, "Nice guys finish last."
His own star ball-player Monte Irvin proved that,
sometimes, "Nice Guys Finish First."
-------------------"Nice
Guys Finish First",
Carroll & Graf, Copyright 1996, Monte Irvin
and James A. Riley. Used with permission.
KIRKUS REVIEWS
An inspiring...firsthand account of a
celebrated baseball career, coauthored by Riley,
an authority on the Negro Leagues.
Irvin has a right to be proud; he also
has a gift for being humble. Born in 1919, one of
13 children, Irvin recounts with equal nostalgia
both the dire poverty of his early years on an
Alabama farm and his relatively stable later
childhood in northern New Jersey. He also details
fondly the great sacrifices and support provided
by his parents. This ingratiating lack of
self-consciousness extends to his descriptions of
fellow Hall of Famers Josh Gibson ("without
a doubt the greatest hitter I ever saw, black or
white") and Jackie Robinson ("a
tremendous, well-rounded athlete" though
"it seemed like he thought he was just a
little bit better than other players"). He
makes no bones about how the "gentleman's
agreement" barring black players from the
game robbed him of his prime. However, he
evenhandedly remembers the good times and
camaraderie of Negro League road trips, as well
as a few kindnesses extended by whites who risked
severe reprisal for their generosity. Irvin
entered the Major Leagues with the New York
Giants in 1950. Though well past his peak as an
athlete, he helped pace the team to two pennants
and one World Series Win while also serving as
mentor to a young centerfielder of unworldly
talent named Willie Mays. Beginning in in the
mid-1950's, Monte worked in the baseball
commissioner's office, and he serves up some
pointed commentary about the game's evolution,
opining about contract arbitration (which
"has really hurt baseball more than anything
else") and the designated-hitter rule
("Pitchers can be very aggressive...because
they never have to come to the plate") among
other controversial topics.
Never one to intellectualize
needlessly, Irvin has a tempered approach to
baseball that will be tonic against those who
attempt to make the game more complex and
"meaningful" than it really is.
Buy the book below.
 
Nice Guys Finish First: The Autobiography of Monte Irvin
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