{"product_id":"the-big-fella-babe-ruth-and-the-world-he-created-9780062380234","title":"The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom Jane Leavy, the award-winning, \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestselling author of \u003cem\u003eThe Last Boy\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eSandy Koufax\u003c\/em\u003e, comes the definitive biography of Babe Ruth--the man Roger Angell dubbed \"the model for modern celebrity.\"\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Boston Globe \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e \u003cem\u003ePublishers Weekly \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e \u003cem\u003eKirkus\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eNewsweek \u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eThe Philadelphia Inquirer \u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eThe Progressive\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinner of the 2019 SABR Seymour Medal Finalist for the PEN\/ESPN Literary Sports Writing Award Longlisted for \u003cem\u003eSpitball\u003c\/em\u003e Magazine's Casey Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year Finalist for the NBCC Award for Biography\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"Leavy's newest masterpiece.... A major work of American history by an author with a flair for mesmerizing story-telling.\" \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e--\u003cem\u003eForbes\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe lived in the present tense--in the camera's lens. There was no frame he couldn't or wouldn't fill. He swung the heaviest bat, earned the most money, and incurred the biggest fines. Like all the new-fangled gadgets then flooding the marketplace--radios, automatic clothes washers, Brownie cameras, microphones and loudspeakers--Babe Ruth \"made impossible events happen.\" Aided by his crucial partnership with Christy Walsh--business manager, spin doctor, damage control wizard, and surrogate father, all stuffed into one tightly buttoned double-breasted suit--Ruth drafted the blueprint for modern athletic stardom.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis was a life of journeys and itineraries--from uncouth to couth, spartan to spendthrift, abandoned to abandon; from Baltimore to Boston to New York, and back to Boston at the end of his career for a finale with the only team that would have him. There were road trips and hunting trips; grand tours of foreign capitals and post-season promotional tours, not to mention those 714 trips around the bases.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter hitting his 60th home run in September 1927--a total that would not be exceeded until 1961, when Roger Maris did it with the aid of the extended modern season--he embarked on the mother of all barnstorming tours, a three-week victory lap across America, accompanied by Yankee teammate Lou Gehrig. Walsh called the tour a \"Symphony of Swat.\" The \u003cem\u003eOmaha World Herald\u003c\/em\u003e called it \"the biggest show since Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey, and seven other associated circuses offered their entire performance under one tent.\" In \u003cem\u003eThe Big Fella\u003c\/em\u003e, acclaimed biographer Jane Leavy recreates that 21-day circus and in so doing captures the romp and the pathos that defined Ruth's life and times.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing from more than 250 interviews, a trove of previously untapped documents, and Ruth family records, Leavy breaks through the mythology that has obscured the legend and delivers the man.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLeavy, Jane:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eJane Leavy, award-winning former sportswriter and feature writer for the \u003cem\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/em\u003e, is author of the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/em\u003ebestsellers \u003cem\u003eSandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eEnd of America's Childhood\u003c\/em\u003e, and the comic novel \u003cem\u003eSqueeze Play\u003c\/em\u003e. She lives in Washington, D.C. and Truro, Massachusetts.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50644916666642,"sku":"9780062380234","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_fe8a5619-a07f-4e0f-97c1-ca86d5497486.jpg?v=1733129412","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-big-fella-babe-ruth-and-the-world-he-created-9780062380234","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}