Baseball Forever

Overview

Author Biography

See Author

Press Releases

Hall of Fame slugger Ralph Kiner was one of the greatest players in baseball history. The records he set while belting home runs for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians in the 1940s and 1950s have never been equaled.

A chronic back condition cut Kiner\'s career short at age 30. In 1961 he returned to the game as a broadcaster, and when a new franchise took the field in Flushing, New York, the following year his second career took off. Since the New York Mets\' first game in their inaugural 1962 season, Kiner has been a staple of the team\'s broadcasts and has become a special figure to generations of Mets fans throughout his 41 years with the organization.

Baseball Forever: Reflections on 60 Years in the Game by Ralph Kiner with Danny Peary (Foreword by Tom Seaver) reveals for baseball fans of every age what it has been like to see the nation\'s pastime evolve through history from the inside. Kiner was not only present throughout this process, but also helped impact the game as much with his slugging prowess as with his pioneering labor negotiations for the players before there was a union.

Current fans of baseball know Kiner as the humorous, genial broadcaster of Mets game. But Baseball Forever reveals that beyond the light-hearted persona is the greatest living witness to baseball\'s development over the last 65 years. Kiner\'s personal experiences as a player and broadcaster have allowed him access to every baseball icon from Babe Ruth to Barry Bonds. Strongly opinionated and deeply knowledgeable about every aspect of baseball, Kiner not only provides fans with countless anecdotes from a Hall of Fame career, but also offers detailed suggestions for how Major League Baseball can improve itself to assure its future success.

Some things revealed in Baseball Forever include:

• What an \"apology\" from Ty Cobb was like (pg. 31)
• What are the 11 most common mistakes current players make (pg. 32-33)
• How MLB\'s \"new racism\" favors foreign countries over inner cities (pp. 86-91)
• Why refusing to sign his first contract with the Yankees helped him (pg. 119)
• How Hank Greenberg used his \"pull\" to make Kiner into a great hitter (pg. 142)
• What it was like to date Elizabeth Taylor and Janet Leigh (pp. 164-166)
• What it was like to play golf with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope (pp. 168 - 173)
• Why actress Jamie Lee Curtis called Kiner \"daddy\" (pg. 167)
• What are the Top 10 ways to save the future of the game (pp. 226-227)
• Why Pete Rose should not be enshrined in the Hall of Fame (pg. 232-234)

Kiner\'s life story combined with his ideas on how to preserve the nation\'s pastime place the surprising and significant Baseball Forever in a field with no equal.

About the Authors
Ralph Kiner was the Barry Bonds-type slugger of the 1940s and 1950s. During his career (1946-55) Kiner recorded two 50-plus home run seasons, had 100 or more RBI six times, ranked first in slugging percentage three times and averaged more than 100 walks per season during his entire career. Kiner\'s first seven years in the MLB he either led or tied the league in home runs - a record still standing today. Kiner\'s average of 7.1 home runs per every 100 at-bats was second only to Babe Ruth at the time of his retirement. Kiner\'s career as broadcaster began in 1961 when he became a commentator and play-by-play man for Chicago White Sox games on radio. The following year, Kiner took his talents to New York where he became a charter member of the broadcast team for the New York Mets, which debuted in 1962. Kiner has been a part of the Mets\' broadcaster team every season of the franchise\'s existence and will continue for the 2004 season. In 1975 Kiner was enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Danny Peary has written and edited 18 books on sports and film. He is the writer and researcher for The Tim McCarver Show on MSG and the New York correspondent for the Australian magazine, FilmInk. He lives in New York City and Sag Harbor, New York.