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<strong>A freewheeling memoir of baseball, journalism, and New York spanning over 50 years of America&#39;s pastime</strong><br /><br />Before he&#39;d covered dozens of World Series; before he&#39;d written about countless hirings, firings, superstars, and scandals, Bill Madden was a cub reporter on one of his first assignments at Yankee Stadium&mdash;and manager Ralph Houk had just gone out of his way to spit tobacco juice all over Madden&#39;s shoes. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s Ralph&rsquo;s way with rookie writers he doesn&rsquo;t recognize,&rdquo; came the explanation. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t mean anything by it.&rdquo;&nbsp;<br /><br />So began a Hall of Fame scribe&#39;s career, as detailed in this clear-eyed memoir. With verve and candor, Madden reflects on five decades of triumphs, misadventures, and unforgettable characters.<br /><br />From Jackie Robinson to Aaron Judge; from newsrooms filled with hundreds of teletype machines droning like an army of cicadas to the sleek yet ruthless digital age, keen baseball fans will devour these tales of America&#39;s pastime against the backdrop of a rapidly changing media and cultural landscape.