Review: Baseball Forever: Reflections on Sixty Years in the Game (Ralph Kiner’s Book)

January 1, 2009

By DailySkew

Ralph Kiner and Danny Peary put together a classy autobiography and post-war baseball history book with 2004’s Baseball Forever. Kiner’s life, stories, anecdotes, and opinions are interesting, informative, and reading this objective book can give the reader a lesson on baseball from the 1940’s to today.

Ralph’s Pirates career is detailed in full- he was on very bad teams- bad records, bad chemistry, bad management, and bad attitudes. Thankfully, Hank Greenberg joins the team, and takes Ralph under his wing. Hank is the first person to expose Kiner to culture, the arts, and professionalism.

For someone from that era, Ralph is not a racist, or close-minded; he is a team player. He views on how society has changed and comparisons between this era and his era are modern, balanced, and engrossing.

Kiner doesn’t complain about players of today or the money they make, especially since he was a pioneer in players getting rights and leverage in negotiating with owners, who basically ran slave plantations until the 1970’s. However, Kiner does believe in adding more performance based incentives in contracts instead of large guaranteed long term contracts.

Ralph’s major observation with work ethic is that the post-war boys needed work and stuck together; they ate together, slept together, rode buses together, and there was more of a bond. Now, everyone has headphones, cell phones, and superstars have private hotel suites and are already financially set before their first major league game if they had a signing bonus.

Ralph was one of the few baseball players to think ahead and save money back then. He invested his money in real estate and other business ventures. Although some failed, he still became financially secure, and fought for pensions for players.

Ralph admitted that playing on losing teams, he focused on breaking Babe Ruth’s 60 HR record. He came close! He had great things to say about the skill, stats, and talent of Stan Musial, Bob Feller, Hank Greenberg, and Ted Williams. Ralph’s inside information on Jackie Robinson and other players is a great read.

Ralph had both awe and envy of the great Yankees teams of his day, and as an announcer had both respect and frustration for George Steinbrenner. Ultimately, he was drafted by the Yankees but, following the advice of someone, chose the Pirates because the Yankees had too many minor leaguers in the outfield, and the time to make the majors was quicker with the Pirates.

He described the fear some players had when playing the Yankees and how psychology plays an important role in games. Ralph gave Joe Torre’s dynasty props for bringing fans back to baseball after the strike, and said his teams didn’t get enough credit in baseball’s post-strike resurgence. In fact, although Kiner said great things about the 1969 Mets and 1986 Mets, he seemed to enjoy the modern Yankees teams more.

Believe it or not, Ralph’s Mets broadcasting career is written about maybe 60% through the book. A prideful man, he took criticism to heart at first, but then settled in and did his thing (mispronouncing names and making wry jokes) without fear. He goes into length about how he got the announcing experience- he called games on the radio by reading telegraph tape which just spit out the pitch result, and he had to fill in the details, back when people thought they were live broadcasts. He loved Bob Murphy, and respects Tim McCarver although he admitted Tim’s need to be too detailed and right all the time. Ralph was actually a pioneer in how broadcasts are made- he decided to call the games right down the middle and not take sides, as oppsed to being a “homer” and openly rooting for the home team.

Ralph’s stories about the 1960’s Mets are humorous and, of course, accurately describe how pathetic the Mets were. There are some Kiner’s Korner stories, too.

Ultimately, one can’t walk away without the utmost respect for Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner. He said he hated waiting 15 years to be elected. Because he only played 10 years due to an injury that could have been prevented and fixed in today’s era, sportswriters waited until he last year of eligibility even though he led his league in homeruns 7 straight years, still the record. And his ballparks were HUGE and favored pitchers. Talk about DOMINANT.

Ralph’s history of the modern game contains no retroactive continuities, and it is a smooth reading. It’s amazing how he fit all of this in a book of not even 250 pages. My grandmother thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially with Kiner’s stories about Joe DiMaggio, Bob Hope, and the other old timers whom he outlasted.

Ralph pulls no punches in his honest opinions about the game, but never rants and raves and doesn’t hold any grudges like Don Zimmer does. He does point out injustices committed by some owners back in the day, but multiple sources can verify the authenticity of his criticisms. Kiner is too secure, has a lot of confidence, and knows what he has achieved to be angry. He loves the sport, and is accepting of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I was pleasantly surprised he didn’t demonize Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire. He is not forgiving to Pete Rose, however, which is fine. Ralph probably made an enemy of Pete Rose by dedicating a few pages about how Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson should not be in the Hall of Fame due to associating with gamblers. Ralph says it’s pretty simple- every player knew gambling on games is the one rule that would have got you banned.

Kiner’s views on the MEDIA, agents, fans, players, owners, integration, Hollywood, the past, present, and future are all detailed and enjoyable. His tone is very gentleman-like, yet his dry, wry humor adds flavor and color.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in baseball. It’s a must read for Pirates fans, and I’m certain Yankees fans and older Mets fans would enjoy this as well. Baseball is Ralph’s life, he loves everything about it, and is grateful to have been involved in it for his entire life. He never took anything for granted, and is a true role model, not like some fake superstars that the MEDIA had created for us.