Research Catalog

Title

Lefty : an American odyssey / Vernona Gomez and Lawrence Goldstone.

Author

Gomez, Vernona

Publication

New York : Ballantine Books, c2012.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Goldstone, Lawrence, 1947-

Description

xx, 393 p., [16] p. of plates : ill.; 24 cm.

Summary

"A baseball legend distinguished by his competitive nature, quick wit, and generous spirit, Lefty Gomez was one of a kind. Told for the first time, this is his remarkable story. Born to a small-town California ranching family, the youngest of eight, Vernon "Lefty" Gomez rode his powerful arm and jocular personality right across America to the dugout of the New York Yankees. Lefty baffled hitters with his blazing fastball, establishing himself as the team's ace. He vacationed with Babe Ruth, served as Joe DiMaggio's confidant, and consoled Lou Gehrig the day the "Iron Horse" removed himself from the lineup. He started and won the first-ever All-Star Game, was the first pitcher to make the cover of Time magazine, and barnstormed Japan as part of Major League Baseball's grand ambassadorial tour in 1934.^ Away from the diamond, Lefty played the big-city bon vivant, marrying Broadway star June O'Dea and hobnobbing with a who's who of celebrities, including George Gershwin, Jack Dempsey, Ernest Hemingway, Marilyn Monroe, George M. Cohan, and James Michener. He even scored a private audience with the pope. And even when his pro ball career was done, Lefty wasn't. He became a national representative for Wilson Sporting Goods, logging over 100,000 miles a year, spreading the word about America's favorite game, and touching thousands of lives. In 1972 he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Three baseball fields are named for him, and to this day the top honor bestowed each year by the American Baseball Coaches Association is the Lefty Gomez Award.^ Now, drawing on countless conversations with Lefty, interweaving more than three hundred interviews conducted with his family, friends, competitors, and teammates over the course of a decade, and revealing candid photos, documents, and film clips--many never shown publicly--his daughter Vernona Gomez and her award-winning co-author Lawrence Goldstone vividly re-create the life and adventures of the irreverent southpaw fondly dubbed "El Sęor Goofy." "I'd rather be lucky than good," Lefty Gomez once quipped--one of many classic one-liners documented here. In the end he was both. A star-studded romp through baseball's most glorious seasons and America's most glamorous years, Lefty is at once a long-overdue reminder of a pitcher's greatness and a heartwarming celebration of a life well-lived"--Provided by publisher.

Subject

• Gomez, Vernon, 1908-1989
• Baseball players > United States > Biography
• Pitchers (Baseball) > United States > Biography
• SPORTS & RECREATION / Baseball / General
• BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs
• SPORTS & RECREATION / History

Genre/Form

Biographies

Note

• Includes index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

The cowboy's son -- "An aberrant deviation in the evolutionary process" -- "Pick a spot, make a diamond" -- "I'd go anywhere to pitch" -- "About as skinny as you can get and still be living" -- "His name's Gomez. Go warm him up" -- "I had to stop Gomez" -- Ping, Babe, Duster, Sloppy...and Lefty -- Class D baseball seven days a week -- Birdlegs and Walter the Great -- A death in New York -- Hollywood, goat's milk, and spinach -- "I don't talk to Bushers" -- The doctor and the dictator -- June in June -- A pitcher's pitch -- "The greatest thrill of my career" -- "No lipstick for Lefty" -- Pitzy and Fung -- Game of the century -- For want of an inning -- Let loose to run around the world -- "The Yankees pay you even when you lose?" -- "He can't hit it if I don't throw it" -- Farewell to rodeo -- June in January...and February -- The not-so-perfect crime -- Immortality, achieved and denied -- "You don't tell June she can't do something" -- "They'll have to cut the uniform off me" -- Eighty innings -- "You could see it was gone" -- Field general -- "Never measure a player when he's gone 0 for 4" -- "I only do what I like to do" -- The best possible sports experience for every child who has the desire to play" -- "My own damn fault" -- Winning friends and influencing people for the United States on ten dollars a day -- "You don't have to shovel rain" -- Something you can only hope for -- Duane -- "We're going to miss Lefty"

ISBN

• 9780345526489 (hardback)
• 0345526481 (hardback)
• 9780345526502 (ebook) (canceled/invalid)
• 0345526503 (ebook) (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

^^2012004000

OCLC

• 753624861
• SCSB-12167357

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library