By the time I joined the ‘Washington Post’ sports staff in 1979, Red’s Runyonesque notion of sports writing was obsolete. Jane Leavy Read Quote
In the spring of 1957, Mickey Mantle was the king of New York. He had the Triple Crown to prove it, having become only the 12th player in history to earn baseball’s gaudiest jewel. In 1956, he had finally fulfilled the promise of his promise, batting .353, with 52 homers and 130 RBIs. Everybody loved Mickey. Jane Leavy Read Quote
There is nothing incompatible about laughter and demons, nor about athletic achievement and depression. Mike Flanagan made me laugh, too. But mostly, he made me brave. Jane Leavy Read Quote
Cape Cod baseball dates back to the time of the Civil War. A poster at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown touts a round-trip train ride from Hyannis to Sandwich on July 4, 1885 – the occasion of the 14th annual baseball game between Sandwich and Barnstable. Jane Leavy Read Quote
At a book festival in Fort Lauderdale, I met David Eisenhower, Ike’s grandson, who was promoting his book ‘Going Home to Glory: A Memoir of Life with Dwight D. Eisenhower,’ in which he describes attending the Yankees’ 154th game in 1961. The whole family had been following Mantle and Maris chase Babe Ruth’s home run record across the country. Jane Leavy Read Quote
There is no free speech in football. Information is parsed by monosyllabic head coaches, who dictate who gets to speak to whom and when. Jane Leavy Read Quote
Babe Ruth didn’t become her father until 18 months after he married her mother, Claire, on April 17, 1929, Opening Day of the baseball season. Julia was 12 years old. Jane Leavy Read Quote
Led by a new generation of edgy sportswriters like Lipsyte, we found new purpose in the great issues of the day – race, equal opportunity, drugs, and labor disputes. We became personality journalists, medical writers, and business reporters. Jane Leavy Read Quote
For most of my adult life, I dreaded the day I woke up and saw my mother in the mirror. It never happened. But, I had grown into my father. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Everyone always said I was the son he never had. Jane Leavy Read Quote
