Leo Durocher: Baseball’s Prodigal Son

Veteran sports journalist Dickson (Bill Veeck: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick) returns with another excellent remembrance of a larger-than-life persona, legendary baseball manager Leo Durocher, whom he describes as “cocky and flamboyant.” Durocher’s career spanned from Prohibition to the Apollo moon landings. Born in 1905 in West Springfield, Mass., of French-Canadian stock, Durocher signed with the Yankees in 1925 as a shortstop and erratic hitter; five years later, his blunt talk and fondness for living beyond his means got him sold to the Cincinnati Reds. Impressively, Durocher survived suspensions, firings, investigations, and brawls as a combative, eccentric player with the Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, and Brooklyn Dodgers to play in the World Series in 1928 and 1934. The author often approaches his subject with tabloid fervor as he writes of the manager’s 1947 game suspension, his contested friendship with actor George Raft and his gangster buddies, his divorces (including from actress Loraine Day), and his feuds with Babe Ruth and Casey Stengel. Dickson’s entertaining book brings the rambunctious Hall of Famer and true sports original to life. (Mar.)