Memories of Summer: When Baseball Was an Art and Writing about It a Game: A Memoir

Any baseball book from the man who wrote The Boys of Summer is expected to be a treat, but this one is extra-special, for Kahn has crafted an informal mini-autobiography about his early years as a baseball writer. ""I saw my first World Series game in 1920, seven years before I was born,"" Kahn says as he begins to explain his close, yet difficult, relationship with his father, who died in 1953. He recalls boyhood trips to Ebbets Field in Brooklyn with his dad and living in a household where education was valued and the mellow voice of Red Barber on the radio calling a Dolph Camilli home run was a natural. His father, a high school teacher and one of the guiding lights behind radio's Information Please, helped his son secure a position with the New York Herald-Tribune, and pretty soon Kahn was covering the Dodgers of Reese, Robinson, Snider and Campanella. There are terrific profiles: Willie Mays (""The only magic ballplayer of my lifetime""); Carl Furillo telling time (""Two-oh-fucking clock""); and Leo Durocher's love tips (""put your hand on her crotch""). There are also stories of working for Henry Luce at the brand-new Sports Illustrated, recollections of the dry wit of columnist Red Smith and the messy business affairs of a ""hustler"" named Mickey Mantle. This is a wonderful book that rekindles memories of 1950s baseball--a time when baseball was indeed our national pastime. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour. (Apr.)