Why I Love Baseball

by Larry King

Larry King is a true-blue baseball fanatic. Going to his first game as a kid in 1940s New York was the start of a lifelong love affair. This heartfelt valentine to America's game evokes a simpler time in our country's history: complete with the smells of popcorn, beer, and hotdogs; the sight of the green, closely-mowed infield; the dark-brown dirt paths; the crisp white uniforms; the sound of the excited voices of announcers; the crack of the bat; and the roar of the crowd. Baseball, he discovered, is its own unique universe. When he finally had the opportunity to personally interview legendary manager Leo Durocher, Larry was so happy that he kept the return phone message for twenty years, just so he could look at it and remember the day. Over his long and distinguished career he's had the opportunity to meet and interview such heroes as Casey Stengel, Jackie Robinson, and Ted Williams. Passion for the game has suffused his life. Even now, he revels in the Orioles and the Mets. Every reason to love baseball is laid out in this nostalgic book, as King gives an inside view to the trading cards, the scuffles, the most classic plays, the labor disputes, and the personalities that pervade the sport. It is the only team game without a clock or a designated ending time. Larger-than-life personalities make up its history. Why I Love Baseball will appeal to anyone who recognizes baseball as America's favorite pastime. King has loved baseball for as long as he can remember, and this ode to the game is truly a love song. You can hear the joy in the author's voice. In a time of serious national focus, Larry King's personal reminiscences and unique view of the impact of baseball is a welcome look atthe modern history of the game.

Genres: Sports, Baseball, Nonfiction, Audiobook

Audio Cassette

First published February 1, 2004

About the author

Larry King was an American television host, radio host, and paid spokesman, whose work was recognized with awards including two Peabodys, an Emmy award, and 10 Cable ACE Awards.

From 1985 to 2010, King hosted a nightly interview program on CNN called Larry King Live. From 2012 to 2020, he hosted Larry King Now.

Reviews

[Scott]

"[Former Dodgers manager] Tommy Lasorda told me that the biggest thrill of his life was to manage a winning team at a major league game. His second greatest thrill was to manage a losing game. Now that, dear friends, is love." - Larry King, author and Brooklyn Dodgers fan

King 's own love of the game is evident in this book as well. Although a bit dated now (it's from 2003) it includes some good stories / anecdotes, history and observations from other famous fans.

[Abigail]

I loved his 99 reasons why baseball is better than football.

[Deacon Tom (Feeling Better)]

A fun book of Larry King’s feelings, opinions and his overall love of baseball.

I remember the era he loved and much of the slang he uses. I really enjoyed the book.

[Jack Stonecipher]

trying to get into it

[Ronald]

title says it all; short and sweet

[Autumn Kearney]

Chapter 1's first paragraph has a reference to him wanting to commit suicide by jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge because the Brooklyn Dodgers lost a baseball game. I don't care how much I loved listening to Larry King's interviews. That wasn't funny. Period.

[David West]

A great book. If you like baseball, you will like this book. King has wriiten a love letter to the sport.

[Lawrence Perez]

Larry King's book "Why I love baseball" is a very well written out auto biography about his childhood and how he became to love baseball so much.

Larry's writing style is nothing fancy, which is why I like this book and his writing style. He is just straight forward with his writing and telling us his story how he became into loving baseball as a child. There was no characters you gotta worry about because it's an auto biography. There was Not really any plots in this fantastic book other then the events that happened to him threw out his life time. The theme that Larry tries to give out, is work hard for what you want because he was just a little boy who parents had died and he turn to baseball to be as his family, so he became a sports writer to be even closer to the game. The setting this book takes place is at Brooklyn when he was a child, then when he grows up changes to Los Angeles. I would connect this book to other well famous auto biography. I would connect to this book to me because if I don't make it far in baseball I would probably be like Larry King and be a sports writer just to be close to the game.

I would differently recommend this book to other baseball lovers out there or even Larry king fans or even just book lovers who want a good auto biography to read. This book seems like a middle school level book by just looking at the size of it, but it is very well written for all ages.

[Joseph]

Why I Love Baseball is a hodge-podge of King's observations and stories/quotes/articles from third-party sources on the topic of baseball.

While there are a few solid gems in the book, its organization is random and comes off reading like a rough draft where not much editing has taken place to give it a semblance of logic or organization. One chapter may contain lyrics to King's favorite baseball songs coupled with quotes or observations from various managers and players. Another may include articles or excerpts from other baseball books by authors such as George Will and Bob Costas; followed by stories from King's youth. There is never a theme tying the chapters together, much less giving cohesion to the entire book, save that they are all about baseball.

The stories from King's youth are among the gems. They remind the reader of their own indoctrination into the world of baseball and are quite humorous, but this material is sparse. Instead, much of the book seems culled from other sources, rather than from the author himself. King also tends to name drop. Everyone named is seemingly famous and the author can never mention someone without adding that he interviewed him several times or got to spend time with him over the years or that they are a good friend.

[Paul]

On the first pitch Larry King swings hard enough and strikes his heel with the fat part of his bat, and, penultimately, it's a failed lead-off bunt attempt and subsequent strikeout. Like a mock/rough draft of a minor league player who does not make it to the big leagues, who does not pan out. Not even that close to the historic ballpark and the classic walk-off home run as one would have hoped for the talk show host. Love of baseball without writing up and down and out baseball's loveliness. Passion for the game without particularity and penmanship and purpose.

[Shelli]

Yes! He described so many of the reasons why I love baseball, and even elaborated on a few I hadn't thought of but could appreciate. I loved this book so much, I gave it to my father because he loves baseball too.

[David]

Larry does a LOT of name dropping and this book seems to be more about who he knows in baseball, rather than why we would love the game. Granted, he does touch on the "crack of the bat" and other common baseball cliches, but this is really a book about Larry.

[Paul Whitla]

Ghostwritten piece of nonsense. 160 pages which are spread out from what may have been a 3 hour conversation, about how much he loves the Brooklyn dodgers and not really much else. A pure money making exercise with zero literary value or indeed value of any kind.

[Ray Jardin]

A masterpiece!

[Michael Kaiser]

Brisk little read about Larry King's love of baseball. Had some cool old school stories about back in the day when New York hosted everyone important.

[Corri]

(Read by Larry King)

[Kevin]

made me really like larry king more. he is an informed and passionate baseball fan