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Pouring Six Beers at a Time: And Other Stories from a Lifetime in Baseball
A hilarious, fascinating, and revealing view of the national pastime from the 1930's to the present, Pouring Six Beers at a Time offers a treasure trove of stories by a man once dubbed the P. T. Barnum of Major League Baseball, current Philadelphia Phillies Chairman Bill Giles. His 70 plus years of behind-the-scenes stories are an invaluable treat that no baseball fan will want to miss. From sound effects man for the radio broadcasts of the Cincinnati Reds as a teenager to owner of the Philadelphia Phillies, Bill Giles has been involved in virtually every aspect of the game of baseball. Highlights from his fascinating life include taking overnight train rides with the Reds as a young boy, witnessing the birth of indoor baseball in Houston, bringing the marketing of baseball into the modern era—helping to establish traditions and promotions that are now standard, and signing some of the greatest players in modern history with names such as Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Joe Morgan, and Curt Schilling.
- GenresBaseballSportsNonfiction
386 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2007
3 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Bill Giles
3 booksThere is more than one author with this name
BILL GILES was born in Dittisham, near Dartmouth in Devon. He retired from the Met Office in January 2000 after leading the team of Broadcast Meteorologists since 1983 as the Senior Weatherman at the BBC Weather Centre. He first became interested in meteorology whilst at school in Crediton and joined the Meteorological Office at Exeter in January 1957. His broadcasting career began in 1972 when he transferred to the London Weather Centre to become part of the team forecasting for BBC Radio. He moved to television forecasting in 1975. In 1980 promotion took him back to Bracknell where he worked in public relations and then, in May 1983, returned to take charge of BBC Television's forecasting team, on the retirement of Jack Scott. October 1990 saw the publication of his book "The Weather Story", and he presented the BBC programme "The Weather Show". Since his retirement, he has been a Director of Weather Index Ltd. He formed The Weather People Ltd with colleague John Teather. His hobbies include golf, cricket and gardening. He was awarded the O.B.E in the 1995 New Year's Honours for services to broadcast meteorology
BILL GILES was born in Dittisham, near Dartmouth in Devon. He retired from the Met Office in January 2000 after leading the team of Broadcast Meteorologists since 1983 as the Senior Weatherman at the BBC Weather Centre. He first became interested in meteorology whilst at school in Crediton and joined the Meteorological Office at Exeter in January 1957. His broadcasting career began in 1972 when he transferred to the London Weather Centre to become part of the team forecasting for BBC Radio. He moved to television forecasting in 1975. In 1980 promotion took him back to Bracknell where he worked in public relations and then, in May 1983, returned to take charge of BBC Television's forecasting team, on the retirement of Jack Scott. October 1990 saw the publication of his book "The Weather Story", and he presented the BBC programme "The Weather Show". Since his retirement, he has been a Director of Weather Index Ltd. He formed The Weather People Ltd with colleague John Teather. His hobbies include golf, cricket and gardening. He was awarded the O.B.E in the 1995 New Year's Honours for services to broadcast meteorology
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 11, 2023
This book is a must-read for any fan of major league baseball! It is the life story of Bill Giles, who was the son of National League President Warren Giles. In this book, Bill describes his childhood, his time in college and in the Air Force, his family, his time in Houston and his time as part-owner of the Philadelphia Phillies. Bill also talks about his friendships with his players, other MLB owners and the economics of major league baseball. Any baseball fan will certainly love this book!
August 22, 2024
This is a pretty good account of Bill Giles life. As the son of former Cincinnati Reds executive and National League President Warren Giles and the godson of the legendary Branch Rickey, as well as the owner of the Philadelphia Phillies himself, Giles does, indeed, give us stories of a lifetime in baseball.
March 11, 2021
NF - fun read, great stories
November 2, 2017
Would you like to read a book from a fellow who was son of the National League president and later a baseball office man himself?
Despite the intriguing title 'Pouring 6 Beers at a Time' I would have said, "Gee, maybe I'll just have white bread and water, thanks!"
However since the book was a gift, I gave it a go and it turned out to be entertaining all in all. Bill Giles had a head start in the baseball business growing up in a family where his father became head
of the National League, but Bill went from the ground up in marketing and admin depts.
The promotional stories are humorous, guys getting shot out of cannons, or sailing off upper decks. Stuff that nowadays would only make you think 'law suit!' He was there for the start of the Houston Colt .45s in the early 1960s, which later of course became the Astros, the building of the AstroDome and the development of AstroTurf. The financial finagling, wheeler dealers & out right shennanigans of getting a team sold to the public in those days is interesting. As well as building the team
and the status of baseball in general, in those days with the sister expansion team the Mets.
Phillies fans of the 80s & 90s will really like the book as Giles at first works in their marketing and later becomes an owner. Whereas the Astro stories are more front & back office tales, he goes into the play-by-play with the important Phillie games of those years. So depending on what kind of Phanatic you are will set your level of interest.
Giles has a few negative things to say about characters along the way, which while they aren't exactly 'where the bodies are buried' kind of remarks, they are unusual for your standard 'be nice to everyone' baseball book. Then I realized Giles is in his seventies, so most the people he is talking about are probably dead.
Given his various positions throughout the years, he probably does know where some of the bodies are buried. Maybe one day we'll hear those stories.
If you recognize of any of these names, you may know too much about baseball. These were the starters for the 1962 Houston Colt .45s
C Hal Smith
1B Norm Larker
2B Joey Amalfitano
SS Don Buddin
3B Bob Aspromonte
LF Al Spangler
CF Roman Mejias
RF Jim Pendleton
>
Despite the intriguing title 'Pouring 6 Beers at a Time' I would have said, "Gee, maybe I'll just have white bread and water, thanks!"
However since the book was a gift, I gave it a go and it turned out to be entertaining all in all. Bill Giles had a head start in the baseball business growing up in a family where his father became head
of the National League, but Bill went from the ground up in marketing and admin depts.
The promotional stories are humorous, guys getting shot out of cannons, or sailing off upper decks. Stuff that nowadays would only make you think 'law suit!' He was there for the start of the Houston Colt .45s in the early 1960s, which later of course became the Astros, the building of the AstroDome and the development of AstroTurf. The financial finagling, wheeler dealers & out right shennanigans of getting a team sold to the public in those days is interesting. As well as building the team
and the status of baseball in general, in those days with the sister expansion team the Mets.
Phillies fans of the 80s & 90s will really like the book as Giles at first works in their marketing and later becomes an owner. Whereas the Astro stories are more front & back office tales, he goes into the play-by-play with the important Phillie games of those years. So depending on what kind of Phanatic you are will set your level of interest.
Giles has a few negative things to say about characters along the way, which while they aren't exactly 'where the bodies are buried' kind of remarks, they are unusual for your standard 'be nice to everyone' baseball book. Then I realized Giles is in his seventies, so most the people he is talking about are probably dead.
Given his various positions throughout the years, he probably does know where some of the bodies are buried. Maybe one day we'll hear those stories.
If you recognize of any of these names, you may know too much about baseball. These were the starters for the 1962 Houston Colt .45s
C Hal Smith
1B Norm Larker
2B Joey Amalfitano
SS Don Buddin
3B Bob Aspromonte
LF Al Spangler
CF Roman Mejias
RF Jim Pendleton
>
April 4, 2008
If this book was a person, I'd punch it in the face. It's so bad, I had to hammer it on Amazon.com -
As a lifelong baseball man, Bill Giles had the chance to write something profound, something with the depth and insight of 70+ years living and breathing the game. To open it and discover instead a book that barely glances off the surface of history is a disappointment.
Reading Giles' account of his life is a lot like listening to your grandfather - sure, there are interesting anecdotes occasionally, but they're atolls in an ocean of cliche and vagueness.
At its best, it's readable, like when Giles talks about his scoreboard antics with the Astros. At its worst, it's a sloppy, directionless mess, punctuated by boring, PR-release-style photos, random lists of things like his Top 10 Baseball Moments, all of which we could've guessed from how he'd already talked about them, and narrative-destroying paragraphs of statistics.
And insight? Well, if you were looking for interesting moments from his time with the Colt .45s/Houston Astros and his efforts to do wacky stuff as promotions guy with the Phillies, there's a bit of all that. But controversy? A capsule of how things felt sweating out the '80 World Series win and the '93 World Series loss? Forget about it. For the most part, Giles writes as though baseball is all good times, and avoids delving into the real difficulties - the down times between '80 and '93 and after, the disastrous moves the team made under GM Ed Wade - and even manages to write off the '94 strike in just a few sentences.
Throw in a random dissertation on baseball economics that completely derails what narrative there was, whole chapters devoted to passing looks at his favorite team owners and baseball commissioners, and the book just collapses under its own weight, lifeless, dull and nearly unreadable.
As a lifelong baseball man, Bill Giles had the chance to write something profound, something with the depth and insight of 70+ years living and breathing the game. To open it and discover instead a book that barely glances off the surface of history is a disappointment.
Reading Giles' account of his life is a lot like listening to your grandfather - sure, there are interesting anecdotes occasionally, but they're atolls in an ocean of cliche and vagueness.
At its best, it's readable, like when Giles talks about his scoreboard antics with the Astros. At its worst, it's a sloppy, directionless mess, punctuated by boring, PR-release-style photos, random lists of things like his Top 10 Baseball Moments, all of which we could've guessed from how he'd already talked about them, and narrative-destroying paragraphs of statistics.
And insight? Well, if you were looking for interesting moments from his time with the Colt .45s/Houston Astros and his efforts to do wacky stuff as promotions guy with the Phillies, there's a bit of all that. But controversy? A capsule of how things felt sweating out the '80 World Series win and the '93 World Series loss? Forget about it. For the most part, Giles writes as though baseball is all good times, and avoids delving into the real difficulties - the down times between '80 and '93 and after, the disastrous moves the team made under GM Ed Wade - and even manages to write off the '94 strike in just a few sentences.
Throw in a random dissertation on baseball economics that completely derails what narrative there was, whole chapters devoted to passing looks at his favorite team owners and baseball commissioners, and the book just collapses under its own weight, lifeless, dull and nearly unreadable.
January 9, 2011
"...Whether we think of baseball as a game or as a business-and it is often, though not always, both-it is finally an institution, a free-standing American idea that transcends any given individual, even as it cherishes individualism. No game of ours is as much a part of America's history as baseball. No other American game has always been as different from other games. Baseball is not a territorial game; it is not about conquering; I do not send a team out to capture the other team's goal or ground. Baseball may not even be truly a team sport; it may really be a game an individual plays with a group.
It may be that America has cared so deeply about baseball for so long, precisely because baseball reproduces, again and again, that interplay of individual and group, of personal freedom and communal responsibility, that Americans so love, that we have built into our Constitution and into our internal mythology of checks and balances, into our national quest for unified diversity..."
-Bart Giamatti
MLB Commissioner, 1989
It may be that America has cared so deeply about baseball for so long, precisely because baseball reproduces, again and again, that interplay of individual and group, of personal freedom and communal responsibility, that Americans so love, that we have built into our Constitution and into our internal mythology of checks and balances, into our national quest for unified diversity..."
-Bart Giamatti
MLB Commissioner, 1989
November 24, 2012
Great book!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews