The October Heroes

Great World Series Games Remembered by the Men Who Played Them

De: Donald Honig

Narrado por: Chris Sorensen

As Donald Honig points out in his introduction, "Every World Series in itself is a tale with beginning, middle, and end, and because there must be a winner, there must be a hero." Tales of Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Sandy Koufax, and Willie Mays are related by the star players who knew them. Those players recall vivid moments from their World Series games, stretching from 1912 to 1974.

©1979 Donald Honig (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Yesteryear's World Series Heroes

Remembering the Babe Ruth Era and October Classic pitching greats Pete Alexander, Walter Johnson, and Christy Mathewson, as well as hitting stars Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, and Jackie Robinson.

Celebrated author of baseball history takes you through the immortal Yankee, Dodgers, and Giants glory years, in addition to the championship tales of the heralded St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Miracle Mets, and the Philadelphia and Oakland Athletics by using personal accounts of players who made a name for themselves in World Series lore.

Special accounts from Pepper Martin, Johnny Podres, Gene Tenace, Eddie Lopat, Tom Seaver, and Jerry Koosman,

The World Series--They Were There

What made the experience of listening to The October Heroes the most enjoyable?

Donald Honig made a fantastic contribution to baseball literature with his oral history of the Fall Classic, told by men who played in it. It is reminiscent of The Glory of Their Times, by Lawrence Ritter--but in this case we don't hear the actual voices of the players.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The October Heroes?

My favorite part was hearing about Grover Cleveland Alexander pitching in relief in the final game of the 1926 World Series.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Chris Sorensen?

Just about anybody. If the material he was reading wasn't so great, I would have given up on the book. You can say he was trying to allow the drama and excitement speak for themselves, but that is charitable. If I didn't understand English, I might think this book was all about watching mud dry, or something; it wouldn't sound like it was anything interesting.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes--because the material is so good!

Any additional comments?

The recollections of the old time ballplayers are so good. One ballplayer, as he was riding on a train, described the novelty of seeing someone driving a car--because there weren't that many cars around yet. Where are you going to get observations like that? It's great.