Howard Bryant (1) (1968–)

Rickey Henderson is a man of contrasts. He was one of the great baseball players of all time, breaking multiple records, and then playing another decade seemingly never wanting to retire. And yet football was his favorite sport which he really wanted to play instead of baseball. He worked hard to develop his game and yet he got a reputation for lackadaisical play and missing games. His flashy style of play earned him the enmity of the conservative, white sports media but the love of young fans especially in the Black community. His approach to baseball of aiming to get on base by any means and scoring runs was looked down upon by the experts of the time who valued batting average and power, but was vindicated by the Sabermetric approach that came into vogue in the 2000s right as Rickey was retiring.

Bryant interviewed Rickey and several important people in his life, including his wife Pamela. His life story is tied to his hometown of Oakland, a segregated city where the Black children found an outlet in the community sports leagues that produced a great number of professional sports stars. One of these was Billy Martin, a cantankerous figure who became a mentor and friend to Rickey as his manager in Oakland and New York. Bryant follows Rickey's career through 4 stints with the Oakland A's, a troubled period with the Yankees, and a final decade as a nomad playing for any team who would have him. Highlights include winning the World Series in the 1989 and 1993 and the AL MVP in 1990.

I can't say that you really get to know Rickey Henderson from this biography. Despite his outsized personality, he's a very private person, and one who seems detached because of he worries about his lack of education showing as well as his inability to remember names. But I think Bryant does a brilliant job regardless of telling Rickey's story. His career coincides with a time in baseball when free agency made the star players multi-millionaires and Black players like Rickey were no longer willing to show deference to the white owners and media. I've always liked Rickey and this book just makes me like him more.… (mehr)

nonfiction/biography - baseball history, Black history

it helps to be familiar with all the sports talk terms and various kinds of baseball stats, but even a more casual baseball fan will come away with appreciation for the rare and immense skill of one of the greats. It is also an interesting account if the double standards of the sport (and the sports journalists) that unfairly and unduly penalized Rickey when a white player (or even a half-assed whiner like Canseco) went unpunished for far worse behaviors.… (mehr)

I've always been very interested in Rickey Henderson's story. This book unfortunately did not deliver.

The pacing of the book was not to my taste. The material about the great migration from the South to California was interesting. But the discursus into the history of Oakland felt too long. Rickey was amazing as a kid, but I didn't need myriad anecdotes reinforcing that fact. More about his actual baseball career earlier in the book would have been nice.

I wish Mr. Bryant all the luck. He is a talented writer, but this book wasnt for me.… (mehr)

Howard Bryant’s The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron digs deeply to get beyond just Aaron’s superlative on-field accomplishments and provides a fascinating insight into the reticent and sensitive persona of the man who suffered the indignities of racial discrimination, personal slights (some real and some largely imagined), and the fear associated with the rampant credible death threats as he approached Babe Ruth’s career home run record in the Deep South of Atlanta, Georgia. This is easily one of the finest baseball biographies.… (mehr)