Game of My Life; 20 Stories of Yankees Basebal

Champaign, IL: Sports Publishing L.L.C., 2004. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. xv, [1], 264 pages. Illustrations. DJ has sight creasing to top edge of dust jacket. Includes Acknowledgments, Introduction, and Prologue. Also includes chapters on Tommy Henrich; Phil Rizzuto; Don Larsen; Yogi Berra; Bobby Richardson; Mel Stottlemyre; Reggie Jackson; Ron Guidry; Bucky Dent; Graig Nettles; Brian Doyle; Dave Righetti; Jim Abbott; Don Mattingly; Joe Torre; Jorge Posada; David Cone; Derek Jeter; Paul O'Neill; and Mariano Rivera. Award-winning writer Dave Buscema, who covers the Yankees on a regular basis, paints a personal picture of the Yankees' biggest stars and captures the joy of those who rose from obscurity to history. The game accounts spark memories of the most exciting moments in Yankees history. The players personal stories show that, for many of them, the "Game of My Life" was often about more than just a game. This book contains the stories of 20 New York Yankees, looking into the mirror for a moment, and reflecting on their favorite game and on just what made them come through to capture their piece of the pinstriped tradition. Through personal narration as well as a look at the events surrounding the individual games, these Yankees offer the reader a look inside just what has make them the most successful franchise in sports history. In Game of My Life: 20 Stories of Yankees Baseball, everyone from stars to supersubs offers personal stories revealing the obstacles they had to overcome in order to succeed on sports' biggest stage. Some of the biggest names to ever don the pinstripes are captured in personal portraits here, from Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera to Don Mattingly, Reggie Jackson, Ron Guidry, and all the way back to Yogi Berra and Tommy Henrich, the first Yankee to grow up dreaming of the big ballpark in the Bronx. Along with taking readers behind the scenes of the greatest moments in Yankees history--from Bucky Dent's home run to David Wells's perfect game--the book offers a glimpse of what helped the stars reach their peak. Jorge Posada made up for the dream his father lost as a political prisoner in Cuba. Ron Guidry hunted from the time he was a boy to help his hard-working father put food on the table. Mel Stottlemyre, who lost a son to leukemia, picked a seemingly meaningless regular-season game because "my boys didn't think I could do it." Joe Torre first started organizing games in the park as he took refuge from his "bully" of a father. Don Mattingly recounts the thrill of proving he could perform on the October stage and the decision to walk away from the game without a World Series ring so he could spend time with his family. Reggie Jackson details his difficulty in adjusting to the Yankees, from his battles with Billy Martin to his eventual triumph in making World Series history.