Rickey: The Life and Legend of An American Original by Howard Bryant

While Bob Ryan argued that Rickey could could have been even better had he played more, how much better could Mays or Aaron have been if they played less?  ...The practices of of Mays's time and earlier had filled  a virtual graveyard of dead, shortened, or never-was careers; victims of over-use, players had been afraid of being discarded if they disclosed an injury.                                                                                 -- Howard Bryant, Rickey (Mariner Books, 2022)

Rickey is an elegantly written book about one of baseball's greatest players, who brought style and excitement to a game now dominated by strikeouts and home runs.  When I was a kid in the 50's the one major league record we thought would never be broken was Ty Cobb's 96 stolen bases in 1915; in 1957 Willie Mays was the major league leader in stolen bases with 38.  Then things changed, with Maury Wills stealing 104 bases in 1962, Lou Brock stealing 118 in 1974 and Rickey Henderson stealing 130 in 1982; Henderson ended up with a total of 1406 stolen bases in his career, 50% more that Lou Brock at 938 (Cobb stole a total of 897).  Now one thinks Henderson's record will never be broken, as  dominant analytics say that a player should not attempt to steal because he might get thrown out (Sterling Marte lead the major leagues in steals last year with 47).

Bryant's book covers all aspects of baseball and its relationship to society during Rickey's playing years (1979 to 1993), when free agency had taken over from the reserve clause, which had bound players to a particular team.  Bryant is particularly perceptive and detailed about the role of African-American players during this period and the racism still endemic in the game, as the percentage of African-American players has gone from 19% in 1986 to 8% in 2021, for complex reasons not fully understood, though some think that it's because teams carry many more pitcher than they use to and African-American are discouraged from pitching.  Bryant analyzes Rickey's relationship with each of his managers and team owners -- Rickey and Billy Martin were particularly compatible in their aggresssive approach to the game -- and gives deserved credit to Rickey's wife Pamela as well as Rickey's good friend on the Oakland A's Dave Stewart.  Bryant tracks down the truth and exaggeration of the many stories told about Rickey and ends with the text of Rickey's eloquent speech at his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009.