Monte Irvin is an American hero. With courage, belief and talent, he overcame great obstacles to realize his dream. And in this powerful autobiography, he tells the remarkable story of how he became a Hall of Fame baseball player and a man all Americans can admire. Monte Irvin had a mission in life - to be a baseball player. But before he could realize this goal, Irvin sur
Monte Irvin is an American hero. With courage, belief and talent, he overcame great obstacles to realize his dream. And in this powerful autobiography, he tells the remarkable story of how he became a Hall of Fame baseball player and a man all Americans can admire. Monte Irvin had a mission in life - to be a baseball player. But before he could realize this goal, Irvin survived a near fatal illness as a teenager and lived through both the Great Depression and World War II, which interrupted his college playing and his career in the Negro National League. He lost many of his prime ballplaying years to racial injustice that kept African Americans out of major league baseball. Still, after a lengthy career with the Newark Eagles, he became a major league star and played in two World Series with the New York Giants. Then he embarked on a second career as a Special Assistant to the Commissioner of Baseball. Monte Irvin was a baseball pioneer. He was the Negro League owners' choice to be the first black player to enter the major leagues and break the color line, but his army service held him back. Still, Irvin became one of the first African Americans to play major league baseball when he was signed with the Giants in 1949. Later, after seven years as the Giant's centerfielder and clutch hitter, Irvin was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973. Readers will learn about the good times and hard times of life in the Negro Leagues, and New York Giants fans will be enthralled as Monte recounts his experiences with Leo Durocher's teams, including the dramatic 1951 comeback that triumphed with the most memorable single play in baseball history - Bobby Thompson's "Shot Heard around the World." He also relates his conversation with Willie Mays as the two trotted off the field after what is still referred to as "The Catch" in the 1954 World Series.
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Hardcover
,
252 pages
Published
February 2nd 1996
by Carroll & Graf Pub
(first published February 1996)