The Glory of Their Times

The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It

Ranked #3 in Baseball, Ranked #14 in Sports Biography

Baseball was different in earlier days—tougher, rawer, more intimate—when giants like Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb ran the bases. In the monumental classic The Glory of Their Times, the golden era of our national pastime comes alive through the vibrant words of those who played and lived the game. less

Reviews and Recommendations

We've comprehensively compiled reviews of The Glory of Their Times from the world's leading experts.

Joe Posnanski What Lawrence Ritter did is he went back and talked to a bunch of players about their era. Again, it’s wonderful because there is this humanity to it. He’s talking to these athletes long after their successes are over. The stories get to be somewhat exaggerated, and somewhat more fully realised in a lot of ways. I don’t know if I would rely on every single thing in the book if I was writing a doctoral thesis or a paper, but it’s just wonderful, fun reading about a time when baseball was really just becoming the American pastime. There are so many characters that they talk about, and so many... (Source)

John Thorn It is a time machine. You start reading and you are hearing these ballplayers who played in the major leagues between 1890 and 1920. These are men who played alongside Ty Cobb in the outfield, men who were present when Babe Ruth came up to the Red Sox, men who played a key roll in the World Series of 1912. They are speaking to you. You feel as if they were in your living room with you. Hearing from these foundational figures is like listening to an interview with George Washington at Valley Forge. (Source)


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