Seasons in Hell: With Billy Martin, Whitey Herzog and "The Worst Baseball Team in History"

Title: Seasons in Hell: With Billy Martin, Whitey Herzog and "The Worst Baseball Team in History"

Author: Mike Shropshire

Summary: Anyone who thinks baseball is the overly groomed, PR conscious, coddled player, outrageous money game we see today has missed the true glory days of the sport. Not that the Texas Rangers of 1973 through 1975 were anywhere near glorious....they were wretched. When the Washington Senators were sold down south and arrived in the old orange monstrosity that was home to the Texas Rangers, baseball fans in the metroplex thought they were in heaven. It only took a seson or two to disabuse them of this belief. I was in the stands at Arlington stadium nearly every home game.....not as a fan, as an employee. Mike Shropshire was along for the ride as a sportswriter for a local paper and was front row for the wreckage that was the early Rangers. Castoff players, oddball owners, pugnacious managers were all part of the scene. Back in the day, players weren't sequestered and standoffish, stadium staff often found them in the same watering holes we frequented after games. This is a hilarious look at the early days of the Rangers, the emergence of Billy Martin as their manager, the beginning and end of David Clyde and a cast of unbelievable players. It is a must-read for anyone who yearns for the "good old days" of the
sport and who remembers the 70's.

Recommendation: Anyone who has followed baseball for the past thirty years will love this book. I laughed until my sides hurt.

Hearts: 5