That Was Part of Baseball Then ― Interviews With 24 Former Major League Baseball Players, Coaches and Managers

In this collection of interviews, former players, coaches, and managers speak candidly about their most memorable experiences in baseball's big leagues. Recollections include their early years spent learning the game, their first time stepping on the field as a big leaguer, their first strikeout as a pitcher, their first hit as a batter - to the more disappointing moments such as a first trade, a World Series loss, or a release signaling the end of a career. Bob Friend, Bobby Thomson, Johnny Pesky, Jim Kaat, Frank Malzone, Dale Berra, Larry Bowa, Gil McDougald, Gene Garber, Billy Sample, Nellie Briles, Jon Matlack, Catfish Hunter, Fred Patek, Vern Law, Clem Labine, Virgil Trucks, Frank Tanana, Jimmy Greengrass, Bill Virdon, Sparky Anderson, Dick Williams, Hector Lopez, and Ralph Houk are the interviewees.

Victor Debs, Jr., is also the author of Missed It by That Much: Baseball Players Who Challenged the Record Books (1998) and Still Standing After All These Years: Twelve of Baseball’s Longest Standing Records (1997). A member of the Society for American Baseball Research, he lives on Staten Island, New York.