One for the Record: The Inside Story of Hank Aaron's Chase for the Home Run Record

by George Plimpton, Bob Costas (Foreword by)

Overview

The inside story of Hank Aaron's chase for the home run record, repackaged and with a foreword by Bob Costas and new material from the Plimpton Archives.

In One For the Record, George Plimpton recounts Hank Aaron's thrilling race to become the new home run champion. Amidst media frenzy and death threats, Aaron sought to beat Babe Ruth's record. In 1974, he finally succeeded.

A fascinating examination of the psychology of baseball players, One For the Record gives an absorbing account of the men on the mound who had to face Aaron. But the book's true genius lies in the portrait of Aaron himself, and his discussions on his philosophy on hitting and the game of baseball.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316326957
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	04/26/2016
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	954,404
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

George Plimpton (1927-2003) was the bestselling author and editor of nearly thirty books, as well as the cofounder, publisher, and editor of the Paris Review. He wrote regularly for such magazines as Sports Illustrated and Esquire, and he appeared numerous times in films and on television.

Date of Birth:

March 18, 1927

Date of Death:

September 25, 2003

Place of Birth:

New York, NY

Place of Death:

New York, NY

Education:

B.A. in English Literature, Harvard University, 1950; Master's degree, Cambridge University, 1952

Editorial Reviews

"Plimpton's One For the Record is another in his series of thinking man's books about sports ... Plimpton's crisp chronological reportorial job is a pleasure.... I found Plimpton's enthusiastic pursuit of this modest moment in history infectious."—Los Angeles Times

"Plimpton's account of the home run quest proves to be well worth the reading, even for people who thought Babe Ruth was a candy bar and Aaron a biblical prophet. Writing with his usual grace and attention to the small but significant detail, Plimpton makes it all seem much fresher than when it was happening."
—Chicago Daily News Service

"A delight—more entertaining, if possible, than I remembered... the reader leaves George Plimpton's wide world of sports with deep reluctance.... His prose is as elegant and seemingly effortless as Ted Williams's swing or an Arnold Palmer iron shot.... His teammates recede—like the old baseball players vanishing into the cornfield in Field of Dreams, taking their magical world with them but living on in fond memory."—Edward Kosner, Wall Street Journal

"Sports memoirs, like humor collections, rarely outlive their authors, but Plimpton's books have aged gracefully and even matured. Today they have the additional (and unintended) appeal of vivid history, bearing witness to a mythical era."—Nathaniel Rich, New York Review of Books

From the Publisher

Rick Adamson narrates this collection of essays from renowned sports enthusiast and author George Plimpton—some published here for the first time. Every American sports fan of a certain age knows of Al Downing, the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher who gave up the tie-breaking 715th home run to Hank Aaron on April 8, 1974, to surpass Babe Ruth’s all-time home-run record. However, we don’t know what Downing—and, for that matter, all of Major League Baseball, the pitchers, the batters, the managers—was thinking. As the subtitle says, here is the inside story. Adamson narrates with a broadcaster’s sense of drama and a good feel for a special moment in American cultural history. It’s a very American story, read by a very American voice. B.P. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

JULY 2016 - AudioFile

Rick Adamson narrates this collection of essays from renowned sports enthusiast and author George Plimpton—some published here for the first time. Every American sports fan of a certain age knows of Al Downing, the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher who gave up the tie-breaking 715th home run to Hank Aaron on April 8, 1974, to surpass Babe Ruth’s all-time home-run record. However, we don’t know what Downing—and, for that matter, all of Major League Baseball, the pitchers, the batters, the managers—was thinking. As the subtitle says, here is the inside story. Adamson narrates with a broadcaster’s sense of drama and a good feel for a special moment in American cultural history. It’s a very American story, read by a very American voice. B.P. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

JULY 2016 - AudioFile