52 in 25: #4 - Dewey: Behind the Gold Glove

I fell at little bit behind due to my schedule, but next up is an autobiography of one of my favorite players of all time: Dewey: Behind the Gold Glove by Dwight Evans with Erik Sherman.  I’m not sure why, when I was young, I chose Dewey as one of my favorite players, but I was very excited late last year when I saw that he had written this book.

 

When I think of Dewey, I think of one of the greatest right fielders of all time, one of the most underrated offensive players of the 80s (as is pointed out, he had the most extra base hits of any player in the 80s), and a should-be Hall of Famer.  I did not know anything about his personal life, so I was very surprised at how difficult it was for him.  That being said, I knew when he began by talking about God on page 1 that I was going to like him even more.  He and his wife are people of deep faith, and they’ve had to be dealing with two very sick sons who died recently.  It’s always great to see a public figure speak openly about God.  It was also interesting to hear his feelings about various players.  He had great things to say about Fred Lynn, Cecil Cooper, Bill Buckner, Don Baylor, and of course Carl Yastrzemski, among others.  I was surprised at his animosity against my favorite player of all-time, Nolan Ryan, but I can understand where he’s coming from.

 

Overall, I was grateful to be able to learn more about him and gain a greater appreciation for one of my favorite players.  I’m sure I’ll have more baseball biographies coming this year, but I’m glad I started with this one.  Well worth the read.