I Was Right On Time
Posted by Rhubarb_Runner on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 5:30 am
[contributed by: Andrew]
I Was Right On Time
by Buck O'Neil with Steve Wulf and David Conrads
Copyright © 1996 by Simon & Schuster
hardcover, 272 pages
About the Authors: John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil (November 13, 1911 – October 6, 2006) was an American first baseman and manager in Negro league baseball, most notably in the Negro American League with the Kansas City Monarchs. After his playing days, he became the first African American coach in Major League Baseball, and also worked as a scout. In his later years he became a popular and renowned speaker and interview subject, helping to renew widespread interest in the Negro leagues, and played a major role in establishing the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.
Steve Wulf became a writer (for Sports Illustrated and Time magazines) and later executive editor (for ESPN The Magazine). He made a trek to Iowa to call on Governor Vilsack and commune with the ghosts of Buddy Holly, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, and John Wayne for "State of Dreams", an article exploring the surprisingly sundry attractions that draw pilgrims to the Hawkeye State. The most notable books written and co-authored by Steve Wulf include are Baseball Anecdotes, Legends of the Field, and 0:01: Parting Shots from the World of Sports.
David Conrads...?
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About the Book:
Whenever anyone asked Buck O'Neil if he was upset or resentful that he missed being able to go to the white high school in Sarasota, or play in the Major Leagues, or become a Major League manager, his reply was always the same - "I was right on time." Buck grew up in Sarasota, Florida where he saw baseball teams during Spring Training. From there he got on some barnstorming teams before ending up on the Kansas City Monarchs. Once on the Monarchs, Buck was a mainstay at first base, leading the league in batting a couple of times. After his playing days, he worked as a scout for the Cubs, signing Ferguson Jenkins and Lou Brock. Working is way up through the organization, O'Neil eventually became a coach for the big team and was thus the first African-American coach in the Majors. After retiring, Buck became most famous for his appearances on Ken Burns' "Baseball" and as director of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, both of which he used to tell the world the story of the Negro Leagues. Buck's autobiography ends with his commencement ceremony where he finally recieved his high school diploma, decades after he was denied the right to attend high school as a boy. But, as was his nature, Buck was never bitter. Speaking at the podium, rather than dwell on all the things people thought he'd missed out on, Buck instead led them in the chorus of his favorite song - "The greatest thrill … in all my life … is loving you."
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Please drop an email to SBGLibrary (at) hotmail (dot) com if you have a suggestion or a submission for the SBG Library.
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Andrew, how does this compare to Joe Pos's book on Buck O'Neil?
They are different, as this is an autobiography and JoePos is more of a diary. I think I like JoePos's better, but they're both great books. I think I like Joe's better because I got a better picture of who Buck O'Neil the person was, as opposed to Buck O'Neil the player.
Ooh, a book for grown-ups in the library? Yes!
I need to read one or both of these books on O'Neil. I've always been fascinated by the Negro Leagues and all of the wonderful ballplayers who would've been household names had it not been for MLB's institutionalized racism. If I ever get back to KC, the Hall of Fame is a must-see.
grown-up book reviews by Andrew: 2
ANY book reviews by E-6: 1
Andrew rules.
You better check your index cards, pally. That's two for E-6: Summer of '49 by David Halberstrom and The Big Bam by Leigh Montville. I don't know if they were adult reading, but they were both more than 32 pages.
I have a review of Loose Balls--an oral history of the ABA in the can, but I'm waiting until basketball season to submit that one. I also snagged a copy of Bouton's Ball Four from my brother's library. I'll get around to re-reading that one (for the third time) as soon as I've tackled the Willem de Kooning bio I'm reading. (That one's more than 32 pages, too. Just shy of 800, I believe.)
And we all know Andrew rules.
Whoa, you're absolutely right - my apologies! It was so long ago, I'd forgotten.
I'm just finishing reading a baseball-related piece of fiction myself, so hopefully I can post it while in Omaha next week.
I'm about halfway through the Soul of Baseball (the one by Joe Pos) right now. It's a good book but a little more melancholy than I expected. I should have been able to expect it with a book about a 93-year old that was never allowed to play or manage in the major leagues but O'Neil was always so positive that I wasn't real prepared for it.