The Glory of Their Times

The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It

By: Lawrence S. Ritter

Narrated by: Lawrence S. Ritter, Fred Snodgrass, Sam Crawford, Hans Lobert, others

Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Baseball's Golden Age comes alive through the voices of men who were there. Selected from the original tapes on which Lawrence S. Ritter based his classic book of baseball history, The Glory of Their Times is a collection of wonderful tales that paint a vivid and evocative picture of a lively young America and the giants who starred on her ballfields, legends like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, and many others. From the wildly hilarious to the achingly poignant, these stories tell it like it really was.

©1998 Lawrence S. Ritter (P)1998 Neal McCabe, Henry W. Thomas, and Lawrence S. Ritter; 1961 -65 National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Inc. and the University of Notre Dame Library Recording; 16 9

Critic reviews

"Almost perfect...vivid, gentle, and humorous." (The New Yorker)

One of the best baseball books ever written

I read this book years ago and loved it. Listening to the great ballplayers tell their stories in their own words is tremendous. You can hear their love for the game in their voices. What a great audiobook.

best baseball book ever

I would love to have an audio copy of the book in addition to the recordings of the players presented here as we are missing many of the interviews from the book. But these audio recordings are special.

The Joy of Baseball

Every fan of baseball writing is familiar with this book as it is often cited as the best book written about the game. I hesitated to download it as an audio file because it is abridged. I would have made a huge mistake not to get this audio book simply because it is abridged. It is a treasure to hear the voices of the men who established the game tell their stories.

What a find!

Highly recommend. Lawrence does such a good job on these interviews. Incredible insight to dead ball era and the character of the players. There is no substitution in hearing it directly from the players themselves. Thank you Lawrence!!

Great baseball stories

Great collection of baseball stories from players who played in the 20’s. Worth the time.

Preserving Baseball History

Larry Ritter takes you away to a time before baseball players were millionaires. When farm boys jumped on trains at 16 to join the major leagues. His interviews bring the heroes of a forgotten era back to life. These stories will charm and enchant you like dreams of open green fields and belt high fastballs. A must listen for any baseball fan with a love for the history of the game. I had read it twice before I bought the audiobook, just to hear the men tell the stories themselves. Simply wonderful.

Must have for baseball fans

After the Bible best book ever. If you like baseball history you will love this book. Wonderful to hear players from the past talking about what really happened.

Wonderful

The history of baseball can’t be defined by numbers and stats. These stories bring a vivid dreamlike view into the game and these great men who played it are larger than life.

Captivating look at early 20th century baseball

Some of the stories are really good. I enjoyed the look of baseball players perception of Hall of Fame players. The only thing I dislike was the audio many times the voices were garbled, and it was hard to hear the players articulate words.

Wow!

I have owned the book for many years and have long considered it one of the BEST. This is the story of a guy who went around in the 60's and made tape recorded interviews with the old ballplayers of 1900s to the 1920s. The Audible book is not narrated by a dramatic actor, but is the original recordings of those old ballplayers. They say what Babe Ruth was like when he first came up, talk about Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner and Walter Johnson. Probalby the best book in the audible library!