The Best of Hal Lebovitz by Hal Lebovitz

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$14.95

The Best of Hal Lebovitz

Great Sportswriting from Six Decades in Cleveland

by Hal Lebovitz

Format: Softcover, 352 pages, 5.5 x 8.5 inches
ISBN: 978-1-59851-023-2
Price: $14.95

Description

Here, collected for the first time, are the best columns and feature stories by Cleveland's greatest living sportswriter.

Hal Lebovitz is a true major league hall-of-famer. Enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, he's still at the top of his game after six decades on the beat for the Cleveland News, the Plain Dealer, the News-Herald, and others.

Several generations of sports fans have grown up reading Hal Lebovitz on the sports pages.

Hal has covered just about every major sports event of the past 60 years, reporting on each with honest, straightforward words and firm opinions— and most likely a scoop on the competition.

He has written about the greats of living memory— Jim Brown, Bob Feller, Ted Williams, Woody Hayes . . . and the great moments— the Indians' 1948 playoff game, the Browns' 1964 championship season, Rocky Colavito's four consecutive home runs . . .

His writing has been featured 17 times in the annual Best Sports Stories and selected for numerous other anthologies. He has won countless writing awards and been inducted into 12 halls of fame.

“ Ask Hal, the Referee,” his long-running column, also appeared nationally in the Sporting News, establishing Hal as one of the foremost experts on sports rule books. (Which explains why his home phone sometimes rings in the middle of a World Series game, the producers from NBC or Fox calling for an interpretation of an on-field ruling.)

Always, Hal has written for the fans. And for as long as anyone can remember, fans have been reading Hal for his particular take on events. His constant, steady presence in the local sports pages for so many decades has made Hal Lebovitz a legitimate icon in Cleveland sports— a guy who, with his typewriter, has been as remarkable and consistent and rare as a .400 hitter.

Book Excerpt:

Outwitting sign stealers is constant battle

Furthermore Bob's manner of delivery, with his foot kicked up high, made it difficult for the hitter to pick up the ball until it was almost on top of him. And some of them admitted they never saw it at all.

Yet Hegan never had any trouble catching Bob, not even in Mr. Robert's prime.

Jim explains this: “ I knew what was coming. The hitters didn't.”

As the Indians' catcher, Jim is the team's quarterback. He calls the signals.

All clubs use the same signals, reveals Jim. “ When I show the pitcher one finger I'm asking for his fast ball. Two fingers indicate the curve and three fingers mean a slider.” By wiggling his fingers he asks for the change-up and a clenched first signifies the knuckleball.

Obviously if Hegan's signs could be seen by the opposition the pitcher's advantage over the hitter would be nullified. So Jim must hide them carefully. He places his fingers high up against his thigh, and because he has such long legs coaches along first and third find it impossible to see them, no matter how hard they try.

Yankee catcher Yogi Berra, in contrast, is at a disadvantage. His short legs often permit a runner on first to see his signal. When a runner gets to second Berra is more careful, but apparently not until he reads this— if he does— will he realize his fingers often are visible from first base.

Not only does Hegan call the type of pitch, he also gives the location. He may do this by motioning up, down, in or out, with his bare . . . [ Read More Free Samples ]

Reviews

I strongly endorse this book for anyone who loves Cleveland sports, or who simply wants to read a Hall of Fame writer at the top of his game. — Akron Beacon Journal

Both sports fans and casual fans will enjoy Lebovitz's honest and straightforward style. — Bedford Times-Register

A unique opportunity to become better acquainted with a brilliant writer, a keen observer of truths and lies, and a true Clevelander. This one shouldn't be missed. — Currents

f you love reading about the history of Cleveland sports, there is no better way to do it than through the words of Hal Lebovitz . . . Lebovitz is widely regarded as Cleveland's greatest living sportswriter. — Cleveland.com

[This] collection of columns from the Cleveland sportswriter's 55-year career is an educational walk through Cleveland sports history. Lebovitz, now nearing 90, gave fair, honest and genuinely warm treatment to some of Cleveland's greatest Black athletes, among them Luke Easter, Satchel Paige, Jim Brown, Paul Warfield, Jesse Owens and even George Hendrick. — Call & Post

About Hal Lebovitz

Hal Lebovitz, who was inducted into the writer's wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000, was a sportswriter for more than six decades. He got his first job covering high school sports for the Cleveland News in 1942 and soon became a beat writer covering the Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians. He was hired by the Plain Dealer in 1960 to cover baseball and was that paper's sports editor from 1964–1982. “Ask Hal, the Referee,” his popular column on sports rules, began in 1957 and also appeared in the Sporting News. A former college athlete, he also coached baseball, basketball, and football and officiated all three sports, including a stint as a referee traveling with the Harlem Globetrotters. His sportswriting continued to appear regularly in the News-Herald (Lake County, Ohio), the Morning Journal (Lorain, Ohio), and several other newspapers, until his death, at age 89, in 2005. More About Hal Lebovitz

Contains References to:

Please Don't Cut a Boy, 1948 Indians, 1948 World Series, 1964 Browns, Bill Veeck, Blanton Collier, Bob Feller, Casey Stengal, Clark Kellogg, Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland Press, Hal Lebovitz, Jim Brown, Lou Boudreau, Luke Easter, Paul Brown, Paul Warfield, Rocky Colavito, Satchel Paige, Ted Williams, Woody Hayes