Lyle Spatz

Being the life of the ragtime era's standout outfielder, mostly for the New York Giants, who married into even greater celebrity and had a long if undistinguished career on the stage and as an extra in Hollywood. The brevity of Donlin's career as well as his poor sportsmanship have kept him out of the Hall of Fame, but for a few years his statistics were right up there with his contemporaries who have been selected. This book is long overdue and hence welcome. The book is very well show more researched and written and is, in short, a joy to read. Like most books, though, it could be a little shorter; few if any are buying this book to read about Donlin's acting, and, while the authors' coverage of this is great in and of itself, they might have spared us long looks at the history of motion picture technology and the emergence of the Hollywood star system. That aside, a well-written, well-illustrated pleasure throughout. show less