Thank you, Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, for providing this book for review consideration in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Mr. Book just finished The Last Manager: How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented, and Reinvented Baseball, by John W. Miller.

This book will be released to the public on March 4, 2025.

One of the great things about baseball and history books is the little tidbits of new knowledge that they contain. One great example of that was the discussion of Weaver’s relationship with his favorite uncle, Bud, was an illegal bookmaker. That led to a discussion of the role of gambling in baseball. And, there was also a story about how Weaver’s life could have been saved since he was demoted to Class D instead of Class C and then the latter was involved in a fatal team bus accident that killed five players.

Weaver, always the competitor, even cheated in the minors by corking his bats. The word spread around the league before the team had to get rid of those bats when the league started to crack down on it.

The book was filled with good stories, such as Weaver picking a fight with Phil Rizzuto on whether he was good enough to play for the Orioles and many others.

You do not have to be an Orioles fan to enjoy this. I am a lifelong Yankees fan who has seen his team battle too many times with the Orioles and grew up considering Weaver’s Orioles to be the enemy. But, I still enjoyed the entirety of this book.

I give this book an A+ and inducted it into the Hall of Fame. Goodreads requires grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).

This review has been posted at Goodreads and my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews

Mr. Book finished reading this on September 5, 2024.