Birdie

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 11. FEB. 2002

Red Sox great Ted Williams called his late former teammate Birdie Tebbetts "one of the greatest guys I ever met," and Tebbetts, a meticulous diarist during a nearly 50-year career as a player and manager, is undeniably a class act. The "confessions," however, are few and far between; the squeaky-clean Tebbetts shares scores of anecdotes, but his workman-like narrative is not always riveting and sometimes seems a little musty (as when Tebbetts delivers a polemic about the effect of modern catcher's mitts on players' skills). Nonetheless, there are some engrossing tales here, such as the one about playing in an impromptu ballgame after a bloody battle at Iwo Jima, or being sold for a dollar by one drunk owner to another. Perhaps most revealing of Tebbetts's character is his recollection of an umpire who suffered dizzy spells following his return from the war. Afraid of losing his job, the ump asked Tebbetts, the catcher, to help calling balls and strikes, and Tebbetts tipped him off with hand signals following each pitch. Tebbetts is also depicted as a warm, open-hearted family man in the amusing sidebars, written by relatives, which are interspersed throughout the book. All in all, Tebbetts fans will be charmed, and many baseball enthusiasts will find enough lore to hold their interest.