Schoolboy: The Untold Journey of a Yankees Hero

4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars | 65 ratings

Price: 17.5

Last update: 11-17-2024


About this item

Waite "Schoolboy" Hoyt's improbable baseball journey began when the 1915 New York Giants signed him as a high school junior, for no pay and a five-dollar bonus.

Based on a trove of Hoyt's writings and interview transcripts, Tim Manners has reanimated the baseball legend's untold story, entirely in Hoyt's own words.

Over his twenty-three-year professional baseball career, Hoyt won 237 big league games across 3,845 2/3 innings—and one locker room brawl with Babe Ruth.

He writes at length about the art of pitching and how the game and its players changed—and didn't—over his lifetime. After retiring from baseball at thirty-eight and coming to terms with his alcoholism, Hoyt found some happiness as a family man and a beloved, pioneering Cincinnati Reds radio sportscaster with a Websterian vocabulary spiked with a Brooklyn accent.

When Hoyt died in 1984 his foremost legacy may have been as a raconteur who punctuated his life story with awe-inspiring and jaw-dropping anecdotes. In Schoolboy he never flinches from an unsparing account of his remarkable and paradoxical eighty-four-year odyssey.


Top reviews from the United States

LowLightLover
5.0 out of 5 stars Waite Hoyt gives Tim Manners his first hand views on the NY Yankees in the 1920s
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2024
Chris Hoyt (One of Waite's sons)
This is a uniquely compelling, fun, fast moving and very informative book! I can say this with some authority because as Waite Hoyt's son, I had the opportunity to read every attempt at writing a book about my father that various professional writers made over the years, starting with my Dad's own attempt which he began after retiring from broadcasting the Cincinnati Reds' games in 1965. The brilliance and uniqueness of Tim Manners' approach is that after reviewing all of the material available relating to my father, Tim decided that the best approach was NOT to write a book ABOUT my father but to use the hundreds of recorded interviews, articles, broadcasts, fan letters and other authors' aborted attempts to compose the book in my father's own words. As a result, we now have - one hundred years later - a fast-moving, chronologically-ordered composite treasury of first hand observations about the growth of organized baseball in its early years, the start of the NY Yankees dynasty and its dominance in the 1920s and, of course, comments and opinions about the leading baseball stars of that decade, including Ruth, Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Walter Johnson, etc., - all from somebody who himself was a star player who actually played with and against and knew personally all of the players he mentions. In this context, the book is riveting - even to somebody like me who grew-up with baseball and thought he had heard it all. No way! When I finished it, I wanted more. Thank you Tim Manners for a World Series winning effort! It is just the BEST!
SJW56
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for Yankee and all baseball historians in the golden age of the game.
Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2024
Great read on what professional baseball was like in the 20’s and 30’s as a player. A great look into the Yankee players and organization during that time period. Plus a story of redemption.
J. Tenser
5.0 out of 5 stars Yankee World Series Hero and Legendary Sportscaster
Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2024
Right off, I must disclose my positive bias about this book, as it was authored by an esteemed friend and business colleague, Tim Manners, who leaned heavily on the subject's personal diaries and press clippings to make this story as authentic as possible. Well done, Tim!
Waite Hoyt came to major league baseball as a 16 year old and had some incredible World Series moments as a NY Yankee pitcher, on the field alongside legends like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. During his 21 seasons in baseball, he had a lucrative side gig as a vaudeville performer in the off season (true!). He later earned renown as a sportscaster for the Cincinnati Reds and was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Hoyt's tale is related in his own voice, as a first-person memoir. As a collaborator, Manners brings his own enthusiast's perspective to the story. There's a great deal of detail here. Waite wrote a lot down during his colorful life.
This is a sports book, and it describes some on-field heroism, but in the end it is more about how a multi-talented athlete, performer and raconteur embraced life in the public eye. Preparing it was a labor of love for Manners, and it shows on every page.
TKK in Cincinnati
5.0 out of 5 stars Felt like Waite shout out as talking to me
Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2024
Great book. Great job of putting all of the scrapbooks, interviews and other documents into a great read. Highly recommend it.
Jason M Bluestein
5.0 out of 5 stars A Terrific Baseball Book
Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2024
Who knew how thoughtful, entertaining, and multi-dimensional Waite Hoyt's life was. As much as I enjoyed the anecdotes about baseball in the 20's and 30's, I enjoyed even more his honesty, self reflection, and advice about life. The story of how his story became a book is a great story onto itself. What a life. What a terrific book.
Dbj
5.0 out of 5 stars Not to be missed
Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2024
Superb historical account of baseball great Waite Hoyte, amidst the fascinating backdrop of minor league baseball in the 20's. Includes previously untold stories about his unorthodox entry into professional ball as a 15 year old kid. Many interesting anecdotes are revealed from the cherished archives of his son, Chris Hoyte, including his interactions with Babe, Gehrig, Capone and Mae West. Dj
Ed R
5.0 out of 5 stars Perserverience
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2024
There is no better decade about the game--and the drama of baseball on and off the field--than starting with1920s and Yankees baseball from the perspective of Waite Hoyt. An extraordinary athlete, and person. Tim Manners has written Waite's untold story as if he knew him personally during his Hall of Fame baseball career, and the years that followed as a broadcaster, and artist. Terrific read.
Steven E Hunnicutt
5.0 out of 5 stars He tells his own story
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2024
What makes this book really good is the author has Waite Hoyt telling is his own story, what must be understood, he has been dead for fourth years. The author was given by Waite son cartons of files that Waite kept, journals would be a better way. Reading these is how he was able to have Waite tell his own story. It is better to read about a time from someone who lived it, there is so much he can tell that would be left out if you did not live in that time period. Yes this is about a baseball player, but so much more that when you finish you will wish there was more. This is a must, if not just for the fact that Waite his telling his own story, but for these little things that happened that was lost in time.

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