{"product_id":"2940170384464","title":"The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom Jane Leavy, the award-winning, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Last Boy\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSandy Koufax\u003c\/i\u003e, comes the definitive biography of Babe Ruthamp;mdash;the man Roger Angell dubbed \"the model for modern celebrity.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe lived in the present tenseamp;mdash;in the camera's lens. There was no frame he couldn't or wouldn't fill. He swung the heaviest bat, earned the most money, and incurred the biggest fines. Like all the new-fangled gadgets then flooding the marketplaceamp;mdash;radios, automatic clothes washers, Brownie cameras, microphones and loudspeakersamp;mdash;Babe Ruth \"made impossible events happen.\" Aided by his crucial partnership with Christy Walshamp;mdash;business manager, spin doctor, damage control wizard, and surrogate father, all stuffed into one tightly buttoned double-breasted suitamp;mdash;Ruth drafted the blueprint for modern athletic stardom.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis was a life of journeys and itinerariesamp;mdash;from uncouth to couth, spartan to spendthrift, abandoned to abandon; from Baltimore to Boston to New York, and back to Boston at the end of his career for a finale with the only team that would have him. There were road trips and hunting trips; grand tours of foreign capitals and post-season promotional tours, not to mention those 714 trips around the bases.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter hitting his 60th home run in September 1927amp;mdash;a total that would not be exceeded until 1961, when Roger Maris did it with the aid of the extended modern seasonamp;mdash;he embarked on the mother of all barnstorming tours, a three-week victory lap across America, accompanied by Yankee teammate Lou Gehrig. Walsh called the tour a \"Symphony of Swat.\" The \u003ci\u003eOmaha World Herald\u003c\/i\u003e called it \"the biggest show since Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey, and seven other associated circuses offered their entire performance under one tent.\" In \u003ci\u003eThe Big Fella\u003c\/i\u003e, acclaimed biographer Jane Leavy recreates that 21-day circus and in so doing captures the romp and the pathos that defined Ruth's life and times. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing from more than 250 interviews, a trove of previously untapped documents, and Ruth family records, Leavy breaks through the mythology that has obscured the legend and delivers the man.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins Publishers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47160777539824,"sku":"2940170384464","price":44.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940170384464_p0.jpg?v=1763708791","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940170384464","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}