FOUR FACES WEST (Sherman/UA, 1948)

DIRECTOR: Alfred E. Green; PRODUCER: Harry Sherman;  WRITERS: screenplay by C. Graham Baker and Teddi Sherman;  adaptation by William and Milarde Brent; based upon Eugene Manlove Rhodes novel, Paso Por Aqui;  CINEMATOGRAPHY: Russell Harlan

CAST: Joel MCrea, Frances Dee, Charles Bickford, Joseph Calleia, William Conrad, Martin Garralaga, Raymond Largay, Dan White, Eva Novak, Sam Flint, Forrest Taylor, William Haade, Gene Roth, Paul Burns


THE PLOT.
On the day that Pat Garrett (Charles Bickford) is being introduced to the citizens of Santa Maria, a cowboy by the name of Ross McEwen (Joel McCrea) robs the bank, which is easy to accomplish because every bank employee but one is down the street listening to Garrett give a speech.  A polite outlaw, he first asks for a loan of two thousand dollars.  When Frenger (John Parrish), the banker, asks him for collateral he pulls his six-gun and declares it all the collateral he needs.  He then writes out an I.O.U. for the money and signs it "Jefferson Davis."

Later we learn that McEwen in desperation has resorted to robbery so that he can send the money to his father who is about to lose his ranch. 

He forces the banker to ride out of town with him.  Once they have traveled several miles he leaves the banker without a mount or his boots and forced to walk back to town.  After arriving in town and announcing the hold-up, the incensed banker places a reward of three thousand dollars, dead or alive, on the head of McEwen.  That amount of money leads to a frenzied manhunt all out of proportion to the crime committed and includes not only Garrett and his deputy Clint (Dan White), but also members of a deputized posse as well as free-lancing bounty hunters.

While making preparations to board a slow-moving train, McEwen is bitten by a rattlesnake.  In a weakened condition, it is only with the aid of Monte Marquez (Joseph Calleia) that he is able to board the train.  Luckily, one of the passengers on the train is a nurse, Fay Hollister (Frances Dee), and she is able to treat McEwen's snakebite.  Fay feels an immediate attraction to McEwen and  senses that he is in some kind of trouble.  The attraction is clearly reciprocal.

Eventually, Ross and Fay arrive in Alamogordo where Fay will be working in a hospital.  Alamogordo was also Monte's destination.  He owns a saloon in that town.  He has befriended Ross on their journey and has helped the outlaw out of several tough spots along the way.  Now he helps Ross get a job working on a nearby ranch.  Ross sends some of the money that he earns on the job (and gambling) to the bank in Santa Maria to pay off part of the I.O.U. that he gave the banker.  However, he is forced to flee when Garrett and his deputy ride into town.  But before leaving, he gives Fay a ring.

Ross says goodbye

As he makes his way southward in an effort to reach the border, McEwen resorts to an unusual mode of transportation to escape from his pursuers.  He saddles a steer and rides it across New Mexico's White Sands.  The scene is wonderfully filmed by Russell Harlan, who had worked with Sherman on the Hopalong Cassidy series, which was the best photographed B-Western films of them all, and also on Sherman's other post-Hoppy Western, RAMROD (Sherman/UA).  In fact, Harlan's photography is one of the best qualities found in all of Sherman's exceptional productions.  He would go on to an outstanding career as one of Hollywood's best cinematographers.

McEwen is on the verge of making his way across the border when he stops to steal a horse.  Inside the house, however, he discovers a Mexican family of four, all stricken with diphtheria.  Does he ride on and escape into Mexico?  Or does he stay and do what he can for the family?  

  
Well, the answer is obvious, isn't it?  This is Joel McCrea after all. During the hold-up, he writes an I.O.U. and gives it to the banker.  Later, he even begins to pay the money back. He doesn't even fire a shot in the entire movie, but does neither Pat Garrett nor anyone else.  In fact, that is the one thing the film is noted for: a Western in which there is not a single gunshot.  Weapons are pulled and aimed, but never fired.

Of course he stays.  Eventually he even lights a bonfire in an attempt to attract help.  It works.  But guess whom it attracts.  How does it all end?  Revealing that would spoil the story.


THE PRODUCER.
In the history of Western movies, Harry "Pop" Sherman (1884-1952) was one of the more interesting producers.  Throughout most of his career, he was able to produce independent films that were then released and distributed by major studios.

He is best known for creating the production company that in 1935 began filming the Hopalong Cassidy B-Western series.  During those years, however, he also produced a number of one-shot B-Western specials that were always entertaining.  In the mid-40's, he turned over production of the Hoppy series to its star, William Boyd, and ventured into A-Western territory.  He produced BUFFALO BILL (1944) for Fox.  What followed was even better, two superior Westerns made by his production company and released through United Artists: RAMROD (1947) and FOUR FACES WEST (1948).  The three films, all starring Joel McCrea, are the last films produced by Sherman.  All in all, it was quite a good track record.


THE WRITER.
The screenplay was based on a short novel by Eugene Manlove Rhodes that was originally published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1926.  Its title, Paso Por Aqui (I passed here), was a reference to an inscription on a huge sandstone formation located in New Mexico.  The Spaniards had named it El Morro (The Headland) and the Anglos christened it Inscription Rock.  Today it is a national monument.

The National Park Service finds itself in the somewhat ironic position of protecting the old inscriptions while attempting to prevent any modern additions.
 
As a result of his days as a cowboy and rancher, Rhodes had an intimate knowledge of this part of New Mexico.  Not only did he live there, but he is  buried there in the San Andres Mountains. 

The inscription on Rhodes gravestone reads "Paso por aqui"

Of course, the screenwriters, which included Harry Sherman's daughter, Teddi, took liberties with Rhodes' original story.  They modified the ending and added the romance angle.  There was a nurse in the original story, but there was no romantic attachment.  The screenplay also makes Pat Garrett something he was not, a U.S. marshal.  The real Garrett was a county sheriff as he was in Rhodes story.  Rhodes would have known that since he was personally acquainted with the lawman.

Pat Garrett

Eugene Manlove Rhodes

The title was changed, too. Monte explains the meaning of the paso por aqui inscription on El Morro to Ross and Fay, but it was not retained as the title.  It is impossible to explain the title that was selected.  I suppose the four faces are represented by Ross, Fay, Monte, and Pat Garrett.  However, the movement in the film is not toward the West, but always southward.


THE CAST. 
McCrea made his first film appearance in 1924 and was given his first lead role in THE SILVER HORDE (RKO, 1929), an outdoor adventure yarn set in Alaska.  For the next fifteen years, the versatile actor went on to star mostly in comedies and melodramas, but also an occasional Western.  But beginning with BUFFALO BILL in 1944, McCrea would star almost exclusively in Western films.

In a 1978 interview, McCrea was quoted as saying: "I liked doing comedies, but as I got older I was better suited to do Westerns. Because I think it becomes unattractive for an older fellow trying to look young, falling in love with attractive girls in those kinds of situations...Anyway, I always felt so much more comfortable in the Western. The minute I got a horse and a hat and a pair of boots on, I felt easier. I didn't feel like I was an actor anymore. I felt like I was the guy out there doing it."

 

Mr. and Mrs. Joel McCrea

Frances Dee and Joel McCrea were one of Hollywood's great romantic teams.  No, not because of the films they appeared in, but because they were married to each other for fifty-seven years.  They met during the filming of THE SILVER CORD in 1933.  They married that year and went on to appear together in three other films, with FOUR FACES WEST being the last one. Dee made her final film appearance in GYPSY COLT in 1954.  

McCrea died in 1990 on the date of the couples' fifty-seventh anniversary.  Dee lived another fourteen years, dying at age ninety-six.

Bickford and Dee

Charles Bickford was one of Hollywood's greatest supporting actors.  He received nominations for an Academy Award for his supporting roles in THE SONG OF BERNADETTE (1943), THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER (1947), and JOHNNY BELINDA (1948).  He gave strong performances in Western films such as DUEL IN THE SUN 1947), THE BIG COUNTRY (1958), and THE UNFORGIVEN (1960).  

In fact, his last film role was in a Western: A BIG HAND FOR A LITTLE LADY (1966).

He was at his peak as a supporting actor at the time that he appeared in FOUR FACES WEST.  In it, he is one of the screen's best Pat Garretts.    

Joseph Calleia was not Hispanic, though he was often cast as one.  He was born Giuseppe Maria Spurrin-Calleja on the island of Malta.  His other Western roles include THE BAD MAN OF BRIMSTONE (1937), MY LITTLE CHICKADEE (1940), WYOMING (1940), BRANDED (1951) and John Wayne's THE ALAMO (1960).

Joseph Calleia

*****
THE REVIEWS

Brian Garfield wrote in Western Films: A Complete Guide that FOUR FACES WEST is "a splendid example of what a low-budget Western can be; its excellence is such that it can make you feel as if you've never seen a Western before."

A reviewer with the New York Times wrote that "FOUR FACES WEST emerges not only as a surprising film, but as an adult and edifying film."

Both FOUR FACES WEST and Sherman's earlier film, RAMROD, received generally good reviews.  Today they are considered to be two of the best Westerns of their era.  Unfortunately, however, neither did well at the box office and Sherman never produced another film.

 

TEXAS LITERARY OUTLAWS: Six Writers in the Sixties and Beyond by Steven L. Davis

Texas Literary Outlaws: Six Writers in the Sixties and Beyond, published in 2004, is a survey of the lives and works of six writers, all friends, who put their state on the literary map for the first time, and had a rip-roaring good time while doing it.  It seems that the only things they took seriously were friendship, partying, and writing.  Steven L. Davis’ account is thoroughly researched and well written.  Even though it is a scholarly work, it reads like a good novel.

Steven L. Davis

THE WRITERS.

 

1). BILLY LEE BRAMMER

Given the fact that this group of good ol' boys burned the candle at both ends, it is difficult to believe how they were able to accomplish much writing.  But they did, with one exception: Billy Lee Brammer.

Born in Dallas in 1929, Brammer published his only book, The Gay Place, in 1961 when he was only thirty-one years old.  Although the word gay was beginning to take on a sexual connotation at the time, it was used here in its more traditional sense.  Brammer’s writing was greatly influenced by F. Scott Fitzgerald and the title comes from a Fitzgerald poem: “I know a gay place/Nobody knows.

Depicting life in Austin during the fifties, it has been called Texas’ first urban novel. It consists of three novellas that are linked together by the character of Governor Arthur “Goddamn” Fenstermaker, who was obviously based on Lyndon B. Johnson.

As the years went by, Brammer became more and more addicted to hard drugs and though he was able to write an occasional magazine article, he was never able to finish another book.  He died from a drug overdose in 1978.  He was forty-eight years old.

It was a tremendous waste of talent, but as Davis writes, it was Brammer who showed the way for his five friends.

 2). DAN JENKINS 

 

Born in Ft. Worth in 1929, Jenkins is the most famous of the six. He left Texas and took a job with a fledgling sports magazine called Sports Illustrated and stayed with them for twenty-four years.  He specialized in stories about golf and college football and eventually became the magazine’s star writer.

In 1972, Jenkins published his first novel, Semi-Tough, a comedic romp about the adventures of two NFL players.  It became a bestseller and was later made into a hit movie starring Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson.

Now retired from SI, Jenkins has written more than twenty books, his latest being His Ownself: A Semi-Memoir. 

 

 3). LARRY L. KING

No, not that Larry King.  I’m talking about the writer, you know, the talented Larry King.  The one in the picture.

He was also born in 1929, but way out in the western part of the state, near the little town of Putnam.  His only novel, The One-Eyed Man – based on a character similar to Louisiana governor Earl Long – did not receive many good reviews and did not do much business. (I read it years ago and remember liking it.  I have a copy and hope to re-read it in order to see if I missed something.)

King made his mark originally as one of the country’s most respected magazine writers.  However, he is the only writer to be nominated for a National Book Award (for non-fiction), a Broadway Tony, and a TV Emmy.

The play for which King received his Tony nomination was “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.”  He protested the fact that it was turned into a musical (he lost the argument) and he protested when Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton were cast in the lead roles when it was filmed by Hollywood (he lost the argument).

To his dismay, it also became his best-known work.  He knew that it probably would be the lead when his obituary was written.  It was.

King died in 2012 at age eighty-three.

4). GARY CARTWRIGHT

 

He was born in Dallas in 1934.  He began his career as a police reporter before becoming a sportswriter.  At one time, the Fort Worth Press employed Cartwright, Dan Jenkins, and Bud Shrake in their sports department under the leadership of another legendary Texas sportswriter, Blackie Sherrod.

After he left the newspaper business, Cartwright became a freelance writer whose work was primarily published in magazines.  His novels were not critical successes, but in later years he published two successful true crime books set in Texas: Blood Will Tell and Dirty Dealing.

 

5). PETER GENT (pronounced ‘Jent’)

George Davis Peter Gent is somewhat of an outlier.  For one thing, he was born in Michigan.  He was a four-sport star in high school and was later a star basketball player at Michigan State.  Although he was drafted by the NBA’s Baltimore Bullets, he accepted a try out invitation from the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.  Despite not playing college football, the Cowboys signed him as a wide receiver.  Ironically, he played opposite Bob Hayes, who also did not play college football, but was an Olympic sprinter.  Also on the team was another basketball player, Cornell Green, who played defensive back.

Gent’s NFL career, primarily because of injuries, lasted only five years.  But after his retirement, he continued to make his home in Dallas and he became friends with the five writers.  Because of their encouragement, especially that of Shrake, he decided to write a football novel.  Five years after he played his last game, he published North Dallas Forty, which was a critical and commercial success.

Whereas Dan Jenkins had approached the game with a whimsical eye, Gent took off the gloves and blasted the Cowboys and the NFL in general for what he felt were dehumanizing practices that drove players to drug addiction in order to fight the pain they experienced.  The two main characters in the novel are a pass receiver (based on Gent) and a quarterback (based on his buddy, Don Meredith).  They are the good guys.  The bad guys are the coach (based on the legendary Tom Landry) and the general manager (based on Tex Schramm).

In 1979, the novel was filmed with Nick Nolte as the wide receiver and singer Mac Davis, yes Mac Davis, as the quarterback.  Not only was it a hit, but the game action scenes are some of the best Hollywood ever produced – perhaps the best ever.

After his huge success with both his novel and film, Gent continued to write and later published three more novels, but none enjoyed the success of his debut.  Eventually Gent returned to Michigan and died there in 2011.

6). EDWIN "BUD" SHRAKE

 

Bud Shrake was born in Ft. Worth in 1931.  He attended high school with Dan Jenkins and they became friends while writing for the school newspaper.  Shrake followed Jenkins in the newspaper business to Ft. Worth and Dallas and then to Sports Illusrtrated.

Shrake, an extremely versatile writer, was a sportswriter, police reporter, magazine writer, biographer, screenwriter, playwright, and novelist. Davis also gives him the highest marks among the six when it comes to talent.

None of his ten novels experienced commercial success, but two have become cult classics.  Blessed McGill, published in 1968, was his third novel and is considered to be his best.  The story is narrated by one Peter Hermano McGill, a half-Irish, half-Spanish adventurer who roamed the American southwest and Mexico in the years after the Civil War. Although McGill is self-educated, he is a good writer and a great storyteller who weaves his life story through flashback episodes that are not always related in chronological order. True, that narrative device has the effect of keeping the reader in the dark and guessing at times, but in the end, everything falls into place and the reader learns why the nickname "Blessed" is bestowed upon him; but I'm not telling.

In his review of the book, Larry McMurtry called it a “black-humor” Western.

The other cult favorite is "Strange Peaches."  Published in 1972, the semi-autobiographical novel is set in Dallas just before and just after the assassination of JFK.  The two main characters are patterned on Shrake and his friend Gary Cartwright.




Also by Shrake: 

 

THE FILMS.

J.W. COOP (1971)

DIRECTOR: Cliff Robertson;  PRODUCER: Cliff Robertson;  WRITERS: screenplay by Edwin "Bud" Shrake, Gary Cartwright and Cliff Robertson;  CINEMATOGRAPHER: Frank Stanley

CAST: Cliff Robertson, Geraldine Page, Cristina Ferrare, R.G. Armstrong, R.L. Armstrong, John Crawford, Wade Crosby

KID BLUE (1973)

DIRECTOR: James Frawley;   PRODUCER: Marvin Schwartz;  WRITER: Edwin "Bud" Shrake;  CINEMATOGRAPHER: Billy Williams

CAST: Dennis Hopper, Warren Oates, Peter Boyle, Ben Johnson, Lee Purcell, Janice Rule, Ralph Waite, Howard Hesseman, M. Emmet Walsh 





  

   

 SEMI-TOUGH (1977)

DIRECTOR: Michael Ritchie; PRODUCER: David Merrick; WRITERS: screenplay by Walter Bernstein based upon novel of same name by Dan Jenkins; CINEMATOGRAPHER: Charles Rosher, Jr.

CAST: Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, Jill Clayburgh, Robert Preston, Bert Convy

 NORTH DALLAS FORTY (1979)

DIRECTOR: Ted Kotcheff;  PRODUCER: Frank Yablans;  WRITERS: screenplay by Frank Yablans, Ted Kotcheff and Peter Gent based upon novel of same name by Peter Gent;  CINEMATOGRAPHER: Paul Lohmann

CAST: Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, Charles Durning, Dayle Haddon, Bo Svenson, John Matuszak, Steve Forrest, G.D. Spradlin, Dabney Coleman

NIGHTWING (1979)

DIRECTOR: Arthur Hiller;  PRODUCER: Martin Ransohoff;  WRITERS: screenplay by Edwin "Bud" Shrake, Steve Shagan and Martin Cruz Smith based upon novel of same name by Martin Cruz Smith;  CINEMATOGRAPHER: Charles Rosher, Jr.

CAST:  Nick Mancuso, David Warner, Kathryn Harrold, Stephen Macht, Strother Martin, Ben Piazza

TOM HORN (1980)

DIRECTOR: William Wiard;  PRODUCERS: Fred Weintraub and Steve McQueen;  WRITERS: screenplay by Thomas McGuane and Edwin "Bud" Shrake;  CINEMATOGRAPHER: John A. Alonzo

CAST: Steve McQueen, Linda Evans, Richard Farnsworth, Billy Green Bush, Slim Pickens, Elisha Cook, Jr., Geoffrey Lewis 

THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS (1982)

DIRECTOR: Colin Higgins;  PRODUCERS: Robert L. Boyett, Peter Macgregor-Scott, Edward K. Milkis and Thomas L. Miller;  WRITERS: screenplay by Larry L. King, Peter Masterson and Colin Higgins based upon play by Larry L. King and Peter Masterson;  CINEMATOGRAPHY: William A. Fraker

CAST: Burt Reynolds, Dolly Parton, Dom DeLuise, Charles Durning, Jim Nabors, Robert Mandan, Lois Nettleton, Noah Beery, Jr., Barry Corbin, Theresa Merritt

SONGWRITER (1984)

DIRECTOR: Alan Rudolph;  PRODUCER: Sydney Pollock;  WRITER: Edwin "Bud" Shrake;  Cinematography: Matthew F. Leonetti 

CAST:  Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Melinda Dillon, Rip Torn, Lesley Ann Warren

PAIR OF ACES (1990) (TV movie)

DIRECTOR: Aaron Lipstadt;  PRODUCER: Cyrus Yavneh;  WRITERS: screenplay by Edwin "Bud" Shrake and Gary Cartwright;  CINEMATOGRAPHER: Tim Suhrstedt

CAST: Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Helen Shaver, Rip Torn, Lash LaRue

ANOTHER PAIR OF ACES: THREE OF A KIND (1990) (TV movie)

DIRECTOR: Bill Bixby;  PRODUCER: Cyrus Yaneh;  WRITERS: screenplay by Rob Gilmer based upon characters created by Edwin "Bud" Shrake and Gary Cartwright;  CINEMATOGRAPHER: Chuck Colwell

CAST:  Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Joan Severance, Rip Torn

TEXAS JUSTICE (1995) TV mini-series

DIRECTOR: Dick Lowry;  PRODUCER: Nancy Hardin;  WRITERS: teleplay by T.S. Cook based upon Gary Cartwright novel, Blood Will Tell;  CINEMATOGRAPHER: Steven Fierberg

CAST: Peter Strauss, Heather Locklear, Dennis Franz, Lewis Smith, Susan Walters 



THE CORRECTIONS by Jonathan Franzen

The critics loved “The Corrections.” Published in 2001, it won the National Book Award for fiction for that year and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize a year later. It also won or was nominated for a number of other prestigious literary prizes.

David Gates wrote in his glowing review in the New York Times that “The Corrections” had “just enough novel-of-paranoia touches so Oprah won’t assign it and ruin Franzen’s street cred.”

Wrong, David. Oprah not only chose it for her book club but went so far as to proclaim it “the great American novel.” Franzen, who recognized that his book’s selection by Oprah meant that sales would sharply increase, was nevertheless ambivalent about the situation because he believed that heretofore her selections had been on the “schmaltzy” side. Consequently, when he voiced his feelings in several interviews Oprah withdrew her invitation to have him as a guest on her show (And the dust cover of my hardback copy does not feature her stamp of approval, which had been embossed on earlier copies of the book.). Of course, the publicity engendered by the tempest in a teapot may have had as much of a positive impact on sales as his appearance on her show would have had. But perhaps he did salvage his “street cred.” I hope so.

So how is it that I would give such a heralded book two out of five stars? I’ll answer that, but first here is another quote from David Gates’ review: “If you don’t end up liking each one of Franzen’s people, you probably just don’t like people.”

My answer for the two stars is I didn’t like any of the people. I didn’t like the father, the mother (I did feel some pity for her, but I can’t say I liked her.), the older son (or especially his wife), the younger son, or the daughter (At first I liked her, but only because I didn’t know her. When I did get to know her, I found her to be the most unlikable of the entire crew, except for the older son’s wife.).

Is this because, in Gates’ words, I “probably just don’t like people”? No, it was because I just don't like THESE people or for that matter, any of their friends or associates. There was not a single person that I could pull for – not one. And after 568 pages, I not only don’t like the people, I don’t like the book either.

The two stars were for the writing (otherwise it would have been one), and even then, there were times I wasn’t crazy about the writing either. For example: “…Susy Ghosh asked the table in a voice like hair in a shampoo commercial.” (p. 326) I’m still trying to figure out what the hell that means.

TRADING MANNY: How a Father & Son Learned to Love Baseball Again by Jim Gullo

In December 2007, Major League Baseball (MLB) released the so-called Mitchell Report. It made the claim that eighty-nine major league baseball players had been guilty of using performance enhancing drugs (PED’s). Although the report made no names public, a few high profile names on the list were leaked to the press.

Jim Gullo, a free-lance writer, and his son, Joe, seven-years old at the time, were huge baseball fans. With the release of the report, young Joe began to ask questions, questions such as: 1) If drugs are bad for you, why do players take them? 2) Isn’t it cheating to take drugs? 3) If it is cheating, why aren’t players being punished?

The elder Gullo was able to satisfactorily answer the second question, but found the other two to be difficult propositions to explain to a seven-year old. Manny Ramirez was Joe’s favorite player and, despite living in the Seattle area, the Boston Red Sox was his favorite team. Steroid rumors had swirled around Ramirez for several years, but he had always denied them. Then he was caught. Twice he was suspended by MLB. He still denied that he had ever resorted to PED’s

The Ramirez revelations hit young Joe like a ton of bricks. It would have been analogous to me at that age to discover that Stan Musial was a boozer and a wife-abuser

Father and son embarked on a two-year odyssey to try to determine why players jeopardized their health by taking PED’s and why MLB wasn’t meting out greater punishments for the perpetrators. They visited with many different people associated with various aspects of the game at both the major and minor league levels.

Very few people associated with the game were willing to discuss the issue. Minor league pitcher Dirk Hayhurst was the only active player who would talk about the problem and even then only in a decidedly guarded fashion. At the time, he was a blogger who was also working on a book about his minor league experiences. He confessed to Gullo that he had to be circumspect about what he said or wrote about the drug problem because it would cause him difficulties with his teammates who were already suspicious of his note taking in the clubhouse. When Hayhurst’s book, “The Bullpen Gospels,” was later published, there was no mention of PED’s

One ex-major leaguer, Scott Brosius, former Yankees third baseman and currently a college baseball coach, was more open in his condemnation of drug use. Partly, I suppose, because he wanted to dissuade his players from giving in to the temptation and because he was no longer an active player. That is still to his credit, because other ex-players approached by Gullo were close-mouthed about the issue.

Why was MLB so tardy in creating a drug testing policy and why even today do many think the punishment for violators is insufficient? Jim Gullo struggled with that question but never arrived at what he thought was a good answer. I’m not sure why, because it seems obvious.

MLB in the mid to late 90s was reeling from the strike-shortened season of 1994. It was a year that the unimaginable occurred; there was no World Series.

Four years later saw the herculean home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Not only did both sluggers surpass Roger Maris’ single season mark of sixty-one home runs, but McGwire stomped it into the ground with seventy home runs. (McGwire’s record would stand for only three years, however, when Barry Bonds hit seventy-three in 2001.)

How did McGwire’s Cardinals team fare during his record-breaking season? It finished in 3rd place in the division with a record of 83-79 and, worst of all, 21.5 games out of first place. However, the team’s attendance for the year was 3,195,691, which represented an increase of approximately 500,000 over the previous year. Not only that, wherever the Cardinals (or Cubs) played on the road the home team always enjoyed an increase in gate receipts.

Sammy Sosa lost the home run race to McGwire, but his team still benefited. The Cubs finished second in the division with a record of 90-73, but 12.5 games out of first. But they made it into the postseason as a wild card, only to be swept in three straight by the Braves. The Cubs drew 2,623,194 fans that season, also an increase of approximately 500,000. (Poor Sammy Sosa, the only hitter to hit more than sixty home runs in three different seasons, and yet failled to finish first in either of those years. He finished second to McGwire twice and once to Bonds.)

It is apparent that PED’s were financially good for baseball franchises – and their players.

But why would players jeopardize their health? Gullo struggled with that question for 250 pages, but he had answered it on page sixty. The aforementioned Dirk Hayhurst was in competition with pitcher Clay Hensley for a spot on San Diego’s major-league roster. Two years before, Hensley failed a drug test. He had been taking steroids. His only penalty was the fifteen-game suspension that was in force at the time. He made the roster; Hayhurst was assigned to San Diego’s Triple-A Portland team.

Triple-A may be only a step away from the major leagues, but in all other aspects it isn’t even close. For example, that season Hensley would make the minimum MLB salary of $410,000. Hayhurst would make $1,200 a month, but only for the duration of the baseball season. Hensley would travel by air, stay in luxury hotels, and receive a hundred dollars a day as meal money. On the road Hayhurst would travel on buses, stay in fleabag motels, eat at convenience stores and gas stations, and receive meal money that would barely cover that meager fare. Furthermore, while Hensley stayed around long enough to qualify for a major league pension, Hayhurst did not.

Although this does not explain why a Hayhurst and others do not surrender to the PED temptation, it does explain why a Hensley and many others do.

PED’s have resulted in millions and millions of dollars of income for players and franchises. Let’s consider this list of accused violators of MLB’s drug policy: Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, and Manny Ramirez. These are among the greatest superstars of a whole generation of players. But because of the shadow hanging over their respective heads, in all likelihood none will ever be admitted to the Hall of Fame. Meanwhile, as the old adage goes, they can cry all the way to the bank. (This makes a baseball fan like me wonder about the relevance of the Hall of Fame if all these sluggers, MVP’s, and Cy Young winners will not be there. I also wonder what it now means to players who are being elected to the Hall. Has the significance of that honor been greatly diminished?)

Trading Manny, the title of the book, is a reference to a trade that father and son made after their two-year odyssey. They traded Manny for a new favorite player, one who did not drink, dip, and, despite being in his mid-twenties, was an admitted virgin abstaining from sex until marriage. His name is (no surprise) Dirk Hayhurst, a relief pitcher who spent part of two seasons in the major leagues while appearing in a total of twenty-five games. (However, I am sure that father Gullo didn’t allow his son to read Hayhurst’s The Bullpen Gospels when it was later published, because it is filled not only with profanity but also with the extremely crude activities engaged in by him and his teammates during a single season in the minors. (Well, nobody’s perfect it would seem, not even Dirk Hayhurst.)

Even after two suspensions for drug violations, Manny Ramirez had never admitted his guilt. But just as I finished reading “Trading Manny,” I ran across a news story in which Manny confessed. Now, he said, he has found the Lord and has changed his ways. He knows that he should never have used PED’s, but that’s in the past and he knows he can still hit, despite being 42-years old. All he needs, he says, is the opportunity to prove it. Never mind that he has failed to do so in the minors during the previous two years.

Manny won’t make it back to the big leagues, not because of his past drug abuse, but rather, despite his claims to the contrary, because he can no longer hit. If he could, major league teams would be lining up to sign him.