Listen free for 30 days

Preview
  • Playing with the Best

  • One Man’s Journey Through the Golden Age of Sports
  • Written by: Lenny Wagner
  • Narrated by: Jim Denison
  • Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Playing with the Best

Written by: Lenny Wagner
Narrated by: Jim Denison
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $28.70

Buy Now for $28.70

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

Before Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders, there were only nineteen men, throughout history, who played in the Major Leagues of baseball and in the National Football League, in the same season. Only one man from that group, Walter French, can lay claim to having played for a World Series winner and an NFL Championship team. In 1925, he starred for the Pottsville (PA) Maroons in their win over the Chicago Cardinals, in what was believed to be the NFL championship game, only to see the title stripped by a league office decision, a controversial move still being argued about today. Then in 1929, he was on the Philadelphia Athletics when they beat the Chicago Cubs in five games to win the World Series.

French played with and against the biggest stars of the 1920s, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Walter Johnson, Ty Cobb, and twenty-seven other ballplayers who would eventually wind up in the Baseball Hall of Fame. In football, he went up against the likes of Notre Dame's George Gipp, the "Four Horsemen," Curly Lambeau, Geoge Halas, Ira "Buck" Rogers, and many more. The top sports writers of his day, from Grantland Rice to Ed Sullivan, made regular mention of him in their columns. Other well-known figures from the period such as Paul Robeson, Knute Rockne, Connie Mack, and General Douglas MacArthur are part of his journey as well, and make appearances in this book.

©2024 Lenny Wagner (P)2024 Tantor
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Playing with the Best

Average Customer Ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.