Lawrence Ritter

Lawrence S. Ritter (May 23 1922 - February 15 2004) was an American writer whose specialties were baseball and economics.

He wrote one of the most famous sports books of all time, "The Glory of Their Times" (1966, updated 1984). He collaborated with another baseball historian, Donald Honig, on "The Image of Their Greatness" (1979) and "The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time" (1981, featuring several players who would later be dropped in favor of new players on several later all-time greats lists).

In researching "The Glory of Their Times", Ritter travelled 75,000 miles to interview his subjects, sitting for hours listening to them tell their tales into his tape recorder. Ritter's "Existential" style of interviewing was to allow his subjects to reminisce freely, rarely prodding or probing them on anything.No questions about specific games. No questions about what it was like to face certain players. Ritter's technique was to get his interviewee comfortable around him, to turn the tape-recorder on, and shut up while his subjects spoke. Ritter's style elicited responses that other reporters never reach with questions. His most difficult "find" was Sam Crawford, who shared the outfield with Ty Cobb in Detroit. After being given only cryptic hints about where he might find Crawford, i.e., "drive between 175 and 225 miles north of Los Angeles", Crawford's wife told Ritter, "and you'll be warm". Ritter ended up in Baywood Park, California where his inquiries yielded nothing. After several days, he sat in a laundromat watching his clothes spin beside an old man. Ritter asked him if he knew anything about Sam Crawford, the old ball player. The man replied, "Well I should hope so. Bein' as I'm him."

Ritter was a professor of economics and finance, and chairman of the Department of Finance at the Graduate School of Business Administration of New York University. He also edited the academic periodical Journal of Finance from 1964 to 1966. [J. Suter. "TAPPING THE KEG". Cumberland Evening Times. September 30, 1966. pp. 13 & 15] He died at age 81 in New York City.

Books

* "The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men who Played it", Published by Harpercollins 1992, ISBN 0688112730 9780688112738, 384 pages
* "The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time", Published by Crown Publishers 1981, ISBN 0517543001 9780517543009, 273 pages
* "The image of their greatness: an illustrated history of baseball from 1900 to the present", Published by Crown Trade Paperbacks 1992, ISBN 0517587289 9780517587287, 438 pages
* "Principles of Money, Banking, and Financial Markets", Published by Basic Books 1977, ISBN 0465063373 9780465063376, 556 pages
* "Money and economic activity: readings in money and banking", Published by Houghton Mifflin 1961, 457 pages

http://www.thediamondangle.com/archive/feb04/glory.html

References

External links

* [http://bss.sfsu.edu/tygiel/hist490/ritter/ritterphotos.htm "The Glory of Their Times" photographs]
* [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/R/Ritter_Lawrence.stm BaseballLibrary.com]
* [http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2004/02/16/lawrence_ritter_wrote_of_baseballs_old_timers/ "Boston Globe" obituary]
* [http://appelpr.com/ARTICLES/A-glory.htm Marty Appel writeup]
* [http://www.library.nd.edu/rarebooks/collections/sports/baseball/special/ritter_audio_tapes.shtml List of Ritter Audio Tapes]