Joe Morgan: A Life in Baseball

A leader of Cincinnati's Big Red Machine of the 1970s, twice named the National League's Most Valuable Player and recently elected to the Hall of Fame, second baseman Morgan is one of the outstanding players of the last half-century. Raised in a middle-class family in Texas and California, he began his career with the Houston Astros in 1965, played for the Reds from 1972 to 1979 and ended his playing days with stints in other cities. Although Morgan was admired as a team player and enjoyed the respect and affection of his colleagues, his memoirs, written with Falkner ( LT ), are not pollyanna-ish. Morgan is very specific about the people he didn't like and is outspoken about racism, which he believes pervades the sport. The resulting book is among the most candid and interesting of its genre. Photos not seen by PW. (Apr.)