Safe by a Mile

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Safe by a Mile

Charlie Metro with Tom Altherr

537 pages
Illus.

Paperback

March 2002

978-0-8032-8281-0

$29.95 Add to Cart

About the Book

Charlie Metro's career runs the gamut of the specialties found in baseball-player, coach, manager, scout, inventor. Metro has lived baseball at every level from the Great Depression to today's multimillion dollar contracts. One of a kind, Metro's life mirrors the astounding changes in the game as well as in the nation. Metro's tale is full of heart and a wealth of anecdotes, the result of a fascinating life and a true love of the game.

Charlie Metro was born Charles Moreskonich in Nanty-Glo, Pennsylvania, in 1919. He played in the major leagues from 1943 to 1945 with the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Athletics. He managed for parts of two seasons, with the 1962 Cubs and the 1970 Kansas City Royals. He also coached the 1965 Chicago White Sox and the 1982 Oakland Athletics. Although he had far longer service in the minor leagues, he will probably be best remembered as one of the great scouts and teachers in baseball history.

Author Bio

Tom Altherr is a professor of history at the Metropolitan State College of Denver. He is a coauthor of Sports in North America: A Documentary History.

Praise

"Metro's career saved him from the coal mines of western Pennsylvania and afforded him the chance to play, then manage, in dozens of venues throughout the country. . . . With a cast that includes such varied personalities as Billy Martin, Richard Nixon, Lou Piniella and Dorothy Lamour, Safe by a Mile is a wide-ranging tale by one of baseball's happiest wanderers."—David Plaut, USA Today Baseball Weekly

"Safe By a Mile by Charlie Metro with Tom Altherr tells the story of a baseball lifer. . . . A highly respected judge of baseball talent, Metro shares his insights about many players and managers in this engaging book."—Sacramento Bee

"[Metro] will never make the Hall of Fame, and yet his insights into the game of baseball are valuable. This thick book is especially strong on minor league baseball during the last half-century."—Library Journal

"The man can flat out tell a tale."—Denver Post

"One hell of a read."—Rob Neyer, ESPN.com