Joe, You Coulda Made Us Proud

One of Esquire’s Twenty Best Baseball Books Ever:“A frank, uninhibited self-portrait” by the New York Yankee about his wild life, his wins—and his losses (Kirkus Reviews). At seventeen Joe Pepitone signed with the New York Yankees, and soon experts were predicting he’d be the team’s next superstar. He could run, throw, and field, and he had a sweet home run swing. But during his twelve years in the majors Pepitone devoted most of his energy to swinging off the field. He blew his career, destroyed two marriages, lost custody of three children, and came very close to a nervous breakdown. At thirty-three he quit baseball for good and finally admitted that for most of his life, he’d been living a lie. He’d been acting the carefree clown in order to cover up immense inner pain. In this autobiography, Pepitone reveals what was behind his wild behavior in devastatingly honest terms, holding back none of the embarrassment, anguish, and guilt that perpetually haunted him. He tells of the father he loved so much, the toughest man in a tough Brooklyn neighborhood, whose beatings and constant pressure led Joe to tell his mother one night that he wished his father would die. Willie Pepitone died the next day. But along with plenty of pain, this book also has plenty of humor, as Pepitone tells of partying with Frank Sinatra and Mickey Mantle, carousing with groupies and hookers, and “living the life” of a famous ballplayer in the sixties and seventies. It’s a journey filled with highs and lows—and a mature man’s reckoning with his younger self. “The most honest book an athlete ever wrote . . . profane and compelling.” —Chicago Tribune “Raucous . . . far more revealing than [Jim Bouton’s Ball Four].” —Rolling Stone