Synopses & Reviews
The High Hard One intimately portrays the rough-and-ready life of a bush-league ballplayer during the Great Depression. Kirby Higbe broke into the big time with the Chicago Cubs in 1938, showed his talent for striking out batters while pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1940, and led the National League in victories for the pennant-winning Brooklyn Dodgers in 1941. He was with the Dodgers when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and integrated the team in 1947. That year was, for Higbe, “the end of what you might call the Babe Ruth era and the beginning of modern professional baseball.”
Review
"The High Hard One is the bald confession of a hard-nosed unabashed fun-seeker who pitched, ably and often, for many teams in organized baseball. Ol Higs tale is told with a salty tongue, further spiced with rue and bitter memories. . . . He was . . . typical of the half-educated, strong-armed, Southern farm boys who made baseball the National Pastime."—Jim Brosnan, New York Times Book Review. Jim Brosnan
Review
"[This] is not the usual baseball autobiography. Rather, it is a bit of Americana. . . . Filled with uninhibited comment regarding both the author and other baseball notables."—Library Journal New York Tims Book Review
About the Author
Martin Quigley, Higbes coauthor, has also written the widely praised Todays Game and The Crooked Pitch. He lives in St. Louis.