A Time for Reflection

Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants and Billy Williams of the Chicago Cubs share much in common. They grew up a few miles from each another in Mobile, Alabama, they were two of the most prolific left-handed power hitters in baseball, they are both in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and they both have statues commemorating their greatness outside of their respective stadiums. Cannon weaves the narratives of their lives from their births in 1938 through their decades-long baseball careers in the sixties and seventies and into retirement. McCovey and Williams were children when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, but they had to endure discrimination throughout their careers, and in their later years they helped mold young players on and off the diamond. Through interviews with McCovey's family and Williams himself, this thoroughly research dual biography will have regional appeal to Giants and Cubs baseball fans and a wider appeal to readers who want an insider's look at the lives of two great athletes who prospered despite all of the hurdles placed in front of them. -- ""Booklist"" Astute baseball fans know that several great players, including five members of the Hall of Fame, were born and raised in and around Mobile, Alabama. A Time for Reflection is an insightful dual biography of two of these stars, Willie McCovey and Billy Williams. Supported by incisive research and buttressed by interviews with family members, friends, and former teammates, Jason Cannon has written a book that stands as a fine example of what baseball biography can be as both art and scholarship. --Steven P. Gietschier, author of Baseball: The Turbulent Midcentury Years Beautifully written and lovingly told, Jason Cannon's dual biography of Willie McCovey and Billy Williams reminds us that beyond the boxscores, it's the stories that matter most when it comes to baseball. A Time for Reflection is a narrative treasure. --Mitchell Nathanson, author of Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original Jason Cannon's decision to emphasize the importance of place--Mobile, Alabama--in his portrait of baseball legends Willie McCovey and Billy Williams is inspired. The shared experience of both McCovey and Williams--two aspiring ballplayers, both born in 1938, growing up in the same town in the Jim Crow south--is both intriguing and illuminating. Cannon traces their struggles as young black players to their development as great Hall of Famers and as ambassadors of the their sport. A great contribution to the discussion of baseball, history and culture. --Robert F. Garratt, author of Home Team: the Turbulent History of the San Francisco Giants and Jazz Age Giant: Charles A. Stoneham and New York Baseball in the Roaring Twenties