Book Review: ‘It’s All About The Players: What I’ve Learned From Baseball’s Best’ By Peter Gammons

by | Sep 21, 2026 | Books | 0 comments


The book is in stores on Tuesday, September 22nd from Grand Central. Click on the link to buy a copy. https://link.amazon/B02TFvaU4

There are fans of baseball and then there is Peter Gammons. He’s on another level with his passion for the game, appreciation of its history, and respect for its players. While there are quite a few talented baseball writers, Mr. Gammons expertly utilizes his love of the game to describe what he’s seen and what it means to him. In this book, baseball history is the foundation, but it’s Gammons’ knowledge, experience, and adoration that feed his perspective and the words that fill the pages.

He’s well known as a sportswriter, announcer, analyst, and historian, and for many of us, Peter Gammons has been an educator … one who teaches us the intricacies of the game. It’s the stuff not in rule book. So why am I writing so much about Peter Gammons in this review? Well, because this book is a collection of stories and observations that he has collected over many decades. This book answers the question, ‘Why does Peter Gammons love baseball?’ It’s joyous reading for any baseball fan, but especially for those of us of a certain age who have watched and admired the players he writes about. He takes us into the clubhouses and dugouts. He lets us hang out by the batting cages. This is ‘inside baseball’ at its finest … easily accessible.

Gammons’ entire professional career has been intertwined with baseball. Being born and raised in the Boston area, his early ties were to the Boston Red Sox, and as any fan knows, those early loyalties often stick. He spent years as a writer for the ‘Boston Globe’, ‘Sports Illustrated’, and ‘The Sporting News’, before joining ESPN as an analyst. Over those decades, he won many awards and was recognized nationally for his baseball insight. All of that time spent around the game is laid out with stories and moments and memories of the players who made his time at ballparks so special. Baseball fans will soak up these stories and feel like we were right there with him.

In keeping with the book’s title, each of the seven Parts and most of the chapters are sub-titled with the names of the players being written about in a particular part of the book. As an example, one of the most fascinating segments is titled, “Geniuses”, and subtitled with names like Jason Varitek, Greg Maddux, Robin Yount, Tony Gwynn, and Johnny Bench, to name a few. Gammons proceeds to tell a story about each that identifies the player as a baseball genius or savant … the trait, other than raw talent, that set them apart from other big leaguers who simply played hard.

Gammons has at least one story about every significant player over the past fifty years, and since the timeline of my love of the game corresponds so closely to the writings of Gammons, the book acts as a trip down memory lane … with the added benefit of being educational and entertaining. Even the stories on players who weren’t among my favorites are fascinating to read, providing a feeling of discovery and bonding over a beloved sport. This book is for you if you are the type who would be thrilled to read about such things as Ted Williams smelling the burning of the wood of the bat, the green wall and green grass of Fenway, the Yaz era, the rise of Latin American players and later Asian players, Castro’s Cuba, Frank Robinson as the first black manager, the uber-talented Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr, the remarkable Cal Ripken Jr, an enigmatic Alex Rodriguez, “Chicks dig the long ball”, Moneyball, Cubs relief, difference-making GMs, the inexact science of drafting, Gammons’ chat with young Bryce Harper, torch passing from Mattingly to Jeter, and so much more.

Gammons comes clean about his brain surgery and facing the significant chance that his memory would be gone. Memories are what this book is – a treasure for baseball fans everywhere.

David Ferguson
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