Praise for The First All-Star Game: "This was more than a baseball game. [Sullivan] credibly positions it as a bracing, if momentary, restorative for a sport and a country that had endured more than three years of economic depression . The strongest element of this book is the colorful cast of characters who stride and sometimes stumble through its pages. Mr. Sullivan's portraits are judicious and sharp, and he makes good use of pungent quotes from the newspaper scribes of the day."-- Ben Yagoda, Wall Street Journal "[A] splendid origin story . Throughout, Sullivan paints the vivid political and socioeconomic backdrop for the game and offers a concise play-by-play of the event. Ruth, of course, hit a home run.
An excellent account that even diehard fans might not have realized they were missing."-- Booklist "A stellar matchup . With the first All-Star Game taking place in 1933 Chicago, [Sullivan] delivers a lively portrait of the city and nation, with an emphasis of crime, politics, and, of course, baseball . Some players in the book are familiar (Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Lefty Grove), but there are plenty of unknowns, revived here for new and old fans alike. A fine account of baseball's 'Game of the Century.'"-- Kirkus Reviews "If you love the intertwining of baseball with period U.S. history, The First All-Star Game is a fascinating exploration of the first midsummer classic in 1933 in the context of the Great Depression.
Spoiler alert: The only thing pitchers had to fear was . Babe, himself."-- Hartford Courant Praise for Randall Sullivan: "A master class in the difficult art of first-person, narrative nonfiction" --Clancy Martin, New York Times Book Review, on The Devil's Best Trick "A tour-de-force. Sullivan's reportage is extraordinary, his narrative enthralling." -- Rolling Stone on The Price of Experience "Sullivan has done what every aspiring true-crime writer hopes to do: He has crossed the line from titillation into cultural history." -- Los Angeles Times on The Price of Experience "A huge, mesmerizing book." -- The New Yorker on The Price of Experience "The pages seem to turn themselves." -- The Boston Globe on The Price of Experience "Intensive, engaging investigative journalism.
" -- Library Journal on Dead Wrong.