They Called Me God
The Best Umpire Who Ever Lived
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Narrated by:
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Robert Brown
About this listen
In the pageantry of baseball, one select group is virtually unknown in the outside world, derided by fans, faced with split-second choices that spell victory or defeat. These men are up-close observers of the action, privy to inside jokes, blood feuds, benches-clearing brawls, and managers’ expletive-filled tirades. In this wonderful memoir, Hall of Fame umpire Doug Harvey takes us within baseball as you’ve never seen it, with unforgettable inside stories of baseball greats such as Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, and Whitey Herzog.
This colorful memoir takes the listener behind the plate for some of baseball’s most memorable moments, including:
- Roberto Clemente’s three thousandth and final hit
- The “I don’t believe what I just saw” heroic three-and-two pinch-hit home run by Kirk Gibson in the ’88 World Series
- The nail-biting excitement of the close-fought ’68 World Series, when Doug called St. Louis Cardinal Lou Brock out at home plate and turned the trajectory of the series
But beyond the drama, Harvey turned umpiring into an art. He was a man so respected, whose calls were so feared and infallible, that the players called him God. And through it all, he lived by three rules: Never take anything from a player, never back down from a call, and never carry a grudge.
A book for anyone who loves baseball, They Called Me God is a funny and fascinating tale of on- and off-the-field action, peopled by unforgettable characters from Bob Gibson to Nolan Ryan, and a treatise on good umpiring techniques. In a memoir that transcends sport, Doug Harvey tells a gripping story of responsibility, fairness, and honesty.
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- By Anthony on 03-28-13
By: R. A. Dickey, and others
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108 Stitches
- Loose Threads, Ripping Yarns, and the Darndest Characters from My Time in the Game
- By: Ron Darling, Daniel Paisner - contributor
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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This is New York Times bestselling author and Emmy-nominated broadcaster Ron Darling's 108 baseball anecdotes that connect America’s game to the men who played it. Darling has played with or reported on just about everybody who has put on a uniform since 1983, and they in turn have played with or reported on just about everybody who put on a uniform in a previous generation. Like the 108 stitches on a baseball, Darling's experiences are interwoven with every athlete who has ever played, every coach or manager, and every fan.
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Meh
- By Amazon Customer on 04-13-19
By: Ron Darling, and others
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The Bad Guys Won
- A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo Chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, the Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team Ever to Put on a New York Uniform - and Maybe the Best
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: Jeff Pearlman
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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It was 1986, and the New York Mets won 108 regular-season games and the World Series, capturing the hearts (and other assorted body parts) of fans everywhere. But their greatness on the field was nearly eclipsed by how bad they were off it. Led by the indomitable Keith Hernandez and the young dynamic duo of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, along with the gallant Scum Bunch, the Amazin's left a wide trail of wreckage in their wake-hotel rooms, charter planes, a bar in Houston, and most famously Bill Buckner and the hated Boston Red Sox.
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Maybe 3.5
- By Lifeisshort on 02-15-22
By: Jeff Pearlman
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Pete Rose
- An American Dilemma
- By: Kostya Kennedy
- Narrated by: Ben Bartolone
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Pete Rose played baseball with a singular and headfirst abandon that endeared him to fans and peers, even as it riled others--a figure at once magnetic, beloved and polarizing. Rose has more base hits than anyone in history, yet he is not in the Hall of Fame. Twenty-five years ago he was banished from baseball for gambling, then ruled ineligible for Cooperstown; today, the question "Does Pete Rose belong in the Hall of Fame?" has evolved into perhaps the most provocative in sports, a layered, slippery and ever-relevant moral conundrum.
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Good book, not so good production.
- By david d. on 05-01-14
By: Kostya Kennedy
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The Big Bam
- The Life and Times of Babe Ruth
- By: Leigh Montville
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Babe Ruth was more than baseball's original superstar. For 85 years, he has remained the sport's reigning titan. He has been named Athlete of the Century...more than once. But who was this large, loud, enigmatic man? In The Big Bam, Leigh Montville brings his trademark touch to this groundbreaking, revelatory portrait of the Babe.
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The Big Bam
- By Alan on 06-13-06
By: Leigh Montville
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The Captain
- The Journey of Derek Jeter
- By: Ian O'Connor
- Narrated by: Nick Pollifrone
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Every spring, Little Leaguers across the country mimic his stance and squabble over the right to wear his number, 2, the next number to be retired by the world’s most famous ball team. Derek Jeter is their hero. He walks in the footsteps of Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Mantle, and someday his shadow will loom just as large. Yet he has never been the best player in baseball. In fact, he hasn’t always been the best player on his team. But his intangible grace and Jordanesque ability to play big in the biggest of postseason moments make him the face of the modern Yankee dynasty, and of America’s game.
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Great book, terrible narrator.
- By Butter on 05-09-14
By: Ian O'Connor
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The Journey Home
- My Life in Pinstripes
- By: Jorge Posada, Gary Brozek
- Narrated by: Lorenzo Irizarry
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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For 17 seasons the name Jorge Posada was synonymous with New York Yankees baseball. A fixture behind home plate throughout the Yankees biggest successes, Jorge became the Yankees' star catcher almost immediately upon his arrival, and in the years that followed, his accomplishments, work ethic, and leadership established him as one of the greatest Yankees ever to put on the uniform.
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Jorge who?!!
- By Jacques on 11-30-22
By: Jorge Posada, and others
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The Boys of Summer
- The Classic Narrative of Growing Up Within Shouting Distance of Ebbets Field, Covering the Jackie Robinson Dodgers, and What's Happened to Everybody Since
- By: Roger Kahn
- Narrated by: Phil Gigante
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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This is a story about young men who learned to play baseball during the 1930s and 1940s, and then went on to play for one of the most exciting major-league ball clubs ever fielded, the team that broke the color barrier with Jackie Robinson. It is a story by and about a sportswriter who grew up near Ebbets Field, and who had the good fortune in the 1950s to cover the Dodgers for the Herald Tribune. This is the story about what happened to the team when their glory days were behind them.
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Classic book!
- By Christopher Arthur on 11-19-17
By: Roger Kahn
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Molina
- The Story of the Father Who Raised an Unlikely Baseball Dynasty
- By: Bengie Molina, Joan Ryan
- Narrated by: Henry Leyva
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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A baseball rules book. A tape measure. A lottery ticket. These were in the pocket of Bengie Molina's father when he died of a heart attack on the rutted Little League field in his Puerto Rican barrio. The items serve as thematic guideposts in Molina's beautiful memoir about his father, who, through baseball, taught his three sons about loyalty, humility, courage, and the true meaning of success.
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A book about life
- By P. Griswold on 06-11-15
By: Bengie Molina, and others
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Bottom of the 33rd
- Hope and Redemption in Baseball's Longest Game
- By: Dan Barry
- Narrated by: Dan Barry
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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On April 18, 1981, a ball game sprang eternal. What began as a modestly attended minor-league game between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings became not only the longest ever played in baseball history, but something else entirely. The first pitch was thrown after dusk on Holy Saturday, and for the next eight hours the night seemed to suspend its participants between their collective pasts and futures, between their collective sorrows and joys....
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I love baseball
- By Sher from Provo on 04-08-13
By: Dan Barry
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The Last Folk Hero
- The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
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From the mid-1980s into the early 1990s, the greatest athlete of all time streaked across American sports and popular culture. Stadiums struggled to contain him. Clocks failed to capture his speed. His strength was legendary. His power unmatched. Video game makers turned him into an invincible character—and they were dead-on. He climbed (and walked across) walls, splintered baseball bats over his knee, turned oncoming tacklers into ground meat.
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If you are a sports fan and over 35 years old, you have to listen/read this. Awesome!
- By betty sammons on 06-29-23
By: Jeff Pearlman
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As They See 'Em
- A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires
- By: Bruce Weber
- Narrated by: Charley Steiner
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Millions of American baseball fans know, with absolute certainty, that umpires are simply overpaid galoots who are doing an easy job badly. Millions of American baseball fans are wrong. As They See 'Em is an insider's look at the largely unknown world of professional umpires, the small group of men (and the very occasional woman) who make sure America's favorite pastime is conducted in a manner that is clean, crisp, and true.
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Judging Umpires
- By Bruce on 11-28-09
By: Bruce Weber
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Where Nobody Knows Your Name
- Life In the Minor Leagues of Baseball
- By: John Feinstein
- Narrated by: John Feinstein
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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John Feinstein is one of the most influential sportswriters of the last three decades. In his masterful new audiobook, Where Nobody Knows Your Name, Feinstein delivers a fascinating account of the mysterious proving ground of America’s national pastime, pulling back the veil on the minor leagues of baseball.
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Living on the Cusp of a Dream
- By W Perry Hall on 04-09-14
By: John Feinstein
What listeners say about They Called Me God
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Rick
- 07-12-14
The Best? Possibly.
This one peaked my interest because of a few reasons. I lived in San Diego for many years and knew the history of Doug Harvey, I mean heck! He is in the Hall of Champions in Balboa Park. And the fact that I umpired for many years making my way up to the college ranks, so I have sort of soft spot for Umpires. I was looking forward to this biography.
I struggled a bit with the over emphasis on how good Mr. Harvey said he was. Yes, he is in the BHOF, but a little bit of humble pie might make this story easier to stomach. Other than that, it was interesting to learn how Doug Harvey was brought up, how he got started, and how he lasted so many years in the Big Leagues. People like him often amaze me.
The oration was excellent! Robert Brown did a great job conveying the passion of the writer into the ears of the listener. It was enjoyable and easy to stay focused.
I recommend this book to any baseball fan or Umpire looking to get an inside view of what it might be like behind the mask, or better yet, what it is like working as an umpire and dealing with all the personalities on and off the field as well as on the home front. I think to get a better sense in that regard, one might pick up "As They See 'Em: A Fan's Travels in the Land of the Umpires." A much better book I thought which explains not only the history of umpiring, but how an umpire is made, and what life is actually like on the road in the low minor leagues.
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- Tony E.
- 04-24-15
Some golden nuggets but really not that great
Of the books about umpires that are available on Audible, this is the one that I enjoyed the least. The best one is "Men in Blue: Conversations With Umpires" which is about 12 umpires who worked in the pros, including a couple of umpires mentioned by Mr. Harvey. These were some of his contemporaries and the confidence shows through all of them. "As They See Them" is the second best, then "Everything Happens in Chillicothe", and finally this one. I think it is the mixture of the short segments of stories in combination with the arrogance that goes beyond confidence.
There are a couple of really good nuggets that can be caught for any level of umpiring, such as handling conflict with coaches and being part of a team which are good to pick up from this. I would recommend it with considerations. Of course, he made it to the big show and ultimately the Hall of Fame so he did something right but I know his style is not how I umpire, nor could I.
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- Parker
- 05-22-22
entertaining and very knowledgeable
loved this book and the experiences Mr Harvey shared with us! can't wait to dive into the next book by a umpire
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- Jaime
- 04-13-16
Inspiring for anyone with a passion for life
I became an even better umpire and person by listing to mr Harvey's story. A great journey by a great man a must read for anyone whom wants to be inspired especially, if you love the game of baseball. God bless you Doug Harvey I'm now a fan of yours!
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Overall
- Program717
- 04-04-22
Entertaining
Easy to follow, easy to stay entertained. It is a light read with deep undertones. I read it because I suddenly became interested in the psychology of the position of Umpire, an absolute authority of distinctions and truth, and the human creature living out that role. This book was an obvious choice, and served my purpose fully. Therefore I recommend on these bases!
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- Warren Maldonado
- 01-17-16
PAINFULLY BAD
What would have made They Called Me God better?
I regret having just bought the audio version. I listened to most chapters for several minutes hoping it would get better. It didn’t. Permeated with stale clichés and loaded with self aggrandizement, it’s painfully bad.The title says it all.
What was most disappointing about Doug Harvey and Peter Golenbock ’s story?
I regret having just bought the audio version. I listened to most chapters for several minutes hoping it would get better. It didn’t. Permeated with stale clichés and loaded with self aggrandizement, it’s painfully bad.The title says it all.
What do you think the narrator could have done better?
Narration was ok.
If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from They Called Me God?
The whole book should be cut!
Any additional comments?
It doesn't get any worse than than this! I'm going to get a refund.
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- Read With My Ears
- 02-17-24
He makes himself so dislikable
I never understand how it is that someone can author an autobiography that makes himself less and less likable with every new page. This guy throws all of his colleagues under the bus for their drinking habits, eating habits, anger, prejudice, laziness, etc. while repeatedly presenting himself as someone who "never" did this vice and "never" did that vice and "always" did this virtuous thing and "always" told the young umpires these pearls of wisdom.
I really wanted to like this book, but it was a huge disappointment.
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