Pepe, Phil 1935–

(Philip Pepe)

PERSONAL: Born March 21, 1935, in Brooklyn, NY; son of Michael P. (an accountant) and Lillian (Martini) Pepe; married Adele Sbaratta, October 28, 1961 (divorced); children: Jayne, David, James, John. Education: St. John's University, Jamaica, NY, B.A., 1956. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Roman Catholic.

ADDRESSES: Home—P.O. Box 291, Saddle River, NJ 07458. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Triumph Books, 542 S. Dearborn St., Ste. 750, Chicago, IL 60605.

CAREER: Writer and broadcaster. Sports writer in New York, NY, 1968–; has written for the New York World Telegram & Sun and for the New York Daily News. Military service: National Guard.

WRITINGS:

Winners Never Quit, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1967.

No-Hitter, Four Winds (New York, NY), 1968.

(With Bob Gibson) From Ghetto to Glory, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1968.

Greatest Stars of the NBA, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1970.

Incredible Knicks, Popular Library (New York, NY), 1970.

Stand Tall: The Lew Alcindor Story, Grosset (New York, NY), 1970.

(With Willis Reed) A View from the Rim: Willis Reed on Basketball, Lippincott (Philadelphia, PA), 1971.

Come out Smokin'—Joe Frazier: The Champ Nobody Knew, Coward (New York, NY), 1971.

The Wit and Wisdom of Yogi Berra, Hawthorne (New York, NY), 1973.

Great Comebacks in Sports, Hawthorne (New York, NY), 1973.

(Editor) Rick Wolff, What's a Nice Harvard Boy like You Doing in the Bushes?, Prentice-Hall (Engle-wood Cliffs, NJ), 1975.

(With Zander Hollander) The Book of Sports Lists, Pinnacle Books (New York, NY), 1979.

(With Hollander) The Book of Sports Lists II, Pinnacle Books (New York, NY), 1980.

(With Hollander) The Book of Sports Lists III, Pinnacle Books (New York, NY), 1981.

(With Hollander) The Baseball Book of Lists, Pinnacle Books (New York, NY), 1983.

(With Billy Martin) Billyball, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1987.

(With Whitney Ford) Slick, Morrow (New York, NY), 1987.

(With Lou Carnesecca) Louie: In Season, McGraw-Hill (New York, NY), 1988.

(With Mickey Mantle) My Favorite Summer, 1956, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1991.

(With Bob Hurley, Sr.) Divided Loyalties: The Diary of a Basketball Father, Zebra Books (New York, NY), 1993.

The Yankees: An Authorized History of the New York Yankees, Taylor Publishing (Dallas, TX), 1997, updated centennial edition, 2003.

Talkin' Baseball: An Oral History of Baseball in the 1970s, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 1998.

(With Whitey Ford) Few and Chosen: Defining Yankee Greatness across the Eras, foreword by Yogi Berra, Triumph Books (Chicago, IL), 2001.

(With Jim Kaat) Still Pitching: Musings from the Mound and the Microphone, Triumph Books (Chicago, IL), 2003.

(With Tim McCarver) Few and Chosen: Defining Cardinal Greatness across the Eras, foreword by Yogi Berra, Triumph Books (Chicago, IL), 2003.

(With Johnny Pesky) Few and Chosen: Defining Red Sox Greatness across the Eras, foreword by Yogi Berra, Triumph Books (Chicago, IL), 2003.

(With James Buckley, Jr.) Unhittable: Reliving the Magic and Drama of Baseball's Best-Pitched Games, Triumph Books (Chicago, IL), 2004.

Catfish, Yaz, and Hammerin' Hank: The Unforgettable Era that Transformed the Game of Baseball, Triumph Books (Chicago, IL), 2005.

(With Ron Santo) Few and Chosen: Defining Cubs Greatness across the Eras, foreword by Yogi Berra, Triumph Books (Chicago, IL), 2005.

(With Duke Snyder) Few and Chosen: Defining Dodger Greatness across the Eras, foreword by Yogi Berra, Triumph Books (Chicago, IL), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS: A longtime sports journalist, Phil Pepe has collaborated on many books with numerous sports notables, primarily baseball players. He has also written several books as sole author, such as Talkin' Baseball: An Oral History of Baseball in the 1970s. Through interviews with such baseball greats as pitcher Tom Seaver and "Mr. October," otherwise known as Reggie Jackson, the author provides a first-hand look at that decade's shining moments in baseball. Pepe also interviews many others associated with the game. Writing in Booklist, Wes Lukowsky noted that the book includes "plenty of on-field accounts of exciting pennant races." Paul Kaplan and Morey Berger, writing in the Library Journal, commented that the wide ranging discussion of players and important issues in baseball "spark this account."

In My Favorite Summer: 1956, Pepe collaborates with Yankee great Mickey Mantle in recounting the slugger's favorite year in baseball, a year in which he won the triple crown, beating out such notables as Ted Williams in batting and Al Kaline in RBIs. Publishers Weekly contributor Genevieve Stuttaford commented that "readers will carry away … the picture of a fierce competitor."

Pepe has also teamed up with a series of baseball greats associated with specific teams to recount their team's history and legends. For example, in Few and Chosen: Defining Yankee Greatness across the Eras, Hall-of-Fame Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford and Pepe provide anecdotes as well as Ford's choices for the best Yankee players in a narrative that covers eighty years of Yankee history. Booklist reviewer GraceAnn A. DeCandido compared the book to being able to "sit down with a baseball great and just hear him talk." Pepe collaborated with Tim McCarver to write Few and Chosen: Defining Cardinal Greatness across the Eras, which Library Journal contributors Paul Kaplan and Robert C. Cotrell noted "shows surprising depth."

Pepe and former pitcher Jim Kaat, who went on to become a well-known announcer for the New York Yankees, coauthored Still Pitching: Musings from the Mound and the Microphone. Kaplan and Cotrell, once again writing in the Library Journal, commented that the pitcher "offers plenty of insights" into the game. In a review for Booklist, Kevin Canfield noted that the book offers "plenty of strong and learned opinion." New York Times Book Review contributor Diane Cole wrote that "Kaat's acute knowledge shows in his candid yet politic analysis of the players he faced."

In Unhittable: Reliving the Magic and Drama of Baseball's Best-Pitched Games, Pepe and Jim Buckley provide an in-depth analysis of classic pitching moments dating back to the 1880s. Writing in Booklist, Mary Frances Wilkens commented that the book's in-depth statistics and analyses serve to "emphasize how little baseball has changed."

Although much of Pepe's writing has focused on baseball, he teamed up with Bob Hurley, Sr., father of former Duke University basketball great Bobbie Hurley, to write Divided Loyalties: The Diary of a Basketball Father. The book is Hurley's diary of the 1992–93 basketball season of St. Anthony's High School in Jersey City, where he is head coach. In a review for the Sporting News, Steve Gietschier noted that the books gives "answers, albeit in brief" to such questions as: "How does he balance his drive to excel with the needs of his players?"

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 15, 1998, Wes Lukowsky, review of review of Talkin' Baseball: An Oral History of Baseball in the 1970s, p. 967; September 1, 2001, GraceAnn A. DeCandido, review of Few and Chosen: Defining Yankee Greatness across the Eras, p. 34; April 1, 2003, Kevin Canfield, review of Still Pitching: Musings from the Mound and the Microphone, p. 1365; September 1, 2004, Mary Frances Wilkens, review of Unhittable: Reliving the Magic and Drama of Baseball's Best-Pitched Games, p. 45.

Denver Post, April 6, 2003, Dick Kreck, review of Few and Chosen: Defining Cardinal Greatness across the Eras.

Library Journal, February 1, 1998, Paul Kaplan and Morey Berger, review of Talkin' Baseball, p. 93; February 1, 2003, Paul Kaplan and Robert C. Cottrell, review of Few and Chosen: Defining Cardinal Greatness across the Eras, p. 88; August, 2001, R.C. Cottrell, review of Few and Chosen: Defining Yankee Greatness across the Eras, p. 119; February 1, 2003, Paul Kaplan and Robert C. Cottrell, reviews of Few and Chosen: Defining Cardinal Greatness across the Eras and Still Pitching, pp. 88-89.

New York Times Book Review, July 13, 2003, Diane Cole, review of Still Pitching, p. 24.

Publishers Weekly, February 1, 1991, Genevieve Stut-taford, review of My Favorite Summer: 1956, p. 75.

Sporting News, January 10, 1994, Steve Gietschier, review of Divided Loyalties: The Diary of a Basketball Father, p. 7.