No Greater Love

Customer Reviews

• a moving tribute to a father and an appreciation of ballplayers who served in the military  Jul 3, 2007 (9 of 9 found this helpful)

  Tood Anton's book is a very moving account of a son regarding his father's military service and trying to better understand the depth of his father's devotion to country and duty. Given a shared love of baseball, which led to personal friendships with a number of ballplayers, the book focuses on the years which many baseball players gave in military service - largely in the World War II era.
  
  Anton has interviewed many such ballplayers at length and presents their distilled thoughts here. Almost every one of them says that serving their country was not a "sacrifice" but something they were proud to do. Among them, players like Dom DiMaggio talk about how hard they tried to get into the service, fighting to overcome exemptions or first-round rejections.
  
  It was a different time, for sure. And Anton lets these men talk at length about the roles they played off the field, arguably serving in a greater cause.
  
  The book remains a personal one throughout, as Anton (a public school history teacher) is challenged by his father (Wallace Anton) to tell the story of these men, and as the process teaches Anton more about his own father in the process. After father Wallace dies, on the anniversary of D-Day itself, son Todd visits both Dodger Stadium and the beach at Normandy to spread his father's ashes.
  
  Worth reading for those interested in military history, baseball, and good biography - particularly parent/child relationships.

• Never Been Done Before  Aug 28, 2007 (4 of 4 found this helpful)

  As a former American History major in college and a baseball fan I am unaware of any other book touching upon this subject. I enjoyed this book.

• Inspirational!  Oct 16, 2007 (3 of 3 found this helpful)

  Todd Anton does a great job at revealing the inspirational stories of these war and baeball heroes. Baseball fans and history buffs will enjoy reading about the willing sacrifice that these heroes demonstrated for our country.

• Great Book about GREAT Men!  Jul 17, 2007 (3 of 3 found this helpful)

  This excellent book captures the spirit of our great country. It mixes baseball and true service. The men of this book are owed our thanks for the freedom we have today. Todd Anton captures a unique part of our history, baseball AND military heroes!

• Personal, genuine account of baseball veterans  May 26, 2008 (2 of 2 found this helpful)

  A friend of mine, who was a Corsair pilot on Peleliu in 1944, gave this book to me, and although I know virtually nothing about baseball, I thought this was a good book, and well worth the time. Anton is a high school history teacher (like me!) and an amateur historian, and parts of this book show a somewhat unpolished side -- which is really part of its charm. This isn't hard, analytical history...Anton wasn't trying to solve some problem, uncover some hidden evidence, or establish some new perspective or position on a historical event or person. He's just trying to tell a story that is very meaningful to him, and to those of us who appreciate the sacrifices made by military veterans -- in this case mostly those who served in WW2.
  
  In that, this is a very honest, genuine story made up of a series of vet's stories, puncuated by Anton's commentary and reflections on putting the book together, and the emotional journey that it was for him.
  
  I like hard history -- my MA is in military history -- but this was a breath of fresh air...very personal, very human. If WW2 or baseball interests you, read it.