I've been looking to get a book to read up on him because hes had a very interesting and eventful life and he was tough fighter of course, many ranked him as an ATG, but there are a few books on him, I'm wondering if I could get any opinions on which book is best. Any ideas?
A good book on Ketchel will be hard to find since he's been dead for a century... I figure his books / story to contain lotsa' falsehoods and tall tales that are mixed into some truthful info on Stan.... One truth is, he liked to chase women.... That's what got him killed, too... Stan was boning a married woman on the side and her hubby found out and grabbed a gun and shot the champ dead while he was eating a morning breakfast in some tavern.... Other than that, who really knows what about Stanley Ketchel? MR.BILL
Christ, that was all off the top of my head. But I guess Walter Dipley and Goldie Smith were not actually married as they posed, but rather working some con or scam to rob Stanley Ketchel by way of poontang pursuasion... Both Smith and Dipley got busted and went to trial for Ketchel's murder in Missouri.... Pretty dumb and senseless.... MR.BILL
bman, as i posted before, I have a great out of print biography of Stanley Ketchel by Nat Fleischer called "The Michigan Assassin ". It was published in 1946 . Nat Fleischer was a young New York reporter who knew Ketchel very well when Stanley trained in Van Cortland Park,in the upper Bronx. He saw Ketchel flatten Phil Jack O'Brien in East 23rd St NY. Ketchel told Fleischer he would die before his 30th birthday, and he was prescient,as he was killed when he was but 24 years old. Today Ketchel is sadly underated because of only two films of him surviving. The last fight with Papke, when Ketchel broke his hand but won a 20rd decision ,and the Jack Johnson who weighed 35 pounds more, fiasco... But whoever saw most of Ketchel's career, such as Fleischer, Hype Igoe, Tad Dorgan, Damon Runyon etc,insisted til their deaths that the Michigan Assassin was the greatest middleweight they had ever seen ! Very possible. b.b.
Bman, A brand new Biography on Ketchel was released two months ago. The book is called Stanley Ketchel: "A Life of Triumph and Prophecy" by Manuel A. Mora. You can find it on Amazon books or Barnes & Noble. It's a great read and whole alot of information on him. In my opinion it's the best biography out there right now. I highly recommend it. I also saw a great montage on Stan on Youtube titled the same as the book.
Is this the same guy who a few years ago was going around claiming ketchel had bigger hands and biceps than Primo Carnera. If so I think Ill pass...
Klompton, I don't know what you're talking about?? I didn't read anything in the book about Ketchel's biceps or hands being bigger than Primo Canera or anyone eles of Primo's size. If that's whats making you have critical thinking about the book don't worry about it. You're little criticism about the author is pretty pointless. The novel doesn't say anything like that whatsoever and I've read it twice already. So... you should reconsider your claim about passing it up. But if you're still gonna stick to you're decision thats just too darn bad. I'm sure other people are interested in reading it. Besides the books success doesn't depend on you're opinion! Go ahead and pass it you're the one thats gonna miss out.
"novel doesn't say anything like that whatsoever and I've read it twice already." It's a novel, i.e., fictional? We're overdue for a great biography on Ketchel.
I don't think it's the fictional Blake novel based on Ketchel that you may be referring to ... [ame]http://www.amazon.com/Killings-Stanley-Ketchel-Novel/dp/0060554371/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293200367&sr=1-1[/ame] [ame]http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-Ketchel-Life-Triumph-Prophecy/dp/1434323706/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293200480&sr=1-3[/ame]
There have been a couple of other biographies on Ketchel in addition to the ones mentioned above. I forget what they are called but one is by a bloke with a Polish name and I'm sure he used to post on CBZ when it came out several years ago ..... but he got hounded off as he got a load of **** off the usual wise-guys.