Sioux City’s Hersom is Excited for Big Fella

Terry Hersom, columnist at the Sioux City Journal, shares his thoughts on Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, and the brother who knew the Big Fella well:

I’m simply pleased to have had a couple telephone conversations and exchanged some correspondence with Leavy, who reached out to me in the process of research for a book that will be released in October. If we’re lucky, she’ll be traveling to Sioux City for a book signing.

This new work is “The Big Fella,” with the subtitle “Babe Ruth And The World He Created.”

Obviously, plenty of books have been written about Ruth, including a great one by Mr. Montville called “The Big Bam.”

The new one, though, is of particular importance to many of us. That’s because it’s primarily about how Ruth and teammate Lou Gehrig came to Sioux City as part of a barnstorming tour on Oct. 18, 1927, just 10 days after the Yankees finished off a four-game World Series sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates.