The book serves as an artful biography of Allen and we meet such former players as Gossage but also such characters as Harry Caray, who came to the Sox before he went to the Cubs, a tenure many may have forgotten because Caray was broadcasting on weak-signaled suburban radio stations. Through him, we get a peek at one of the most fascinating documents in the annals of alcoholic intake. It is Caray’s “drinking diary,” which the authors write was “used for tax purposes, back when the IRS in was more permissive for business entertainment, as long as those deductions were documented.” And so do we learn that in 1972, Caray made “1,242 bar stops.” These included visits to such bygone places as Acorn on Oak, Playboy Club, Four Torches and still-going-strong joints such as Butch McGuire’s and Miller’s Pub. His companions were, naturally, mostly ballplayers, but Cary was also bent elbows that year with Jack Benny and Wilt Chamberlain, Jack Dempsey and Gale Sayers.
