To Cardinals baseball partisans, Bob Gibson needs no introduction. Potential readers who are unfamiliar with Gibson should probably exit this review now, because "Sixty Feet, Six Inches" covers a lot more than the distance from the pitcher's mound to home plate, and everything it covers is for confirmed baseball fans.

When Gibson and author Lonnie Wheeler decided to write an inside-baseball book as a dialogue between a great pitcher and a great hitter, they approached Reggie Jackson, who also needs no introduction, even though he never wore a Cardinal uniform.

The dialogue between the two former players is divided into topics, more or less, such as the art of pitching, the art of hitting, dealing with pressure, the role of hard-to-define personal character, adjusting to umpires and team managers.

But the book is not presented as a smooth narrative. Rather, it comes across as sparkling conversation between intelligent, opinionated, confident men.

Grounded in the past, the book spills over into the present: Gibson, born in 1935, still plays a role as an adviser to the Cardinals baseball team. Jackson, born in 1946, still plays a role as an adviser to the New York Yankees. When they discuss the use of steroids by contemporary players, for example, Jackson seems certain he would not have partaken, while Gibson is less sure he would have passed up substances providing a competitive advantage.

Both men are wise enough to state that steroids cannot turn just anybody into a professional baseball player. Remarkable hand-eye coordination and many other physical skills must be present first.

As they discuss former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, who has become the central character in the steroids debate, Jackson says that if the Cardinals or some other team had offered Bonds a contract, "he'd still be winning home run titles, steroids or not. He was unbelievable there for a while. He overmatched the league."

Gibson says that with Bonds' skills, "it's hard to say where and how much steroids came into play. I remember when Bonds wasn't nearly as big and strong as he became later. But the thing is, he just doesn't miss the ball very much. He's got such a short stroke. He doesn't have that long, wild swing that most home run hitters do. Has a great eye, besides."

Toward the end of the dialogue, a whiff of nostalgia arises.

"We old guys tend to think that the natural order of the game is the way it was when we played it," Gibson says. "Maybe we shouldn't get too caught up in thinking that our time is the standard for everything."

Oh, but what a time it was.


Steve Weinberg lives in Columbia, Mo., where he plays in two baseball leagues at age 61.