Gibson, Jackson offer great insights into game

SIXTY FEET, SIX INCHES. By Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson, with Lonnie Wheeler. Doubleday. 273 pages. $26.

The World Series is over, but a long winter goes faster with spirited chatter around baseball's "Hot Stove."

Few players over the last half-century have been more skilled or opinionated than Hall of Famers Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson, which makes "Sixty Feet, Six Inches" an exceptionally insightful read.

Wheeler, who has collaborated with Gibson and Hank Aaron on autobiographies, separates rich back-and-forth conversation with Gibson and Jackson by subjects ranging from "Mechanics" to "Forty Years of Change."

Jackson, the brash ex-slugger best known as "Mr. October" and for his three home runs in a single 1977 World Series game, talks a lot about the details of hitting, and about Gibson: "Gibson felt about pitching the way I felt about hitting. You have to take what's rightfully yours. He was the most feared pitcher out there because he'd do whatever he had to do to win."

Gibson, the former fastballer who pitched the St. Louis Cardinals to World Series conquests of the New York Yankees in 1964 and the Boston Red Sox in 1967, earned respect and fame for owning the inside part of the plate.

"I wasn't in the business of hurting people," he says, "and when it happened, I felt badly. But it happened, and I couldn't allow myself to feel badly enough that I'd give in to a hitter. I'd feel worse about that."

The book at its best is the give-and-take on fellow stars in the "Towering Figures" chapter and on hot topics. Steroids, for instance.

Jackson: "No, thanks. God gave me a good body, and my side of the deal was to make the most of it. And be grateful for what I had."

Gibson: "It's not all that clear to me. ... They finally made it illegal, and that's fine, but I don't see how players can be penalized for what they did before the rules were in place."

Two of the best players and best talkers equals one of the best baseball books in recent years.