MixedThe New York Journal of BooksAlthough interesting and well-written, Tough Luck toggles to and fro throughout, alternating between the worlds of professional football and organized crime, and this approach betrays a weakness in the narrative. Luckman, a classic extrovert, rarely revealed his true feelings about difficult matters. Little if anything is shared from his internal voices. Therefore a central question about Sid Luckman’s feelings about his father, other than remembering fondly receiving a football from him at age eight, are unresolved ... The chapters about Murder Inc. are well-written and interesting, but have much less to do with Sid Luckman and the National Football League than the book’s title would lead one to believe ... This is a good story, well written, and its portrayal of the infancy of professional football is interesting. But it suffers in the end by bouncing between unrelated worlds with only hints of connectedness. The story of Sid Luckman is fascinating, but he remains frustrating as a biographical subject because so much of his life was shrouded from those closest to him, a veil that Rosen is only occasionally able to pierce. Tough Luck is less a traditional biography and more a slice of time in the history of the country, when politics, sports, and crime intersected.
Jane Leavy
PositiveThe New York Journal of Books\"Wisely, this is not a recitation of the great slugger’s career season by season. The book instead utilizes nonlinear approach...Those unfamiliar with Ruth may find this unsettling, but those knowledgeable about baseball and Ruth in particular will understand. Leavy takes advantage of the book’s nonlinear structure to take the reader down interesting side roads that branch off Ruth’s story before meandering back. As a result, the book employs some necessary repetition to provide context ... The Big Fella is an essential addition to the Babe Ruth canon. For Jane Leavy, one of the top tier among baseball authors, it is a welcome addition to her canon as well.\
