gulfportdoc
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Greenleaf: Pool's Greatest Champion (2020)
This is a good book by Sam Korte about Ralph Greenleaf, a subject that has resisted complete research, presumably because of lack of records. Although only 112 pages it gives a fairly good account of Greenleaf's life, career, Marriages, and alcoholism.
Greenleaf may have been the greatest of all time. He was a virtuoso cueist, excelling at both straight pool and 3 cushion, at a time when pool was played exclusively on 5X10 tables. M. Fats went on record stating that Greenleaf was the greatest. And Mosconi held the same opinion. In fact Greenleaf took Mosconi on a number of exhibition tours (a common way for top players to make a living then), where he routinely beat mosconi.
Even drunk he could play well enough to win. But the periodic benders, disappearing acts, and erratic behavior slowed his career to a trickle in the mid 1930s. Still, he dried out somewhat and made a comeback to the top. Unfortunately he died in 1950 at aged 50, likely of cirrhosis of the liver.
This is a very nice read for pool fans. Christmas is coming, lads. Available on Amazon, AbeBooks, and others.
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