Obit. Lawrence S. Ritter, who wrote many baseball books, including "The Glory of Their Times," died Sunday at his Manhattan apartment. He was 81. "The Glory of Their Times" is a collection of 22 oral histories from deadball-era stars like Ty Cobb, John McGraw, Honus Wagner, Rube Marquard, and Smoky Joe Wood. It was one of the first baseball books I ever read. It was published in 1966 and is rightly regarded as perhaps the best baseball book of all-time (and damn good American history as well). A CD of the interviews (including many not in the book) was released a few years ago. I liked reading that Ritter divided his royalties from the book among the players and their families.