From what I saw of Ernie, I always suspected that there wasn't a whole lot of "there" there. He was a simple, friendly, quiet guy who happened to be able to play baseball well and who learned to hide his loneliness and insecurity. There wasn't much in the book about his personal life—his last two wives are hardly mentioned—but I got the feeling his family life was lousy because he ran from any sort of confrontation or any attempt to get him to be personal.