The Pitch: The Adventures of Luther Woundup and His Magical Orange Ball Review

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The Pitch: The Adventures of Luther Woundup and His Magical Orange Ball ReviewAs a native Sacramentan and avid science fiction fan, this book piqued my curiosity. The unusual, colorful cover grabbed my attention as I was browsing around Tower Books on Broadway. I bought it on a whim, and only put it down once before I was finished.
The book takes place in the near future in Sacramento, CA, in the familiar territory of downtown, on the Sacramento River, and at Raley Field (called Riders Field in the novel). Our protagonist (or is he? we're not quite sure) is Luther Woundup, a fiery redheaded sprite of a youth, who just happens to hearken from a planet called Spalding (the novel is not without its requisite sci-fi puns - but thankfully, Cabral humors us with a plausible explanation). If nothing else, this kid wants to play baseball, and bad. We soon learn that he's on a mission to collect energy from people to deliver back to his home planet - and where better to collect it than from 13,000 upbeat baseball fans? (Well, Arco Arena - but Spaldingians are apparently not into basketball.)
Luther's mission leads him to some interesting characters - Bo Wandele, a good-natured river rat with a bum leg and a homeless lisp; Susan "Mink" Minkin, a PR career woman for the baseball team whose only flaw is determination in the face of almost certain humiliation; and, believe it or not, a shockingly accurate Rush Limbaugh - who becomes more central to the story than one would ever think possible.
It's a really great book. Well written, funny, with lively characters and dialogue. We really LIKE Luther, and Bo, and Mink - and we're really rooting for them throughout the story. The plot is also very sophisticated for a "sci fi" piece. (I strongly hesitate to use that label, by the way - this novel would be enjoyed by anyone who just likes a good story.) It was interesting: After I finished the book, I felt like I was waking up from a vivid dream - I guess I was that committed to what I was reading.
I'm very much a supporter of local writers, arts and entertainment, and I think this book is just as good as anything else out there. I gave it four stars instead of five just because it felt a little rough around the edges in places, but it was truly worth reading. I wholeheartedly recommend this book - especially if you're a Sacramentan, a baseball nut, or a Rush Limbaugh fan/enemy (trust me, the character will appeal to both conservatives AND the "bleeding-hearts!")The Pitch: The Adventures of Luther Woundup and His Magical Orange Ball OverviewTo contact the author, please send e-mail to RAC@ThePitchBook.comFrom the moment Luther Woundup launches the orange baseball over the wall at Riders Field, Sacramento fans are introduced to the most intriguing mascot the game has ever seen. Luther bursts onto the field and into their hearts with the most ingenious, magical displays. But like a modern day Trojan Horse, the display serves as a ruse to collect human brain waves with an innocent-looking device invented by Luther's father, the reigning scientist on Spalding. The mission: convert the contents into cortesium, which is needed to save his people. At least, that's what Luther is told. Eventually, he learns the true purpose of his mission, pitting father against son in The Pitch

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A Tale of Two Cities: The 2004 Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry and the War for the Pennant Review

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A Tale of Two Cities: The 2004 Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry and the War for the Pennant ReviewAs a baseball fan, I was glued to this book and could not put it down, even though I knew who won in the end... Tony Mazz and John Harper did a great job giving the reader a feel for what each city was experiencing during the 2004 season. The behind the scenes stories and quotes added a critical element to the book and made the reading fun. If you want some inside information on Pedro, A-Rod, Schilling and others, this book is for you. The off-the-record quotes are stunning. I really enjoyed this book... and I've read a lot of baseball books over the years. This is one of the best.A Tale of Two Cities: The 2004 Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry and the War for the Pennant OverviewWhen the Boston Red Sox faced the New York Yankees in the historic 2003 American League Championship Series, the meeting seemed to serve as the climax to perhaps the greatest rivalry in professional sports. Yet, following New York's comeback victory in scintillating Game 7, both the Red Sox and Yankees entered the off-season without a world title--and with renewed conviction to finish the job in 2004.In A Tale of Two Cities, respected baseball writers John Harper (New York Daily News) and Tony Massarotti (Boston Herald) chronicle the Yankees and Red Sox in parallel story lines through the summer of 2004. The authors take you behind the scenes with the teams, cities, and media during one of the most intense baseball seasons in history.

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Red Sox Rule: Terry Francona and Boston's Rise to Dominance Review

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Red Sox Rule: Terry Francona and Boston's Rise to Dominance ReviewAfter two World Series championships in four seasons, it's hard to reach back into the days of reversing the curse. It seems like something that our grandfathers had to deal with. In fact, the subject never comes up any more.
Instead, Jordan's Furniture came on the air to announce yesterday that if the Red Sox win the World Series in four straight in 2008 you will be reimbursed for your furniture purchases. It sounds crazy, but in 2004 and 2007 the Red Sox won in sweeps.
As I write this, the Red Sox are behind against the A's in Tokyo. Dice-K is all the rage and left with a no-decision.
I picked up Red Sox Rule to help get me into the mood for the new season. I was pleasantly surprised to learn new things about Terry Francona, Boston's championship manager. His job interview with Theo Epstein (the young GM) included two examinations! I also didn't know much about Francona's career as a player . . . nor his experience as manager of the Phillies.
When Francona was selected, I couldn't figure out why anyone would have chosen him. Having seen his work from the bench, I've been impressed by his heart, his discipline, his even-keeled personality, and his defense of the players. Francona is the right manager for Boston.
I had also forgotten that Francona had been Michael Jordan's manager while MJ was a baseball player. It was good to be reminded.
Those are the highlights of the book. Most of the rest is filler.
I found several aspects of the book to be disappointing:
1. The 2004 season is ignored.
2. The 2007 season is described too briefly.
3. You don't get much of a sense about how Francona combines old school instinct and new school statistics although Mr. Holley is fond of repeating the point.
4. Although Francona loves to talk baseball, there's not much of his philosophy of managing in the book. You get a brief reference instead such as how he'll bring team issues to the attention of Big Papi who will take care of things for Francona.
5. There is no index.
6. The focus is on explaining the Red Sox to those who don't know the team. That's weird. Yankee fans aren't going to read this book.
I can't imagine that Terry Francona held back a lot from Mr. Holley. My impression is that Mr. Holley wasn't sure how to write about managing. That is a missed opportunity.
After the next World Series championship in Boston, I hope another writer will take on this subject and do a better job.
As a side point, I would like to warn you that my copy is filled with smeared type as though the pages weren't printed properly. If you want to have a pretty copy, you might want to buy yours at a book store where you can check the printing quality before your purchase.Red Sox Rule: Terry Francona and Boston's Rise to Dominance Overview
The story of the changing face of baseball and the inner workings of its finest organization

After a hundred "cursed" years, the Boston Red Sox rose gloriously to baseball domination. Under the leadership of manager Terry Francona, an extraordinary team of wildly disparate personalities—from the inscrutable Manny Ramirez to the affable David "Big Papi" Ortiz—pulled off two improbable post-season comebacks to make it to the World Series twice in three years . . . and ultimately emerged victorious. In Red Sox Rule, Michael Holley, bestselling author of Patriot Reign, provides a fascinating, insightful, and surprising inside look at how it all happened.

With the exclusive cooperation of Terry Francona and stories from the clubhouse and the conference room, Holley reveals the private sessions and the dugout and front-office strategies that have made the Red Sox a budding dynasty, overtaking their archrivals, the powerful New York Yankees, as the American League's elite team.


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You Gotta Have Wa Review

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You Gotta Have Wa ReviewOn the surface, this is a treatise about baseball in Japan. Only slightly underneath, it's a fascinating work on the difference between Japanese and American culture. The title word Wa comes from the Japanese word for team unity, as opposed to the American interest in individuality.
The book goes through both a history of baseball in Japan, as well as challenges American's deal with over there. It covers the trials and tribulations of Americans like Bob Horner, who thrive on the diamond, but struggle off the field. It covers the adverserial relationship between Japanese coaches and their foreign (Gai-jin) charges. Any American going to work in Japan is well advised to pay attention!
How is Japan changing over time? Compare how the approval of "different" antics of foreigners changes over time. Learn how some Japanese players follow the model, but as the exception and not the rule. Is the Japanese culture changing, or a surface appearance of change part of the Japanese character? Read the book to find out. Again, it's only about baseball on the surface.
How does training differ? The American model suggests individuals can improve, but only to the limit of their ability. The Japanese model in both the field and the office is that there is no limit - strength and success is limited only by effort. This drive leads to a 10-11 month season counting training camp, as well as several hours of strenuous exercizes every day before practice. This is essential to developing the fighting spirit. Again, someone travelling to Japan for business is well advised to understand this.
The book is a must for baseball lovers as well as people interested in learning more about Japan. The book is a fascinating work that hides great learning behind Japan under the story of America's pastime.You Gotta Have Wa Overview

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The Cubs: The Complete Story of Chicago Cubs Baseball Review

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The Cubs: The Complete Story of Chicago Cubs Baseball ReviewI think I have read every Cubs book ever published and, without question, this is by far the best, best looking, and most comprehensive history of the team i have ever read. It has a little of everything, well, actually alot of everything - hundreds of new pictures, stats and essays plus a narrative history that reads like a PBS special, smart, thorough and thought provoking. Unlike so many other Cubs books this doesn't just focus on 1969, or all the billy goat bs, but tells Cub history as one big story, from the beginning to the start of the 2007 season. It looks like a coffee table book (and is BIG) but reads like something David McCullough might have written. Good to read straight through, like I did, or to flip through and look at the pictures like my son did with his grandfather. After reading this book you'll love the Cubs just as much as ever but you'll win any argument with other Cubs fans.
The only thing I didn't like was the ending. If the Cubs could only win a World Series, this book would be perfect.The Cubs: The Complete Story of Chicago Cubs Baseball Overview

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Hank Greenberg: The Story of My Life Review

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Hank Greenberg: The Story of My Life ReviewThis revealing autobiography of slugger Hank Greenberg (1911-1986) makes for excellent reading. Greenberg was baseball's first Jewish superstar, a massive (6-4, 215 lbs), popular, intelligent player. Greenberg's immigrant parents disliked his decision to play baseball, but by the mid-1930's he was slugging the Detroit Tigers to pennants and his mother found herself a celebrity in her mostly-Jewish neighborhood in the Bronx. Greenberg's popularity probably reduced the amount of anti-Semitic abuse he faced - abuse that he often answered with his bat. Greenberg lost nearly five seasons to military service during World War II, and he left the game after 1947 to become a talented baseball executive and later an investment broker. All is described in these readable pages, along with Greenberg's views on famous controversies. Did opposing hurlers purposely walk him as he closed in on Babe Ruth's home run record in 1938? Was he unfairly drafted prior to Pearl Harbor? Should he play on major Jewish holidays? His answers ("no") are given at length. In his last year with Pittsburgh, Greenberg also encouraged a rookie named Jackie Robinson who faced similar but much greater abuse.
Greenberg was intelligent, dedicated, and surprisingly modest. He passed away before this book was finished, at which point journalist Ira Berkow filled in the gaps with interviews and anecdotes. This is an intelligent and readable biography about one of baseball's most impressive men.
Hank Greenberg: The Story of My Life Overview

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Feeding the Monster: How Money, Smarts, and Nerve Took a Team to the Top Review

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Feeding the Monster: How Money, Smarts, and Nerve Took a Team to the Top ReviewIn general, I enjoyed this book; Seth Mnookin is a good writer, if a little bland, and the book flowed nicely. But it had plenty of problems. Let's make a list:
The Good
1)It's easy to understand, even if you don't know too much about baseball. I consider myself an avid Red Sox fan and a baseball connoisseur, so explanations of ERA and batting average bored me, but it does make the book more inclusive to a wider audience. It also includes a brief history of the team for those that are less familiar with it.
2)There are plenty of entertaining anecdotes and side stories in here. The sections on Nomar are particularly well-done. I now have more background information on the Red Sox ownership troika than I would have ever thought possible. What an interesting group of people.
3)The section on the sale of the team would make a new book in and of itself, and is very well-done and interesting, providing you have a rudimentary understanding of economics and finance. If you don't, or hate numbers, prepare to be bored silly and skip about 75 pages.
4)There is a lot of new information on the process that brought about the Schilling trade. I found the tale of Jed Hoyer's ugly Thanksgiving stomach virus to be two of the funniest paragraphs in the whole book, though I'm sure Jed would disagree.
5)And, of course, the famous Epstein/Lucchino rift is very well-documented and traced, to the point that I found myself getting frustrated with the characters for not noticing that Theo was acting increasingly bizarre and doing something about it months earlier. If Mnookin noticed, somebody else should have. A very nice job leading into the final explosion.
The bad:
1)I said there is a lot of background information that makes it more inclusive for casual fans. This is true, but the corollary is that if you are a true Red Sox fan, many parts of this book will drive you batty. The entire history of the team section at the beginning is largely irrelevant to the rest of the book, and Mnookin spends way too much time rehashing information that most respectable Sox fans already know, like descriptions of games and whatnot. It really slogs at times.
2)For a guy who spent all this time with the Red Sox front office, he sure didn't include as much revelatory material as I thought he would. It was a disappointment. Casual fans may be impressed, but hard-core Red Sox fans will recognize many of his insights as already being common knowledge from Boston Globe or even AP stories.
3)The style is easy to follow but also fairly pedantic and dry.
4)Mnookin does a good job with the Epstein/Lucchino fiasco right up until Theo quits, and then after that his analysis is severely lacking. I realize that he was not with the team much after this point, but given that this was one of the most momentous things to occur in the history of the ownership group, which was exactly what he was writing about, you'd think he might put things off a little bit to try to gain more insight into what was going on.
5)The book gives a very sympathetic portrayal of pretty much every character except Dan Shaughnessy. Not that there is a problem with portraying Shaughnessy as a jerk, because he is. But John Henry is not a saint. Tom Werner is not a saint. Larry Lucchino sure isn't a saint (to be fair, his portrayal was more negative). And I got the distinct impression that Mnookin didn't have nearly as much insight into Epstein as he did into the ownership troika. That's not to say there wasn't any, because there was, and I understand that Epstein is not, by nature, eager to open up to someone like Mnookin, but it was noticeable.
5)The pictures. Funny thing to get upset about, I know. But he spent a year there. Did he bring a camera? There isn't one single picture of the Fenway offices or any of the characters at work or with Mnookin or any such thing. No pictures of Joe O'Donnell or any lesser characters. I recognized every single photo from the Globe or AP except the one of Theo against some graffiti-covered wall. Visuals would be nice, thanks.
I'd recommend the book, but be prepared for it not to be quite what you thought it was going to be.Feeding the Monster: How Money, Smarts, and Nerve Took a Team to the Top Overview

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Baseball America 2008 Directory: Your Definitive Guide to the Game (Baseball America Directory) Review

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Baseball America 2008 Directory: Your Definitive Guide to the Game (Baseball America Directory) ReviewThis directory is a must for any true baseball fan. It is a wealth of information, not only for the major leagues, but for the minor and independent leagues, as well. Schedules, directions, facts, figures, are just some of the vast amount of information that is supplied. I have been buying this guide for years and it is constantly improving. Do yourself a favor and buy it!Baseball America 2008 Directory: Your Definitive Guide to the Game (Baseball America Directory) Overview

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Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story Review

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Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story ReviewVince Scully the legendary Hall Of Fame announcer for the Brooklyn and now Los Angeles Dodgers... is nearing his sixtieth complete year of broadcasting. I happen to have been blessed to listen to Vinnie as a young boy in New York... and then miraculously... our family moved to Los Angeles the same exact year as the Dodgers... so I have never missed a single year of Vinnie's poetic... magical... announcing of our families beloved Dodgers from the time I was old enough to know the difference between a ball and a strike... till today... when as a Grandfather I listen to Vinnie with my grandchild. This is a book that is long over do... but unfortunately... I'm sad to say it is disappointing for a number of reasons.
Since Vinnie did not participate in the development of this book the author depends entirely on historical quotes... and on countless occasions many sentences and paragraphs include numerous quotes from multiple individuals... and many times the same section has more than one quote from the same individual... IN NO LOGICAL SEQUENCE... and the reader becomes dumbfounded as to which quotes came from which individuals. At times such as these the flow of the story comes to a standstill as the reader literally scratches his head and tries to figure out who said what.
There are also numerous typos and/or sentences that just don't make sense. Such as page forty-eight when the author writes: "IT WOULDN'T HAVE GONE THROUGH THE (BROOKLYN) FENCE." "MUSED CAMPANELLA. MIGHT HAVE GONE THROUGH IT, THOUGH." Huh?? Or on page ninety-nine "THE KID YOU'D LIKE TO SEE RINGING YOUR DOORBELL WHEN YOU DAUGHTER STARTS DATING." There are also important historical mistakes such as the stating that in 1966 Koufax won his third straight Cy Young award. That is incorrect. Koufax didn't win three straight awards... though he did win the Cy Young in 1963,1965 and 1966. The reader is also let down when the most famous baseball fight in modern history involving the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers when Giant Juan Marichal hit Dodger catcher Johnnie Roseboro over the head with a bat is discussed, and none of the prior game detail that culminated in this horrendous event is covered.
When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles Vinnie and the transistor radio is what fueled the Dodgers growth in popularity as much as the team itself. Every member of the family from Grandma and Grandpa... to Mom and Dad... and the kids... all knew Vince Scully simply... and lovingly... by one word "VINNIE". He was a one name superstar way before Madonna... Britney... Magic and Michael. Vinnie was voted *THE MOST MEMORABLE PERSONALITY IN THE HISTORY OF THE LOS ANGELES DODGER FRANCHISE!* This book chronologically covers all the bases in Scully's career... but it is not an easy read due to the sloppiness mentioned earlier. What may or may not be an interesting coincidence... is that this book and the last shoddy baseball book I read... were both mysteriously delivered a couple of weeks "earlier" than the original release dates that had been posted on Amazon for months. Perhaps the publishers cut down on quality control to simply get the books out quicker than originally scheduled for some unknown marketing reasons. If so... I hope they learned their lesson.
Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story OverviewIn 1950, Vin Scully broadcast his first major league baseball game for the then-Brooklyn Dodgers. Nearly sixty years later he still invites a listener to 'pull up a chair," completing a record fifty-ninth consecutive year of play-by-play. Recruited and mentored by the legendary Red Barber, the New York-born Scully moved with the Dodgers to Los Angeles in early 1958. His instantly recognizable voice has described players from Duke Snider to Orel Hershiser to Manny Ramirez, with hundreds in between.At one time or another, Scully has aired NBC Television's Game of the Week, twelve All-Star Games, eighteen no-hitters, twenty-five World Series, and network football, golf, and tennis. He has made every sportscasting Hall of Fame; received a Lifetime Emmy Achievement award and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; and been voted 'most memorable [L.A. Dodgers] franchise personality." In 2000, the American Sportscasters Association named Scully the Sportscaster of the 20th Century.The first biography of Vin Scully is long overdue. Curt Smith-to USA Today, 'The voice of authority on baseball broadcasting"-is the ideal man to write it. Scully opens each broadcast by wishing listeners, 'A very pleasant good afternoon." Pull Up a Chair will provide a reader with the same.

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Travelball: How to Start and Manage a Successful Travel Baseball Team Review

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Travelball: How to Start and Manage a Successful Travel Baseball Team ReviewIf you have any interest at all in Travel baseball you will want to read this book. If you are new to Travelball it actually should be required reading. This book will give you a great understanding of what Travelball really is. If you are veteran coach you will not be able to put it down.
Ron does a great job explaining all of the ins and outs of running a successful team in an easy to read format. Ron's insights from his experiences of things gone well and things gone "not so well" are fun to read.
In this current era of "select" sports this is the book that has been missing and much needed. Congratualtions on a book well written. It is easy to see why you have been so successful.Travelball: How to Start and Manage a Successful Travel Baseball Team OverviewWhether you're an experienced coach or a parent eager to help your child get the best experiences with a newly-formed team, you'll get everything you need from Ron Filipkowski's "Travelball: How to Start and Manage a Successful Travel Baseball Team".Filipkowski, named the 2010 13-U Coach of the Year by Travelball Select, brings more than a decade of personal expertise to this comprehensive handbook. He not only knows what it takes to keep a group of kids moving ahead toward top-level tournament goals-- he also shares amazing insights into the psychology of motivation and team management.Along the way, Ron Filipkowski shares unabashedly personal stories of his many experiences as the coach of a championship team. Some of his tales will have you splitting your sides with laughter; others will simply melt your heart.But throughout the book the author repeatedly makes one thing clear: if your team is going to be a consistent success on the baseball field, then you have to be at the top of your game when your players are off the field, too. While some travelball coaches may find themselves severely challenged by the competing needs of young players, demanding parents, petty rivalries, scheduling conflicts, hotel logistics, unethical competition, and all the other wild and unpredictable factors that go into the potentially overwhelming world of high-level travelball competition, Ron Filipkowski makes it all seem easy.Although "Travelball" features a massive amount of practical, hands-on information that will help you coach your team to peak levels of performance, this book doesn't stop there. Ron Filipkowski also takes you off the playing field, out of the dugout, past the locker room, and into the hearts and minds of anxious parents, overbearing tournament officials, and the umpires who never seem to get the respect they deserve. This is the real world of competing egos, unintentional goof-ups, and big-league stupidity that can make even veteran coaches pull their hair out-- and Filipkowski not only captures it elegantly in print; he also tells you exactly how to survive in this super-charged culture of crazy little things that all somehow make a big difference!If you're serious about being all the coach you can be, get this book and read every word. Then read it a second time, and keep a copy with you every time you get ready for a practice or head out for a tournament. And if you really want your team to succeed, make sure all your assistant coaches have their own copies, too!Here's just some of what you'll find in the exciting pages of "Travelball: How to Start and Manage a Successsful Travel Baseball Team":* Dealing with parents that are unhappy with playing time or positions.* How to handle and approach youth umpires to get them on your side.* Crazy little strategy tips that make a huge difference in travelball tournaments.* Why you should consistently treat each player different.* Creative offensive and defensive plays.* Recruiting new players from rec ball leagues and other travelball teams.* Tournament and game strategies adapted for travelball rules and formats.* Why doing things by "The Book" doesn't always work in the youth game.* Keeping other coaches from recruiting your players.* Managing playing time in tournaments to keep everyone happy while winning.* How to make travelball coexist with rec ball, school ball and other sports.* Baseball-specific strength, speed & conditioning exercises tailored for youth players.* Why home runs are evil in the youth game.* Curveballs and kids.* Why Bill Walsh-style practices are best for young players.* How to keep your team together over several seasons.* Teaching plate discipline and the mental approach at the plate.* The ethics of sign-stealing.* Why you should remove the word "umpire" from your team vocabulary.* Dealing with difficult parents of outstanding players.* Hosting tournaments as fundraisers.* And much, much more!

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The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (Third Edition) Review

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The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (Third Edition) ReviewThe new and revised Dickson Baseball Dictionary is a must have for every baseball scholar or casual fan of the game. This third edition is revised with more than 10,000 entries, 18,000 definitions, and more than 250 photos - a masterpiece! This third edition is the definitive and authoritative guide to all baseball terminology. If I had to choose just ten baseball books for my library, the Dickson Baseball Dictionary would be one of them.
It is often an over-used phase "this is a must have book." But in this case, the phrase aptly fits. So many interesting phrases and terms in this new edition, it boggles the mind that one sport has so many distinct terms. Where to start? I spent two hours just flipping the pages when it first arrived, and I barely got past the first couple hundred pages. Some of my favorite terms include: a bowling ball pitch, Bud Black market, a Six-o'clock hitter, a Bugs Bunny change up, the ever familiar ducks on the pond, a Linda Ronstadt pitch, and the place I often sit at games - the Uecker seats. Since I have an interest in the Athletics and their irascible former owner Charlie Finley, I was please to see orange baseballs and the Kansas City pennant porch in the book as well.
The book provides not only multiple definitions to many, many terms, but provides incredible details on the phrase or term's history and origins. There is no other baseball book like this one on the market today. Author Paul Dickson has done a truly masterful job of searching for new and interesting terms over the past ten years including many new words and phrases from Latin-American players, fantasy baseball expressions, and terminology from the shameful steroid era.
You can hear a very compelling interview with author Paul Dickson on NPR's All Things Considered at this link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101356924.The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (Third Edition) Overview

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Take me out to the ballgame Review

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Take me out to the ballgame ReviewThe best praise I can give Gary Morgenstein's Take Me Out to the Ballgame is not insignificant. With approximately 50 pages left to read, I put the book down in order to go out to dinner. While at dinner, I found myself distracted, thinking about the book, wondering how it would end. I actually found myself anxious to get home, so I could finish reading.
That being said, Take Me Out to the Ballgame is definitely a book for people who love baseball, like baseball, or, at the very least, tolerate baseball. If you would sooner get a colonoscopy than watch a baseball game, then this is probably not for you. If you count yourself among the legion of baseball fans, you will enjoy this novel. Don't misunderstand, however. This is not some heart-warming, apple pie tale of America's pastime.
I didn't get anything that I expected from Morgy in this novel, which is a good -- if not great -- thing for readers. While I thoroughly enjoyed two of his other books (How to Find a Woman...or Not and Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman), which were replete with Jewish humor and a good dose of New York living, this book strays far from that style. The plot revolves around a fictional -- but very believable -- baseball team, the Buffalo Matadors. There are actually two storylines, but ones that are inextricably woven together. One focuses on Cal, the Matadors' number one fan, whose love of baseball can't really be called an obsession -- because obsession is far too weak a word. The other storyline is behind-the-scenes of the Matadors' ball club; the owner, the manager, the PR guy who figures out how to transform a failing ball club into a national sensation. Cal grows increasingly irritated by the newfound popularity of the Matadors, especially the bandwagon-jumpers. And again, irritated is far too weak a word.
You won't believe what happens in this story, but it's not preposterous, which is possibly the scariest part. This is hard to put down...and when you finally do, it'll be because you've reached the end.Take me out to the ballgame OverviewBaseball and bailouts, as American as apple pie. Weaving today's economic malaise with the powerful magic of a Cinderella baseball team, Take Me Out to the Ballgame is a political baseball novel for our times.The Buffalo Matadors haven't won a world championship in 37 years, a dying franchise. Until flamboyant Harry Witowsky, a 21st Century George Steinbrenner, buys them, vowing to do whatever is necessary to change the fortunes of the "Door Mats."Victories and attendance climb as Witowsky creates an Us versus Them mentality at the Stadium. The rally cry of "Where's My Bailout" replaces "Let's Go Mats." Buffalo's surprising surge resonates with a nation afraid of losing jobs and homes, shaken by terrorist threats, frightened for the future. The Matadors become America's Team.

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Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain Review

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Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain ReviewWhen I was a youngster, I was a huge fan of Thurman Munson.
To this day, if I close my eyes, I can quickly remember the feeling of sitting in Yankee Stadium, as a 13-year old, with my father, watching the Yankees play with Munson at bat and runners on base.
During these moments, my heart would race - where it felt like it was about to jump out of my chest (because it was beating so hard and fast). Why? Because I wanted Thurman to come through...as he was "my guy."
And, more times than not, Munson did the job.
It's been so many years, but, in this memory, I can still see Munson slapping a line drive into right field, as if he was picking the ball out of opposing catcher's mitt with his bat, waiting until the last minute to go the other way with the pitch, with Yankees runners rounding third and coming home to score...man, talk about pure exhilaration...that was it.
Being such a Munson fan, I was (and still am) very interested in learning more about him. And, for the last three decades or so, I've been waiting for the ultimate book covering the entire story of Thurman Munson.
Now, thanks to Marty Appel, with his new book "Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain," we have what I have been waiting for...all these years. With this book Appel provides us with the complete account of Thurman Munson's life and untimely passing...with no holds barred.
With this work, we get to see the many facets of Munson's life: Thurman as a ball player, a friend, the family man and a real estate entrepreneur. And, we get to see the good and the bad sides of the man. This includes getting to see Thurman as the everyday likeable guy who eats Oreos and milk for breakfast, watches the Three Stooges, sings commercial jingles to himself, has a terrible sense of fashion, and who would go out of his way to help people (with no fanfare whatsoever). But, we also get to see Thurman as someone who was somewhat insecure at times, cursed at sportswriters, gave the fans "the finger" during a game, cut many of the dysfunctional family members out of his life, and who once fired a gun in the Yankee Stadium parking lot.
Also, with this biography, Appel provides a superior account of the complete Thurman Munson timeline - bringing us from Munson's youth, through his time with the Yankees, to covering his tragic death in terms of the event itself and the impact it had on many (both inside and outside the Munson circle).
But, what I enjoyed most about "Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain" is how the story is told. In the book, Appel uses his own voice as well as those of many others who knew Thurman - including his teammates and friends. And, many of these sources are people who most were never aware (until now) as being a big part of Munson's life or parties that you would not expect to have some insight on the Munson story.
In summary, I would offer that "Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain" is a must read for any Yankees fan over the age of forty, a highly recommended read for Yankees fans of any age, and a recommended read for anyone interested in baseball and a very well-done story about one of more notable players from the last half-century of the game's history.
This book will engross, entertain, enlighten and "touch" you all at the same time. It's too bad that we had to wait 30 years for a book like this on Thurman Munson. But, now that its here, I cannot imagine a better one ever being done compared to the job Marty Appel did with "Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain."Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain Overview

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Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series Review

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Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series ReviewFrom the first paragraph to the last sentence of this gripping book, Asinof grabs your interest and doesn't let go. The story he is telling is fascinating - a tale of talented but clueless ballplayers, manipulating gamblers, money-hungry owners, and corrupt politicians, all coming together to create the greatest scandal the world of baseball has known. He tells it with clear, clean prose that keeps the story moving through every detail to its tragic conclusion.
The eight disgraced ballplayers who threw the 1919 World Series have been dubbed the Black Sox for posterity, yet with two exceptions, they are the most sympathetic characters in the whole sordid story. Chick Gandil, the tough first baseman who hatched the scheme, and his friend Swede Risberg, nasty tempered shortstop, who needed no prodding to join in, don't come off well. The rest of the crew, however, seem to have joined in a half-hearted, hapless manner. Particularly tragic are Shoeless Joe Jackson, one of baseball's greatest all-time hitters, whose talent was only exceeded by his naivete, and Buck Weaver, the outstanding thirdbaseman whose only real fault was his loyalty to his friends in not reporting the scheme, as he took no part in throwing the games, and accepted no money. These clueless, grossly underpaid ballplayers, most of who profited little or nothing from the fix, were the only ones punished for the scandal that rocked the nation.
The tale of the gamblers involved is as fascinating as it is telling. Three distinct levels of gamblers were present in the fix. Sleepy Bill Burns was an ex-ballplayer and small time gambler who did the legwork, consulting with the players. He went bust and was double-crossed by both the gamblers above him and Chick Gandil. Abe Attell and Sport Sullivan were a level up on the gambler's food chain - they had some access to the big time boys, but were not part of that exclusive club. Through constant maneuvering and double-dealing, and calculated risk taking, they were able to walk away from the scheme with a tidy profit. Arnold Rothstein was the big time. His money backed the fix, yet he took almost no personal risk, and emerged completely unscathed from the whole nasty affair while turning a huge profit. Big fish eat little fish, no matter what the ocean.
Finally, the least likeable characters of this tragic, real life morality play were Charles Comiskey, owner of the White Sox, and the rest of the baseball owners. For years they had turned a blind eye to the corruption of gambling in the game rather than expose it and risk the popularity of their sport and the profits in their ticket sales. When the fix of the World Series exploded across newspaper headlines, and they could no longer hide their dirty secrets, they used all their wealth and connections, buying off elected officials, and even colluding with the gamblers behind the fix, to protect their reputations and profits. It was their power, their lawyers, their money, that presented eight ballplayers as the scapegoats for national outrage, while willingly sacrificing true justice and exposure of their own hypocrisy. After reading this book, you may be left shaking your head that Charles Comiskey is in the Hall of Fame, and Shoeless Joe Jackson is forever banned from that hallowed hall.
Eight Men Out is a story of baseball, crime, and legal maneuvering. It is a window into the workings of power, and a cautionary tale of the corruption of the American dream and the twisting of justice by powerful interest. Most of all, it is an American tragedy of lives and reputations ruined, dreams shattered, and potential unfulfilled, that is as fascinating as it is sad.
If you are interested in baseball, American history, or the sociology of American society, you should read this book. You will not be disappointed.
Theo LogosEight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series OverviewThe headlines proclaimed the 1919 fix of the World Series and attempted cover-up as "the most gigantic sporting swindle in the history of America!" First published in 1963, Eight Men Out has become a timeless classic. Eliot Asinof has reconstructed the entire scene-by-scene story of the fantastic scandal in which eight Chicago White Sox players arranged with the nation's leading gamblers to throw the Series in Cincinnati. Mr. Asinof vividly describes the tense meetings, the hitches in the conniving, the actual plays in which the Series was thrown, the Grand Jury indictment, and the famous 1921 trial. Moving behind the scenes, he perceptively examines the motives and backgrounds of the players and the conditions that made the improbable fix all too possible. Here, too, is a graphic picture of the American underworld that managed the fix, the deeply shocked newspapermen who uncovered the story, and the war-exhausted nation that turned with relief and pride to the Series, only to be rocked by the scandal. Far more than a superbly told baseball story, this is a compelling slice of American history in the aftermath of World War I and at the cusp of the Roaring Twenties.

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Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball Review

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Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball ReviewThis year's revelations about rampant steroid use in Major League Baseball has escalated to the point that virtually every professional who played during the past decade automatically comes under suspicion (especially the power sluggers). As a longtime baseball fan, I've found this perpetual witch hunt irritating and have rapidly grown tired of the media obsession and with the subsequent inevitable and often irrational rants by politicians and sports fans. Even more galling is MLB Commissioner Bud Selig posing before Congress about his "strong" efforts to clean up the game, and his hypocritical tough posturing proposed through the media after the hearings. These are tough times for hardcore fans, and many of us would like to bury our heads in the sand and just enjoy the current pennant races.
But that has become impossible. Jose Canseco's "tell all" book, the February Congressional hearings, and media coverage have all put baseball's steroid scandal on the front page of the nation's sports section.
Steroids headlines another landmark moment in baseball history-akin to the gambling scandals (personified by the 1919 Chicago Black Sox) as well as the demarcation of an era when power hitting proliferated beyond reason (radically opposite the "dead ball era" of the early 20th century and the "pitchers' era" of the 1960's). But to follow the complicated story through ESPN and print journals only leads to confusion and misperceptions. Thus, Boston Herald sports columnist Howard Bryant comes to the rescue with his remarkably perceptive Juicing the Game that provides the necessary background and historical perspective to understand the issue-making this the most timely baseball book of 2005.
Bryant primarily frames his narrative around the decade that follows Major League Baseball's unfortunate 1994 strike that canceled the World Series that season, but to create an accurate picture requires a great deal of background. Bryant paints this in concisely (covering MLB's recent commissioners, influential owners and executives, major figures in the player's union and umpire's union, and the issues of that strike) before moving on to what Selig referred to as "Baseball's Renaissance" but will more certainly go down as "Baseball's Steroids Era."
Recently most of the fan talk has centered around Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, Jason Giambi, and other power sluggers who have admitted steroids use whether inadvertently or intentionally. Bryant delineates pertinent details on these players and others to give a much clearer visual picture of the issue, but he also astutely selects earlier indications of baseball's changing climate. Just how does a relatively light hitting Brady Anderson all of a sudden slug 50 homers in 1996? While MLB tried to pass this off as evidence of a livelier ball, smaller ballparks, improved nutrition, and weight training, the clarion call had been sounded all around MLB and its minor leagues.
Using his journalistic skills and wide-ranging contacts, Bryant offers irrefutable statistics and anecdotal evidence that clearly demonstrates just how such a huge change and development could lie "hidden" by baseball officials for so long. Few escape blame, for a wide ranging array of people benefited from baseball's sudden surge in home run power, and the boundaries go far beyond baseball-from Congressional laws concerning supplements, to baseball's beat writers who looked the other way to retain their team access, to society's faddish interest in health and weight training. Some teams (like the Arizona Diamondbacks, Oakland A's, and St. Louis Cardinals) even supplied free creatine to their players.
Despite the wide ranging forces that all converged to allow baseball to fall into complicity with steroid use, Bryant levels the most pointed criticism at the MLB Commissioner: "Bud Selig is out of control. His renaissance is in a shambles. He is flailing, grasping, angry. He is lost, swallowed whole by a phenomenon he never took the time to understand until after the fatal damage had been inflicted. If the notion of a tainted era and its full implications had not penetrated him fully before despite his jousts with McCain and the BALCO debacle, the devastation following the Canseco book shatters his calm . . . For nearly ten years, Bud Selig had referred to the decade as a renaissance, and now he is telling the public not to look back at the past. The thing to do is move forward, he says. The talk of a cover-up during his administration grows louder."
A thoroughly compelling read, Bryant has penned the definitive text about steroid use in our national pastime. Certainly the San Francisco Chronicle deserves accolades for breaking the BALCO story with its deep sources, but Bryant's work is also Pulitzer Prize worthy for taking an extremely complex issue and providing the historical and societal context to put this into proper perspective-an amazing accomplishment for a story that continues to unfold. Readers will find that they won't have to enhance their brain cells with ginkgo biloba to decipher Juicing the Game: Drugs Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball. All that is necessary is an interest in the game, its history, and its integrity.Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball Overview

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Baseball's Best Short Stories (Sporting's Best Short Stories series) Review

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Baseball's Best Short Stories (Sporting's Best Short Stories series) ReviewWhat a find! This is without a doubt required reading for anyone who longs for baseball "the way it used to be." Funny and entertaining, sometimes mysterious and dramatic.Baseball's Best Short Stories (Sporting's Best Short Stories series) Overview

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Rome 1960: The Summer Olympics That Stirred the World Review

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Rome 1960: The Summer Olympics That Stirred the World ReviewI bought this book after hearing an interview with Maraniss on NPR. Normally, this isn't my kind of book. I'm not an athlete. I'm not a fanatic about the Olympics. I'd rather knit or read a cozy mystery that I can breeze through in a night. And yet, I love this book.
Each chapter is like a short essay on some facet of the 1960 Olympics: the controverial decision in the men's swimming event, the Tigerbelles' encounters with racisim on their road the Olympics, the political controvery between China and Taiwan, and more. Maraniss paints a picture of the world's political and social climate to show how those factors affected the 1960 Olympics and how the 1960 Olympics affected the world.
Each story is compelling--48 years later, I feel minor outrage that Lance Larson wasn't awarded the gold for men's swimming. I understand the terror Rafer Johnson must have felt outside of Lenin Stadium when the Russian crowd surged toward him after his defeat of Kuznetsov. Maraniss deftly captures the human stories and makes this reader care. I'm only 5 chapters into the book, but I wish I could skip work today to finish the rest of the book.
Before reading this book, I hadn't watched the Olympics in over 20 years. Now, I'm psyched for 2008 Summer Olympics!
Rome 1960: The Summer Olympics That Stirred the World Overview

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'78: The Boston Red Sox, A Historic Game, and a Divided City Review

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'78: The Boston Red Sox, A Historic Game, and a Divided City ReviewRed Sox fans have watched over the past two decades as free agents have turned their city down, the most famous being David Justice. For anybody under 45 years of age, it's been a head-scratcher. Why is Boston labeled as a racist city by outsiders?
Reynolds' book explains the heavy racist hatred that plagued the city during the 1970s, through the story of the busing experiment that attempted to systematically integrate the city's neighborhood schools. Paralleling the busing story is the tale of the 1978 single game playoff between the Red Sox and Yankees, how it froze time in the city and focused everybody's concentration - black and white - on the game. The author also explores the hypocritical stance taken by many fans of the day, cheering black ballplayers like Jim Rice and George Scott, yet protesting busing once the games got out.
So the problem for Bostonians today is one of simple math. If they lived in the city in the mid-1970s and were cognizant of the busing controversy, they remember the hate. If David Justice had a friend who grew up in Boston during those turbulent, violent days, his opinion of the city could easily have been swayed. If you moved into Boston after 1980, you might never know the importance of the names Judge Garrity, Mel King and Louise Day Hicks.
In the end, the author uses the game as a metaphor for the race relations. After Carl Yastrzemski popped out to end the dramatic game, the Yankees visited the Red Sox clubhouse to say that neither team should have lost, that in the end, both teams should have been labeled winners.
If the Red Sox and Yankees could get along, so could South Boston and Roxbury.'78: The Boston Red Sox, A Historic Game, and a Divided City OverviewThe thrilling inside story behind a crucial chapter in Red Sox lore—and a turbulent time in a troubled city. George Steinbrenner called it the greatest game in the history of American sports. On a bright October day in 1978, the Boston Red Sox met the New York Yankees for an epic playoff game that would send one team to the World Series, and render the other cursed for almost a quarter of a century. In this book, award-winning sports columnist Bill Reynolds masterfully tells the story of the team and the players at this pivotal moment. This cultural history takes readers through the social issues that divided Boston that summer, and masterfully depicts their influence on one game beyond the realm of sports.

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Musial: From Stash to Stan the Man (MISSOURI BIOGRAPHY SERIES) Review

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Musial: From Stash to Stan the Man (MISSOURI BIOGRAPHY SERIES) ReviewThis book is head and shoulders above the average baseball biography. Most sports biographies fall into one of two categories: either they're superficial, hero-worshiping treatments that present the subject as a faultless paragon and give little space to anything other than the subject's on-field exploits, or they're efforts to tear down the hero image and dig up as much dirt on the athlete as possible.
Giglio's study of Musial avoids both these pitfalls. Since Giglio is a professional historian, rather than a sportswriter, he brings a historian's thoroughness and depth to his research on Musial. We learn a great deal about Musial's ethnic background, his family, and his personal attitudes and character. Although the author emphasizes what a genuinely good man Musial was and is, he presents a nuanced portrait that accepts and analyses his subject's faults and foibles as well as his many virtues.
Unfortunately, there are always a few hard-core sports fans who flee in horror from this kind of book. All they want to read about is their hero's exploits on the playing field. There are others who live and breathe statistics and sneer in contempt when a book about a baseball star isn't full of Sabrmetrics. It's true that this book is statistically unsophisticated, but the author makes no claims that he's writing that kind of book. This is a book about a MAN who PLAYED baseball-- not a "baseball book."
I give it a four-star rating only because the writing is at times a little dry and professorial--but only a little. This is a great read for anyone who dreams of getting to know a baseball immortal, and one of baseball's genuine gentlemen.
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The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card Review

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The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card ReviewI didn't have very high hopes for this book, since the subject matter (baseball card collectibles) isn't an area of interest for me, but an associate gave it to me to read on the train. I was very pleasantly surprised. Not only was it highly informative, it was extremely entertaining. I learned a ton about the history of baseball, how baseball cards got started, about Honus Wagner's life and the current, highly corrupted state of collectibles -- baseball cards in particular. This is a must for baseball fans and card collectors, or anyone who is interested in learning something about our national game.The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card Overview
Only a few dozen T206 Wagners are known to still exist, having been released in limited numbers just after the turn of the twentieth century. Most, with their creases and stains, look like they've been around for nearly one hundred years. But one—The Card—appears to have defied the travails of time. Its sharp corners and still-crisp portrait make it the single-most famous—and most desired—baseball card on the planet, valued today at more than two million dollars. It has transformed a simple hobby into a billion-dollar industry that is at times as lawless as the Wild West. Everything about The Card, which has made men wealthy as well as poisoned lifelong relationships, is fraught with controversy—from its uncertain origins to the nagging possibility that it might not be exactly as it seems.

In this intriguing, eye-opening, and groundbreaking look at a uniquely American obsession, award-winning investigative reporters Michael O'Keeffe and Teri Thompson follow The Card's trail from a Florida flea market to the hands of the world's most prominent collectors. The Card sheds a fascinating new light on a world of counterfeiters, con men, and the people who profit from what used to be a pastime for kids.


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