A quick message from the folks at GELF magazine, who are hosting an event in NYC on Thursday 7/3 called “Varsity Letters” and will be featuring several baseball authors, including The Savvy Girls.
More info at Varsitylettersseries.com.
This was a real love-hate book for me, so I’m taking a slightly different approach to the review this time:
What I like about The 33-Year-Old Rookie
-Through telling his story, Coste provides a great reminder that life isn’t easy - and for some it’s harder than others despite having talent, ability and drive. We all need a kick in the pants sometimes that we have to stay focused on the goal, work harder than we currently are, and keep faith in our abilities and that Good Lord willing, things will work themselves out.
-It’s an easy book to read - and by the third chapter I didn’t want to put it down. Coste takes you down his road to the majors with a good mix of speed - 11 years is a lot to chronicle - while stopping to explain what he feels are key points in his career.
-Coste makes it pretty easy to relate to his struggles. While most of us won’t know what it’s like to be a pro ballplayers, it’s easy to substitute your own experience for his, particularly when it comes to gaining trust from your superiors, teammates and others around you.
What I didn’t like about The 33-Year-Old Rookie
-Coste really plays up his own ability and talks a lot about how great he is. I get it - it’s a memoir, and not playing up the highlights doesn’t really make for a great story. But I’m not one to brag about myself, and I don’t like listening to or reading people who brag about themselves. Coste is talented - no secret. But it just wears on me to read someone talking about getting game winning hit after hit, or coming off the bench to pitch or catch in a key situation, and so on. It’s just not my thing.
-On a related note, the whole “everyone says I’m really good and should be playing” thing gets fatiguing.
-Coste doesn’t really turn his story into advice on how to overcome adversity or battle through situations. Having just read and enjoyed Yogi Berra’s new book, I was hoping that Coste would have at least been able to summarize what he’s learned into something I could have taken with me, but no such luck. Maybe he’ll write a book when he retires from playing that will have that in it.
Coste’s is a interesting story and The 33-Year-Old Rookie is a worthwhile summer read. If you’re reading this in Philadelphia, or at least a city in the National League, you might have a little more interest in this since you have a better chance to see Coste play than those in the American League. But regardless, it’s a nice book for the summer that you can get through without too much trouble and come out feeling better about things than when you started.
For some people, baseball becomes an important thread that holds things together in their lives. It fills a void, helps make sense of the world, and provides something to be close to.
For acclaimed author Nicholas Dawidoff, baseball became his refuge during adolescence, filling the gaps between divorced parents, a mentally ill father, and the trials of moving from childhood into adult life.
Davidoff tells his own story in The Crowd Sounds Happy: A Story of Love, Madness and Baseball.
Using a child’s outlook on the mysteries of the world and the language of a highly educated adult and scholar, Davidoff writes a remarkable book – not exclusively about baseball, but about life, and the role that baseball played in his, and how the Boston Red Sox became the men in his life that he looked up to via the radio broadcasts that filled his bedroom.
As you get into the book you might question why it’s listed as a baseball book — I certainly did. It takes a few chapters to really get into why it gets categorized as such, and in retrospect I probably would have been much more open and receptive to the early chapters if I had viewed it more as a coming-of-age novel.
What I kept having to remind myself as I read it was that this book is not fiction — it is the true (or at least as best as memory can recall) story of Dawidoff’s childhood.
The reader is able to relate to many things that Dawidoff writes about almost instantly - while childhoods can differ in the specifics, the broader challenges of finding yourself while learning about your family and environment is a universal theme. Each of us has gone through it in one way or another — which is what makes the book so appealing.
If you grew up in or around baseball and it became something that got you through childhood, you’ll definitely appreciate The Crowd Sounds Happy. The quality of the writing and the intimacy that Dawidoff affords the listener are both the core and the icing to this wonderful work.
But I will warn you - don’t start reading the book thinking it’s a baseball story. Get into it as a coming-of-age novel and you’ll be delighted with the baseball portions, as opposed to doing it the other way around, like I did.
The Crowd Sounds Happy is a tremendous coming of age memoir that thanks to exquisite writing and engaging candor and detail, will fill a tremendous place in your mind and in your heart.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a big fan of Yogi Berra - both the ballplayer and the person, which is why I was excited to read his new book, You Can Observe A Lot by Watching.
In this book, Berra draws on his 19 seasons in the Majors to focus on what it means to be a team player - which is something he should know quite a bit about. As a player, Berra made it to 14 World Series and won 10 of them, including five in a row with the 1949-1953 Yankees. He bridged some tremendous ballclubs, from the days of Joe DiMaggio to the Mantle and Maris years. Yogi saw the best, played with the best, and worked himself into being the best.
Which is what this book focuses on - albeit not in the typical self-help or business book fashion. Yogi is quick to dismiss the book as something that would fall into either of those two categories. He readily admits that’s not his area of expertise.
What he does know though is teamwork - and what goes into taking a group of individuals and getting them to work together for a common goal.
When you think about the talent level that Yogi Berra played with, it’s almost hard to fathom. Throw in the tremendous amount of success that his teams had, and it becomes even more impressive. Look around and see how many great players there are in sports today - and how many of them don’t have a championship on their resume.
Yogi takes his wealth of experience and translates it into terms that almost anyone could apply to their daily lives. Whether it’s a simple reminder of understanding your role within an organization, or taking the high road and owning up to a mistake, the 15 chapters each contain a nugget that can be taken from the baseball world to the business world.
By readily admitting what this book is and isn’t, Berra sets a light hearted tone from the get go, even though the book is talking about what could be considered a pretty serious subject. Go to your local bookstore and see how many books are written on teamwork, and you’ll see that there’s a lot of energy and money being put towards trying to improve this area.
There’s plenty of baseball in there as well - a nice recap of Don Larsen’s perfect game, a good amount on how Yogi got to the majors and plenty of Yankee stories.
You Can Observe A Lot by Watching is a good pickup that I think you’ll enjoy both from a baseball perspective and from what it can add to your life. It’s a great book to read, sit on for a little while, and then flip back and read the blurbs that begin each chapter. They do a great job distilling the message, and give you something easy to take with you and implement into your life.
It’s the third most sung tune in America – performed every single day of the year in one place or another. But you know it best as the song that’s sung after the 39th out is recorded - the song that proclaims where we want to go, even though we sing it when we’re already there – Take Me Out to the Ballgame.
It’s a song that is so intertwined in the current game that it’s easy to think there’s a simple story behind how it got to be so big.
And that is anything but the truth – and that is where the new book Baseball’s Greatest Hit by Andy Strasberg, Bob Thompson and Tim Wiles comes in.
Baseball’s Greatest Hit does a wonderful job explaining how the song came to be, chronicling it’s suspect origins, the battle to stand out from the over 1,000 other baseball songs that have come out, and even a movement to create a new baseball song – organized by none other than Major League Baseball. It all makes for quite an interesting journey for this song that has become a staple of Americana.
Not only is it a wonderful explanation of the history of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” but it’s also a wonderful resource about the correlation between music and baseball. The rhythm of music and the rhythm of baseball go hand in hand - and the roster of songs that is included in the book is clear proof of that, even if you haven’t heard of most of them.
At times, the short chapters in the book make it feel a bit disjointed — as my one critique of the book would be not taking the reader on enough of a structured storyline of how the song came to such prominence. While it’s not a critical fault, it’s something that I wish could be revisited.
But that’s not to fault the authors. Tim Wiles works for the Baseball Hall of Fame, overseeing all the artifacts that the museum has ownership. Bob Thompson is the founder of the Baseball Music Project, which you may have seen in your town, and Andy Strasberg has worked for the San Diego Padres and is a well respected marketing executive around baseball.
They know what they are talking about and have a wealth of information to draw from. They do a great job dissecting the story of the song and presenting in bite size pieces that will ultimately give you a tremendous appreciation for and wealth of knowledge about this staple song of baseball.
As much as Take Me Out to the Ballgame is a fixture of baseball – so should Baseball’s Greatest Hit be a fixture on your bookshelf. Throw in a bonus CD with several different versions of the song being performed – and you’ve got a winner.
There are books that you find yourself spending a lot of time with — some because they’re just long, others because the thoughts and concepts contained within are difficult to understand and process. But once in a while you run into a book that you spend a good amount of time with simply because it’s good, engaging, and it stimulates your mind.
I would add Far From Home by Tim Wendel and Jose Luis Villegas to that list.
It’s not often that I get to review books from National Geographic, which is a shame because they are generally some of the nicest ones I get to read. The first thing you notice about this book is how great it feels to hold — it’s thick, sturdy and just appears to be full of great content.
At only 160 pages, it’s by no means overwhelming - and with over 100 photos, you don’t find yourself plowing through page after page of text. The words share the spotlight with the pictures - which I think you’ll find yourself spending quite a bit of time looking at. Each looks like it was scrutinized thoroughly before being added to the book, as they each capture an essence of the subject that you will be able to read and ponder just as if someone had tried to translate it to words.
The story of the Latino ballplayer is one that has been part of the baseball narrative for over a century - yet it doesn’t seem to garner the public’s attention. I certainly won’t use this venue to make a cry for more public attention towards the Latino story — nor do Wendel and Villegas use Far From Home for that purpose.
What it does is provide a relatively brief but still worthwhile synopsis of the numerous Latino experiences in baseball, dating back to the 1870s. While there is a historical aspect to the book, it doesn’t approach the subject with the approach of a typical history text.
If anything the book results in a story of humanity - individuals who battled a prejudiced America, language barriers, cultural differences and other hurdles to become not just star players, but men who put on the jersey and became part of the baseball lore of numerous cities across America and in their home countries.
If names like Clemente, Cepeda, Minoso, and Marichal were part of your vocabulary, you’ll enjoy this book. If you cheer for players named Rodriguez, Pujols, Cabrera and Ramirez, this book will provide the backdrop for what brought baseball into these players’ lives and what in turn they bring back to baseball.
The story of Latino ballplayers in America is a rich and fascinating one, and one that if you know it will make you appreciate what you see on the field that much more. Far From Home makes that story accessible and engaging to anyone who picks this title up, and while it might not warrant a permanent spot on your bookshelf, it is one that definitely warrants time in front of your eyes.
What do you think about Far From Home? Log in and post your comments!
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If you’ve played baseball, you’re undoubtedly familiar with The Code…the unwritten rules about how the game is played.
But a lot of us aren’t as familiar with how the game works beyond hits, runs, and errors, and that’s what makes Ross Bernstein’s new book, The Code a worthwhile read.
Bernstein covers how the game is supposed to be played when it comes to fights, arguing with umpires, life in the clubhouse and more, providing a thorough explanation to the code of conduct that governs baseball.
The book is highlighted by lots of quotes and thoughts from current and former big leaguers about who explain how the code gets carried out on and off the field, and share insight on some famous breaches of the code that a lot of us remember from recent years - such as Robin Ventura charging Nolan Ryan after getting hit by a pitch, or Ben Davis breaking up Curt Schilling’s perfect game with a bunt.
However, an almost over-reliance on player comments could also be seen as one of the big drawbacks. The abundance of the shaded gray boxes definitely help to provide color to the context, but at the same time almost become distracting because it breaks the path that Bernstein is taking the reader down.
The book will definitely help fans understand and appreciate the hierarchies and protocols that help set the tone for what you see happen between the white lines. While baseball is played with a gameplan and certain strategies, there is a good amount that has to be improvised, and oftentimes according to the long standing code. If you’ve ever started to sense the tension on the field at a ballgame increasing, chances are it gets covered in this book.
Maybe a hitter took a little too much time admiring his home run, or a runner went into second a little harder than would normally be expected. Some things are subtle and can’t be picked up from the stands, while others are clear as day - especially if you know what to look for.
At 272 pages, it feels just a bit longer than it should be, given the topic. The code is pretty cut and dry - it could probably fit on a single sheet of paper. The explanation and how it gets carried out take up the majority of the book, along with commentary from all the players and coaches that Bernstein brings to the book. But the chapters are fairly short, and you can easily jump around and move to the topic that most interests you.
From bean balls and brawls to bunting to break up a no-hitter, it’s all covered in Ross Bernstein’s The Code, something that wouldn’t be a bad read if you’re looking for a different topic of baseball to read about. It’s not one that I would clear off the bookshelf for, but you’ll definitely have a better appreciation for the game after reading it.
Most of us have probably dreamt of being a ballplayer for a day. But what if you could be a ballplayer for a whole year?
Of what if you could be two ballplayers?
Now before you think I’m nuts – this is just what John Feinstein allows you to do with his new book Living On The Black.
It’s the 2007 season, spent with Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina – chronicling their ups, downs, trials and successes.
What makes the book interesting is the contrasts that these two veterans bring to the game. Glavine, the “crafty lefthander” and Mussina, the previously hard throwing righty who learns to adjust to life without a power fastball.
While they play just five miles apart, their teams couldn’t be more different – the pressures of Mussina’s Yankees to always be in the playoffs, versus the resurgence of Glavine’s Mets who seemed to have the NL East locked up until – well, you know what happened.
At over 500 pages, the book feels a bit lengthy at times…which is a shame, because there are some really interesting and insightful parts that most any baseball fan can benefit from. If you can get through that, I think you’ll enjoy it.
Much like an updated version of Roger Angell’s A Pitcher’s Story, which chronicled David Cone, Living on the Black provides an interesting insight into the lives of two of the current game’s best pitchers.
One of the best parts of baseball - at least as far as I’m concerned - is the stories. The anecdotes, legends, and tall tales that define the game add a richness to the history of the game, that otherwise would be just numbers and play-by-play recaps.
But what do you do if those stories aren’t 100% accurate?
Well if you’re ESPN’s Rob Neyer, you write a book about it. Some would say you ruin those stories by muddying them with the facts, but I’ll save that judgment for later.
I was initially won over by the introduction, where Neyer advises you why you shouldn’t buy or read the book. If you want to keep the legends and stories of baseball as they are in your mind, don’t read it. It will definitely spoil, or at least take some of the luster off some of baseball’s best stories.
But - that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read the book…there’s lots of stories that you probably have never heard, especially if you’re to the younger side or new to the game. Most of the stories come from before 1980 - which is interesting in itself…since that is when information about baseball started changing due to the widespread availability of information, the dawn of the Internet and changes in record keeping which made the numbers of the game much more valuable and sought after.
In a way - Neyer highlights a deficiency of the modern game - the lack of great stories. It certainly doesn’t seem like many great legends are talked about from the current era - and I think it’s due to the availability of numbers and facts that we have today. It’s kind of a shame if you ask me. People will still talk about seeing great moments of the game - the McGwire/Sosa home run chase, Bonds breaking the single season and career marks, Ichiro breaking the single-season hits record and so on, but the legend factor doesn’t seem to be as prevalent.
The book wins points thanks to short chapters that make it easy to pick up and put down, and each story is really its own, so you don’t necessarily need to read them in order or have the most recent one fresh in your head to appreciate the rest of the book.
I think this will definitely appeal to the older fan who has memories of the stories that Neyer dissects; however without a desire to learn about baseball’s history, the younger fan may not be as into the book.
I don’t think it’s a must-add to the book shelf, but if you enjoy debunking myths and legends, you’ll definitely get a good read out of Rob Neyer’s Big Book of Baseball Legends.
What do you think? Post your comments!
A while back I wrote about It Takes More Than Balls by Deidre Silva and Jackie Koney, otherwise known as The Savvy Girls. While I wasn’t totally a fan of the book - the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I’m a fan of what they’re trying to do, which is get people to love and appreciate what a great game baseball is.
With no disrespect to the above mentioned work, I think I’ve found a book that accomplishes that mission.
Anatomy of Baseball is a collection of 20 essays, 17 previously unpublished and three classics from Roger Angell, Frank Deford and George Plimpton, all about why the writer loves baseball. From the popularity of the baseball cap beyond those who wear it on the field, to playing baseball and its derivatives in Slovenia or Finland, this is the book that I think would get the casual fan who likes to baseball to understand why so many people love it.
It’s tough to pick a favorite — so I won’t. But it’s sure easy to find the ones I can identify with — the love of the first glove you ever had…catching pop-ups until the sun went down…or that immaculate feeling that comes when you pick up a baseball. It’s all there — and it will encourage you to find what you love about the game.
This is a book that definitely has a place on your bookshelf, but I think even more importantly, it has a place in conversation between you and your friends. Not that I think you’ll spend a lot of time discussing the book, but I think that it will serve as a jump off point for some really good discussions.
What did you think about Anatomy of Baseball? What’s you favorite baseball memory? Post your comments!
