Title/Author:
“Oriole Magic:
The O’s of ‘83” by Thom Loverro
Tags:
Baseball,
Orioles, history
Publish date:
April 1,
2004
Length:
235 pages
Rating:
2 1/2 of 5
stars (so-so)
Review:
The
Baltimore Orioles were one of baseball’s most successful franchises for nearly
20 years – from their shocking 1966 World Series sweep to the 1983
championship, the team was very successful and this book by former Orioles beat
writer Thom Loverro recaps that last championship season from start to finish.
The book
starts with a look back at past Orioles disappointments - the 1969 World Series
loss to the New York Mets, being the first team to lose a World Series after
having a three-games-to-one lead to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1979, to losing
the Eastern Division on the last day of the season in 1982 to the Milwaukee
Brewers. These were used as motivation for
the 1983 team, something Loverro reminds the reader regularly. I thought it was mentioned too often, one of
the problems I had reading this book.
I felt the
biggest strength of this book was also its biggest weakness. While Loverro does a good job of recapping
the season’s games, it was hard to keep up on what series was being played
against which team. The details of each
game were written up almost like a newspaper article written to be read in the
morning edition. That would be logical
since Loverro covered the team for a Washington newspaper, but reading a book
that is a narrative of the season written in that style was difficult to fully
enjoy.
I also
felt that when the book left the recap to tell a story about a player, it didn’t
seem to be connected with the season at that point. Here Loverro gets a plus
for not only talking about the stars like Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken Jr. but
also other players such as Dan Ford and John Lowenstein. However, no matter who the story was about
when it was told, it felt like a distraction to the recap of the season instead
of an enhancement.
This wasn’t
a terrible book as the details were good, the game-by-game listing at the end
was a nice touch, and some of the player stories were interesting. But as a book to read and enjoy – it just
didn’t do that for me. Therefore, the
rating of this book is right down the middle – 2 ½ of 5 stars.
Did I skim?
No
Pace of the book:
It was a
fast read, but very choppy as the narrative goes from recapping games to a
story about a player back to the games to some other tidbit such as the fate of
the manager. This would be fine if they
were somehow connected with transition sentences or paragraphs, which were
lacking.
Do I recommend?
Oriole fans
will enjoy this recap of their latest championship. Other baseball fans may
wish to pass on this one as there isn’t much depth or entertainment value in
this book.
Book Format Read:
E-book
(Kindle)
Buying links:
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