Saturday, July 20, 2019

Review of "They Called Me God"

This isn't a new book, nor was it one that I was requested to review, nor was it one I was dying to read.  However I did want to finally read a book on baseball umpires. Since this was selected as a book of the month in a baseball book group to which I belong, why not?  Here is my review of "They Called Me God"


Title/Author:

“They Called Me God: The Best Baseball Umpire Who Ever Lived” by Doug Harvey with Peter Golenbock



Tags:

Baseball, memoir, umpire



Publish date:

March 25, 2014



Length:

288 pages



Rating: 

3 ½ of 5 stars (good)



Review:

Doug Harvey was considered to be one of the best umpires in the game in a 30-year major league career that spanned from 1962 to 1992. It is even more impressive when one considers that Harvey did not attend umpiring school as most other umpires do who make it to the major leagues.  Stories from his career, from high school games to the World Series, are told in this memoir co-written with Peter Golenbock.



The title of the book will tell the reader what the tone of the stories will be like – they are all about himself and many of them will tell the reader that he believes he was one of the best umpires because he believed in listening and fairness. Not many will truly argue these points, but he does frequently remind readers of these points.  At times, that repetition took away from the theme of the stories he was trying to tell.


These are all short stories, rarely taking up more than two or three pages in the hardcover edition.  With a long career, one can imagine that he shared stored about many of the players and managers that he had to eject from games.  While not every story results in a player or manger being tossed from the game, most of them do involve that in some manner.  It is only appropriate that one of the better stories about these ejections involved his ejection of Walter Alston, the legendary manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, in a late season game. Harvey realized that he had not ejected a single person from a game that season, so in order to prove to the league offices that he hasn’t softened, he ejected Alston on a seemingly minor offense.  Alston, after hearing Harvey’s reason for the ouster, played along and took it gracefully.



Another aspect of Harvey’s life that he talks about frequently is his drinking.  He notes that often after games, there wasn’t much to do so he and his fellow umpires would usually enjoy a few at the hotel bar. This was especially true when he was a rookie and he would join his crew chief there instead of leaving him alone with his drinks. I bring this up because that is how the book reads – like the reader is sitting at the hotel bar with Harvey after a game holding a drink and listening to Harvey tell all of these stories of ejecting players and managers.



While the book was entertaining enough and I liked most of the stories, the repetition of how good an umpire he was did start to wear a little thin by the end of the book.  He is one of only a few umpires that have been enshrined in the baseball Hall of Fame – that alone says he is one of the best and there was no need to repeat this.  Otherwise, if a reader likes to read about an umpire’s power over a game, then this book comes recommended. 



Book Format Read:

Hardcover                                                                                                                                         



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