Review of "The Shining Mountain"

 It isn't often that I will read or listen to a book from the 1970's.  But as I was searching for a mountain climbing book on a peak I had not heard of before, I saw this one in the Audible library.  I decided to pick it up and I am glad I did.  This is my review of Peter Boardman's account of a two-man expedition on Changabang in 1976.

Title/Author:

“The Shining Mountain” by Peter Boardman, narrated by Stuart Crank

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (Very Good)

Review: 

In 1976, two climbers from England, Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker, set out to achieve a first in mountaineering history.  They set out to be the first climbers to summit Changabang’s West Wall.  They would not be the first to reach the summit of this mountain in the Indian Himalayas but they would be first to do so on this more treacherous path. This book is Boardman’s account of that expedition, published in 1978. 

The audio version is narrated well by Stuart Crank.  His voice inflections allow the listener to easily distinguish between Boardman and Tasker, something that would not be easy to do if one has not met the men.  The writing is good as well.  Boardman does come off at times as bit of an elitist with his less-than-flattering remarks about people such as porters, but when it comes to his description of the climb, it feels like a gripping novel of survival.  This is especially true as the two of them reach the summit.

Some of the other features I did like was there wasn’t a long, drawn out description of the history of the mountain like some other books on mountaineering have.  There is some that will help the reader who is not familiar with the mountain have a little background, but it’s not a major part of the book.  I also felt that the description of the actual climb, the conversations between the two men and their feelings both during and after were excellent.  Especially that latter part.  While yes, Boardman may have made the remarks mentioned above, those are at least honest.  Keeping in mind when this took place and when the book was written, it was not uncommon for those types of thoughts to be prevalent at the time. 

I live my vicarious mountain climbing life through these types of books and this one gave me another mountain for which I have enjoyed hearing about a summit reach.  I am also glad I chose the audio version for this as an excellent narrator can enhance a story like this and Crank does so marvelously.

Link:  Amazon.com: The Shining Mountain (Audible Audio Edition): Peter Boardman, Stewart Crank, Vertebrate Publishing: Books

 

Review of "Unhittable"

If you've been watching baseball, especially Major League Baseball, the past few years, you may have noticed that the speed of pitches is faster and faster and that hitters, overall, are struggling to reach the same batting averages and on-base percentages that was prevalent a couple decades ago.  This book by Rob Friedman explains the phenomenon behind this trend. 

Title/Author:

“Unhittable: How Technology, Mavericks and Innovators Engineered Baseball’s New Era of Pitching Dominance” by Rob Friedman

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (Very Good)

Review: 

Throughout the history of baseball, there have always been eras in which either pitching or hitting dominated the game.  Currently, there is little doubt that this is an era of pitching dominance with pitch speeds higher than ever.  There are new advanced statistics and modern technology methods to measure them. This book by Rob Friedman explores the evolution of technology and other ways of making pitchers more dominant than the traditional methods of scouting and gut instincts.

There is a little self-promotion in the book as Freidman is the creator of Pitching Ninja, the platform where Freidman, a pitching coach and baseball analyst, will show videos of various pitches from pitchers from various levels of baseball and these videos are used by pitchers who want to improve their craft.  However, as the book explains, video is far from the only explanation why pitching is currently dominating baseball.

Something that will be appreciated by interested readers is that while Friedman does provide a lot of talk about new methods of analyzing data on pitchers, advanced technology to help create that data and other platforms like Codify, Friedman does not delve too far into language that is difficult to understand.  He also talks about each of these subjects by using the success of current pitchers like Tarik Skubal, Trevor Bauer and Tyler Glasnow to illustrate how these new methods of training and coaching are improving the quality of pitchers. 

It should also be noted that Friedman does include pitchers and coaches from most eras to show not only the advancements made for pitching but also how some had the foreshadowing to incorporate some of today’s coaching and pitching mechanics into their careers, even if not quite as advanced as they are today.  Two excellent examples of these forward-thinking baseball men mentioned prominently in the book are Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux and long-time pitching coach Tom House. There are even segments going back as far as the days of Walter Johnson and Christy Matthewson, mainly on how velocity was important to them even those early days before radar guns.

While there are sections that I felt dragged somewhat mainly because of repetition, nevertheless this is a very good book on explaining why this era of baseball is dominated by pitching.  It even includes some explanation from a hitter’s point of view, most notably Athletics All-Star Brent Rooker.  If a reader wants to know why pitchers are so hard to hit in today’s game, this is a good place to find out.

I wish to thank Harper for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley.  The opinions expressed in this book are strictly my own.

Link:  Amazon.com: Unhittable: How Technology, Mavericks, and Innovators Engineered Baseball's New Era of Pitching Dominance eBook : Friedman, Rob: Kindle Store

Review - The Hockey 100

 As I continue my quest to reduce my TBR mountain to hopefully at least a hill, I chose this book as the hockey season is coming to a conclusion this week.  This is the fourth book in a series that highlights the 100 greatest players in a sport - this is one is for the modern era of hockey.  I've read all four and so far, this is the best one. 

Title/Author:

“The Hockey 100: The Story of the Greatest Players in Modern Hockey History” By Sean McIndoe and Dan Robson with The Athletic hockey staff

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (Excellent)

Review: 

Since hockey has some unique traditions like playoff beards and an octopus thrown out on the ice at Detroit, it is only fitting that some of the greatest players in the game have some unique stories as well.  This book, listing the 100 greatest players since the NHL expanded from six teams to 12 in 1967, has some of those stories. These have been collected from various writers for The Athletic and compiled by Sean McIndoe and Dan Robson.  These are stories that every hockey fan should read.

Since this is a subjective list of those 100 players, there will be omissions or arguments about where certain players should be ranked. While those are always good for sports bar arguments or even friendly (?) discourse around the couch while a game is on the television, these rankings are grounded in well-reasoned arguments.

One great example of this is the story of Marcel Dionne, ranked #15 on this list.  The writer of this story points out that when people rattle off great players in the history of the NHL, Dionne is overlooked because he was never on a team that won the Stanley Cup. I wanted to stand up and cheer this author – it’s an argument I always make about any great player in a team sport.  I have always felt that degrading a player because his team didn’t win a championship is unfair.  The player doesn’t make personnel decisions – that’s up to the coaching staff and the front office. 

The other aspect of this book that I really like is that many of the stories of these players don’t always revolve around their statistics and accomplishments.  Of course, each player’s feats are included, but they aren’t always THE story. 

Here are two examples:  The first is about Bryan Trottier, who was a key player on the New York Islanders teams that won four consecutive Stanley Cups, has been very active in making the voice of Canadian Indigenous people heard.  The second is about Alexander Mogilny, a Russian player who came to the NHL before the USSR allowed its players to play in North America.  Mogilny had to make his arrangements in Sweden and even there, the team executives working on the deal felt the Soviet Union might be following them and tracing their calls.  This story was even more intriguing than the well-known story of The Russian Five from the Detroit Red Wings.  Some of those players made this list as well.  

Some hockey fans will not only be disappointed with the book because of player rankings, but it will also leave out greats from the Original Six era like Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau and Gordie Howe (he’s left out because even though he played after 1967, his best years were prior to that). Even without them, it does make for great reading for hockey fans and pays homage to the great players of the last 60 years.

I wish to thank William Morrow for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley.  The opinions expressed in this book are strictly my own.

Link:   Amazon.com: The Hockey 100: The Definitive Ranking of Ice Hockey's Greatest Players by The Athletic's Journalists (Sports series, 4): 9780063329195: The Athletic: Books

Review of "What Makes Olga Run?"

I have been in a bit of a reading funk lately as I not only am trying to figure out which books to tackle on my huge pile - call it task paralysis - but I was also at a professional conference last week and when I go to those, my only consumption of books are audiobooks to and from the destination.  This was the audio book I listened to for this trip and I enjoyed it, even if it may not really qualify as a "sports" book. 

Title/Author:

“What Makes Olga Run?: The Mystery of the 90-Something Track Star and What She Can Teach Us About Living Longer, Happier Lives” written by Bruce Grierson, narrated by Sean Pratt

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (Very good)

Review: 

As the synopsis of this book says, Olga Kotelko is not your typical 94-year-old woman (at the time this book was published in 2014). She was an elite track and field athlete.  Not only did she run, but she also competed in events like the hammer thrown and the shot put.  In her age category she holds 17 world records and overall, 23.  What makes this remarkable athlete continue to compete at such a high level?  Author Bruce Grierson goes to great lengths to explain why this can occur.

The book doesn’t talk much about Olga’s accomplishments in meets, although the beginning of the book covers much of her athletic achievements.  The book is more about the physical and mental aspects of aging, and how Olga was able to overcome many of the physical downfalls of aging that happen to most people. What was very interesting is that Olga wasn’t someone who had a completely healthy diet, strict sleep patterns or extreme training.  Her regiments are explained by Grierson, but most of the book concentrates on what typical aging people go through and how there can be exceptions like Olga.

Since this makes up the bulk of the book, Grierson does an excellent job of finding many knowledgeable people whose expertise lie in those areas. Sometimes the scientific talk on the audio version, especially when discussing the brain functions, can get a little confusing, but narrator Sean Pratt is very good on keeping the audience not only engaged, but also narrating this without any mispronunciations or other errors.  Grierson also deserves kudos for always bringing the topic back around to Olga and her remarkable ability to perform at this level of athleticism.

Link:   What Makes Olga Run?: The Mystery of the 90-Something Track Star and What She Can Teach Us About Living Longer, Happier Lives: Grierson, Bruce: Amazon.com: Books

Review of “Out of the Rough”

 It’s always exciting to read a book on a topic or person that you did not know about before reading that book. That was the case for me with this book about Ted Rhodes, a Black golfer considered to be one of the barrier breakers for Blacks into professional golf. Here is my review of this excellent biography on him. 

Title/Author: “Out of the Rough: Ted Rhodes and His Fight Against Golf’s Color Barrier” by Dan Taylor 

Rating: 5 of 5 stars (Excellent)

Review: When Tiger Woods won the 1997 Masters, in his press conference he paid tribute to three men considered to be pioneers for Black golfers - Charlie Sifford, Lee Elder and Ted Rhodes. The work and struggles Rhodes had in opening the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) up to Black golfers is largely unknown and this book by Dan Taylor is an excellent biography of this golfer whose accomplishments should be better known. 

Rhodes grew up in Nashville where Jim Crow laws made it hard for him to pursue golf, but he did get a caddying job on a public course and it was there where the golf bug hit him. He was mentored, took the game seriously and was invited to play in a tournament sponsored by heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, an avid golfer himself. That was where Rhodes became more well known as a golfer who had great potential.

Taylor’s writing illustrated Rhodes’ struggles to get into a PGA tournament as the organization had a strict “Caucasians Only” policy. Rhodes still was able to rack up great scores in the United Golf Association (UGA) that was for Black golfers, but the prize money was a pittance compared to PGA purses. While the coverage of Rhodes’ success was very good, Taylor’s account of the deals made and broken by the PGA, their blatant discrimination against Black golfers and their heavy handedness when addressing this matter with sponsors such as Bing Crosby and his annual tournament was very revealing. It showed just how bad Black golfers were viewed by the organization.

Once Rhodes was able to break the color barrier, he and Charlie Sifford did have some success. But where Rhodes was really making his mark was in coaching other Black players. One very famous pupil of his was Althea Gibson. Once she was tired of tennis because she had defeated nearly every other player, she wanted to try her hand at golf. Struggling at first, she eventually became proficient enough in the game under Rhodes’ tutelage that she became the first Black woman to compete in the Ladies’ Professional Golf Association (LPGA).

When Rhodes died at age 55, the golf world grieved as the sport lost a true pioneer. This book is one that should be read by those who enjoy golf but may not be aware of the contributions Rhodes made to the sport. I was one of those golf fans who did not know about Ted Rhodes - I am very glad that I do now.

I wish to thank Bloomsbury Academic for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own. 

Link:   https://www.amazon.com/Out-Rough-Rhodes-Against-Barrier/dp/B0FBQY2554/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0 

Review of "Tony Zale: The Man of Steel"

He fought in one of boxing’s greatest eras, yet Tony Zale rarely gets his due. This biography hits hard enough to change that. Here is my review.

Title/Author:

“Tony Zale: The Man of Steel” by Thad Zale and Clay Moyle

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (Very good)

Review: 

During one of boxing’s most popular decades, the 1940s, one fighter twice won the middleweight championship: Tony Zale. The man who defeated Zale to win the belt—and then lost it back to him in their third match—was Rocky Graziano. Because Graziano had a far more outgoing personality and published an autobiography, he is better known to boxing historians and fans. However, Zale led an interesting life of his own, and this book by Thad Zale (Tony’s nephew) and Clay Moyle provides a rich account of Tony’s full life and boxing career.

As one might expect from a biography written by a family member, there are passages in which Thad’s admiration for Tony comes through clearly, sometimes in ways that feel biased. Even so, this is a very good biography of Tony Zale’s entire life. This review won’t go step-by-step through that life; instead, it highlights the most interesting sections.

The best parts, especially for a sports fan, are the descriptions of Zale’s major fights. There are separate chapters on each of the Zale–Graziano bouts and on his fights with Al Hostak, whom he defeated in 1940 when he first won the middleweight crown. Each chapter covering a significant fight is rich with detail—not only round‑by‑round accounts of nearly every punch, but also the actions taken in both corners and even the referee’s interactions with the fighters. These details make readers feel as if they are ringside, despite the fact that these fights took place more than 80 years ago.

As for Tony’s personal life, this is where having a family member as author is both helpful and, at times, somewhat biased. This is especially true in the discussion of Tony’s first marriage, which ended in divorce, and his subsequent inability to see his two daughters as often as he wished. While Thad appears to strive for objectivity, the narrative is more sympathetic to Tony than to Adelaide, even if all allegations against both parties are accurate.

Tony also faced financial difficulties after retiring from boxing. Here again, the reader sees the family’s sympathy, but the book also describes how Tony refused to ask for assistance because of his faith, pride, morals, and work ethic. When he married his second wife, Philomena (affectionately called “Mighty Mouth” by Tony), his life changed dramatically. Philomena took charge and ensured that Tony received the recognition due to a former world champion. That improved Tony’s life immensely, and Thad writes about this period with the same strength and clarity he brings to the boxing chapters.

Since this book set out to tell the story of Tony Zale’s life, it succeeds. I had known of Tony Zale only from lists of past champions and occasional mentions of great fights, such as his trilogy with Graziano. This book showed me that Tony Zale was not only a great fighter but a good man as well

Link:   Amazon.com: Tony Zale The Man of Steel eBook : Zale, Thad, Moyle, Clay, Zale, Deborah: Kindle Store

Review of "Tennis Tensions" - A Deep Dive Into Tennis’s Class and Culture

This book by Gabriel Allen examines the forces — cultural, racial, and structural — that have shaped tennis from its earliest days. It’s a perspective that challenges the sport’s familiar narratives.

Title/Author:

“Tennis Tensions: Class, Race and Gender in the Evolution of the Sport” by Gabriel Allen

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review:  Tennis has long been considered a game of the “country club crowd” (my words, not a quote from the book). From the descriptions of its history to its unusual method of scoring to the extremely slow pace of racial integration, the sport has done much to reinforce that stereotype. This book by tennis professional and journalist Gabriel Allen digs deeper into these aspects and a few more to show a different interpretation of tennis history.

Each of the items described above — the origins of the sport, integration, scoring — are covered, as are other aspects such as amateur status and the Wimbledon “tradition” of requiring players to wear all-white attire. Allen illustrates how these reflect classism, racism, sexism, and homophobia. He refers to these forces as the “white tennis unconscious” (WTU — my abbreviation used here) throughout the book.

As a fairly casual fan of the game who usually only watches the Grand Slam events, I was surprised to see just how deeply these characteristics were embedded in tennis and how the WTU shaped several aspects of the sport. The most surprising to me was how the WTU can be expressed by a player, fan, or anyone describing the type of play they prefer. Whether one prefers a serve‑and‑volley style, a baseline game with groundstrokes, or a combination of the two, these preferences can reflect the WTU rather than simply enjoying all types of play.

I was also surprised at first — though less so after reading the chapter on it — that the scoring system used in tennis is part of the WTU and maintained for its exclusivity. Several people in Allen’s sources note that tennis scoring is very difficult to explain and that it is unfair that a player can score more points than their opponent but still lose the match. Here is where I thought the best part of the entire book appeared: Allen’s proposal for scoring is simply to count points, with suggestions such as the first player to reach 60 being the winner, or possibly 100 in major events. Players alternate sides after five points and then every ten points thereafter. The serve would alternate after the first point and then every two points thereafter, the same as the current tiebreaker rules. So whoever serves the first point of the match would serve only one point, and then the serve would alternate every two points until someone reached the target score by a minimum margin of two points (1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2…). This ensures the principles of holding and breaking serve and prevents a player from winning without breaking serve at all. If the serve alternated every two points, whoever served first in the match would be able to reach the target score by a margin of two without having broken serve once. 

In other topics illustrating the WTU, what struck me most was the chapter on GOATs (greatest of all time). I especially liked the brief biographies of two players who are often overlooked in these discussions — Ora Washington for women (a Black woman) and Ricardo González for men (a Latino man). The latter was better known as “Pancho Gonzales” (an Americanization of his true name), and the former is mostly ignored in history despite her many victories. Allen does a very good job of bringing these two players to life for readers.

As is the case with many books on class, race, and gender, there are passages that may be uncomfortable for readers who fall into classifications considered privileged. However, instead of feeling lectured or shamed into guilt, those readers should take this as an excellent history lesson and reflect on what it is about tennis that they enjoy — and if those aspects fall into the WTU, what they can do to help change this, whether the reader is a player, coach, fan, or someone who simply loves the sport.

I wish to thank Mr. Allen for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link:   Tennis Tensions: Class, Race and Gender in the Evolution of the Sport: Allen, Gabriel: 9798316681723: Amazon.com: Books

 

Review of "The First All-Star Game"

With baseball season now at around the quarter turn with each team playing about 40 or so games thus far, it's time to start thinking about the All-Star game voting.  So, it's appropriate to post a review of a book about that first All-Star game in Chicago back in 1933. 

Title/Author:

“The First All-Star Game: Babe Ruth, FDR and America at the Crossroads” by Randall Sullivan

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review: 

Many baseball fans and historians know that the first baseball All-Star game was played in 1933 at Chicago’s Comiskey Park, that the American League won that first game on a home run by Babe Ruth and that it was the brainchild of Chicago newspaper mogul Arch Ward.  This book by Randall Sullivan gives a very in-depth look at how the game came about and some other historical background of the politics and economic depression of the United States at that time.

What strikes me most about this book and the excellent details that Sullivan includes is that he gives a well-rounded description of every player and manager on both teams.  Even non-starters, players who did not appear in the game and others such as the umpires also are given their due.  These are all in the chapters leading up to the game itself which is also covered in very good detail.

There is other baseball covered in the book, most notably excerpts about the All-Star games of the Negro Leagues as at this time, Major League Baseball still had its unwritten but very noticeable color line and no Black players were on any of the 16 teams. 

While the other topics discussed by Sullivan do provide some good background, they are explained in the same level of detail as the All-Star game itself. That may make a reader distracted or question why there is so much detail about items like Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Great Depression or the history of the World’s Fair in Chicago, which was also taking place in Chicago at the time of the game.  While there is relevance to the All-Star game for some of these, especially with the World’s Fair, there were times I was wondering if I was reading a history book or a baseball book.  Fortunately, there was enough of the latter that I knew it was a very good baseball book that is one for any reader who wants to learn more about the origins of the All-Star game.

I wish to thank Atlantic Monthly Press for providing a copy of the book via Netgalley.  The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link:   The First All-Star Game: Babe Ruth, FDR and America at the Crossroads: Sullivan, Randall: 9780802167361: Amazon.com: Books

 

Review of "The Original Six"

Okay, back to sports books.  With the NHL playoffs in full swing, I am watching more hockey than I did for most of the regular season (despite my favorite team, the Minnesota Wild, getting eliminated).  Most hockey fans know who the Original Six teams are, but many may not know their history during that time frame.  This book is a good look back at that era. 

Title/Author:

“The Original Six: How the Canadiens, Bruins, Rangers, Blackhawks, Maple Leafs, and Red Wings Laid the Groundwork for Today’s National Hockey League” by Lew Freedman

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

From 1942 to 1967, the National Hockey League consisted of six teams – Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs. While these six teams were not all part of the NHL when it was organized in 1917, these six were the franchises who were able to survive the chaos the league went through in World War II and created what many considered to be a golden age of hockey.  The history and most notable people for each team is chronicled in this book by Lew Freedman.

The format for each chapter is the same – the team’s history up to the 1966-67 season, stories about key players, front office staff and coaches during that time frame, and what the team has done since 1967.  That year is key because it was the year of the “Great Expansion” when the NHL doubled in size from 6 teams to 12.  If a player, coach or executive started their time with the team during the Original Six era but had most of his success after the Great Expansion, he will still warrant a mention in this book.

The depth of the stories depends on the star power of the person.  A player like Gordie Howe (Red Wings) or Maurice Richard (Canadiens) garnered a lot more ink in this book than someone like Camile Henry (Rangers) or Jimmy Thomson (Maple Leafs).  While that was to be expected, it was nice to see some not-so-well-known players get mentioned in this book. It’s especially nice to see this for readers like me to learn about these players who played for small salaries in a league that had limited exposure.

Each club in that era has a colorful history and Freeman does an admirable job of bringing that to life in this time of 32 NHL teams (although there were 30 at the time of the book’s publication in 2016.) Avid hockey fans like me always enjoy matchups of these teams and this book brings the colorful history of that era to life.

Link: Original Six: How the Canadiens, Bruins, Rangers, Blackhawks, Maple Leafs, and Red Wings Laid the Groundwork for Today's National Hockey League: Freedman, Lew: 9781613219492: Amazon.com: Books

Non-sports book review - "Too Late"

No worries, I am NOT stopping my reviews of sports books.  But as I note in the review, at times one just has to read something outside the usual genre.  So I did that and it was so good, I wanted to post it.  

Title/Author:

“Too Late” by Colleen Hoover

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:  This review is for a book that is way out of my usual fare.  Readers of my blog or followers here or Substack know that I write reviews on books about sports.  I don’t recall seeing ANYTHING about ANY sport in this book.  But as any bibliophile knows, sometimes you just have to pick up a book that is not your usual type to cleanse the palate.  Wanting to find a good psychological thriller for that cleansing I wanted, I decided to go for one by one of the hottest authors lately, Colleen Hoover.  Boy, was I pleased with that selection.

Without going too far into describing the story, it is part love triangle, part drug trafficking and part mind control.  The main characters are Asa Jackson, a notorious drug dealer who falls in love with Sloan.  Sloan is a college student who had to take care of her younger twin brothers on the spectrum.  One tragically died during a seizure; the other is in a group home that was paid by the state.  Sloan went to Asa for help when the funds allegedly ended (I use “allegedly” because that’s important to the story) and she slowly fell under Asa’s control.  Then comes Carter, who is working undercover to put an end to Asa’s drug ring.  There is an unmistakable attraction between Carter and Sloan and this puts both them and Carter’s mission into danger.

The goal was to enjoy a book outside of what I usually read – mission accomplished.  I finished it in one sitting, something I very rarely do.  I was so impressed with the character development of not only those three, but even for some of the minor characters like Stephen, Sloan’s brother who lives at the group home.  The scenes of when Carter and Sloan are together and the former is trying to calm down the latter are just a small part of how well this story is told and what draws a reader into the characters. 

One thing that I will try to learn more is that since I will be reading more of Ms. Hoover’s work now that my first book from her is one I really enjoyed is if her work usually includes graphic sexual scenes and foul language like was in this book. It certainly doesn’t bother me, but in the introduction, Ms. Hoover notes that these could be triggers so it made me wonder if this is something that is not usually in her books or she has that warning for all of them.  Regardless, when I need to take a break from sports books, this will be a go-to author for me.

 

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Too-Late-Definitive-Colleen-Hoover/dp/1538766248/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0  

 

Review of "Escape From Holland"

In between watching baseball, hockey playoff games and basketball playoff games, I've had the chance to do a lot of reading.  This book was one where I received the request before its publication in March, but due to various setbacks, I did not get to it until a couple days ago.  The timing was good as today, May 10, marks the 86th anniversary of this escape.  Here is my review.

Title/Author:

“Escape From Holland: The Dash for the Last British Boat Out of Holland in May 1940.  A Thrilling True Story of Football, Ballet, Journalism and War” by Chris Hunt

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:  The old saying that sometimes real life is more exciting or dangerous than fiction was certainly the case for this story.  Many people from various walks of life living in Holland were drawn together by the threat of war.  Their escape from the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940 and eventual safe return to their native Britain is told in this very good book by Chris Hunt.

Because I will review sports books for this site, Mr. Hunt thought I might be interested in reviewing this book because one of the main celebrities who made this daring escape, Billy Marsden, was a well-known football player and manager in England.  There isn’t a lot of football mentioned in the book, except for two significant passages.  One is how Marsden’s playing career came to an end due to injury.  He was very thankful for the German medical personnel who helped him recover – something he felt was ironic given that it was now Germany who was pulling Europe into war.

The other section of the book where football was the main topic was a recreational game between native Dutch men working at the hotel where English refugees were staying and a group of the English refugees.  These players were mainly from the Sadler’s Wells Ballet Company.  The dancers were putting on shows in Holland when the invasion started and the hotel was where they and other refugees were awaiting the boats that would take them out of the country.  I thought that was great that for at least a short period of time, there was some recreation that would take minds off of the desperate situation, whether as a player or as a spectator.

Most of the book is a very good portrayal of footballers (Marsden is the most prominent, but not the only one profiled here), dancers and journalists who were in Holland for one reason or another.  Their escape from the bombing and invasion is just as dramatic as any wartime movie produced in Hollywood.  The details Mr. Hunt writes about each person, each narrow escape and each brief pause of relief make for great reading. While it took me a little longer to read this book than usual for a review request, it is a book that should be consumed carefully as no detail mentioned is unimportant to the story.

This might be better classified as a war or military book than a sports book, but that doesn’t really matter.  What does matter is that this is a gripping look at a daring escape by people of various walks of life for who were brought together for a dangerous expedition that ended with a well-deserved trip home.

I wish to thank the author and Mile Away Publishing for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link: Amazon.com: Escape From Holland: The dash for the last British boat out of Holland in May 1940, a thrilling true story of football, ballet, journalism and war: 9781919271828: Hunt, Chris: Books

Review of "The Texas Rangers and Me"

Keeping up with my personal policy of reading a book relevant to the sporting event I am attending, I read this book while on a bus trip to Yankee Stadium. I gave myself brownie points for not only reading a baseball book, but the subject was one of the teams I was seeing that night, the Texas Rangers.  I won't say the Rangers won that game because I enjoyed the book - but if one wants to believe so, go ahead!  Here is my review. 

Title/Author:

“The Texas Rangers and Me: A Baseball Writer’s Thirty-Two Years in Arlington” by T. R. Sullivan

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review: 

If a reader wants to get the inside scoop for their favorite baseball team, the best source of information would be one of the beat writers who cover the team regularly.  T.R. Sullivan was one of those writers for the Texas Rangers and his career covering the team is a good collection of his time performing that task.

Sullivan’s career covered a lot of ground for the history of the team, through the good times and the bad ones.  Players he highlights in the book could make up a Who’s Who of Texas Rangers history.  There is great information on stars who had great seasons with the Rangers.  These include Nolan Ryan, Michael Young, Adrian Beltre, Josh Hamilton and Alex Rodriguez.  Not only are their exploits on the field covered, but Sullivan also shares personal stories about interactions he had with them and for some, such as Rodriguez, how they ended up becoming Rangers.

The stories are not limited to the players. Sullivan also shares anecdotes on managers and front office leaders as well. The best of the managers during Sullivan’s time covering the team, Ron Washington, gets a great write up.  For front office staff, that honor would go to Jon Daniels.  It probably is no coincidence that these two individuals got this amount of text in the book as they were the field manager and general manager respectively when the Rangers won back-to-back American League pennants in 2010 and 2011.  Sullivan retired after the 2020 World Series (played in Arlington even though the teams were the Dodgers and the Rays) so he did not cover the first championship for Texas in 2023, but he did include his observations on that team as well.

Through these personal stories, Sullivan also takes the reader through the Rangers’ seasons, both good and bad.  He starts with an event where the Rangers were not playing – the 1989 World Series between the Athletics and Giants and the earthquake in San Francisco that interrupted it for ten days.  From there, he works for a Dallas-Fort Worth newspaper covering the Rangers and occasionally will give the reader a peak of life as a beat reporter.

Because of all these interconnected stories about the people and the team, there is repetition of many events in Rangers history.  From that, it appears that Sullivan wrote each chapter without looking back to see if an event had already been addressed.  That is the only true flaw I found in this book and if that’s the worst thing one can find, it’s truly a book worth a reader’s time.  Even if that reader is not a Rangers fan, it’s still fun to read about this team’s personalities and history.

I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link: The Texas Rangers and Me: A Baseball Writer's Thirty-Two Years in Arlington: Sullivan, T.R.: 9781496246806: Amazon.com: Books

Review of “Royal Treatment”

Next year will mark the 80th anniversary of the integration of Major League Baseball by the Dodgers and Jackie Robinson. So, just like when he played in Montreal the year before integration, I received a book about his time with the Royals a year before that anniversary. Here is my review of that book.

Title/Author: “Royal Treatment: Jackie Robinson, Montreal, and the Breaking of Baseball’s Color Barrier” by Sean J. McLaughlin

Rating:  4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review: When Jackie Robinson spent the 1946 baseball season with the Montreal Royals, it was part of the plan by Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey to integrate Major League Baseball. This was done not because Robinson needed the year at the Dodgers’ top farm club to work on his baseball skills. It was done to prepare him for what he might face as the game’s first Black player. How Robinson and his wife Rachel fared in Montreal and how the city treated him is the main focus of this book by Sean J. McLaughlin.

The book isn’t all baseball, all the Robinsons or all Montreal. McLaughlin does a very good job of weaving the topics together in a way that it doesn’t get too bogged down in one topic. While that’s a strength of the book, there are also good chunks of the book, several pages long, about subjects that are really only peripherally relevant to the main subject of Robinson. Two examples of this are the lengthy sections on Canadian racial history and a later description of the same thing for the city of Louisville, who was Montreal’s opponent in the 1946 Junior World Series. 

While these subjects may not have been directly related to the Jackie Robinson story, when McLaughlin concentrated on Robinson, the city and citizens of Montreal, or the action on the field during Royals games, the writing is great. It’s clear, full of important details, and makes the reader feel like they are in a time warp and takes them back to post-World War II Canada. I especially enjoyed reading about the warm reception that the Robinson received in Montreal, whether it was in their neighborhood or enthusiastic baseball fans cheering the soon-to-be Dodger on. 

This step of the Jackie Robinson story is one that is often passed or glossed over and this book finally gives it the recognition it deserves. No matter what the checkered history of racial relations may be in both the United States or Canada may be, this book shows that even that may be pushed aside when a talented player can make an entire city cheer. 

I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book. The views expressed in this review are strictly my own. 

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Royal-Treatment-Robinson-Montreal-Baseballs/dp/1496244311/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0 

Review of “Certified Beauties”

Having spent a good chunk of the last three days on the road, it gave me time to listen to a audiobook. Having been on a hockey kick lately between attending an ECHL playoff game and watching a lot of the NHL playoffs, it’s only logical that I listened to a collection of hockey stories.

Title/Author: “Certified Beauties: More of Hockey’s Greatest Untold Stories” written and narrated by James Duthie

Rating:  5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review: Every sport has stories that are amusing, shocking, inspiring and heart-tugging. Hockey is no exception and James Duthie has compiled an excellent collection of them for this book. He also narrates the audio version, which was a great listen.

There is no one theme for these stories and that makes this collection even better. If there is a common thread between any of them, it would be that a few of them involve players either missing a bus from the hotel for a morning skate. There are also some that involve a player who has just been called up to the NHL and has to catch a plane or arrange ground transportation to get to the arena. Many of these stories are during the time when hockey teams flew commercial and there were no cell phones . They all were fun to listen to. 

There’s also stories about former hockey personalities battling disease, some stories only made possible by the world situation during the COVID pandemic and even a couple of comebacks. That was the final act in my favorite story in the book, the one about Terry Ryan. A former first round draft choice, Ryan suffered several setbacks both in hockey and in his personal life. To flash forward to the best part, he made a comeback to the game in a minor league game at the age of 47. Hearing Duthie read this helped me imagine Ryan telling it, which made listening to this as an audiobook a good choice. This book is one that every hockey fan will enjoy whether reading or listening. 

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Certified-Beauties-Hockeys-Greatest-Stories/dp/B0DV69DM76/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0 

Review of "The Messi Effect"

Major League Soccer (MLS) has been in existence since 1996, but the bug didn't hit me until 2017, when Minnesota United started play as an expansion team.  Since then I have followed the league and Minnesota casually, but of course I took notice when Lionel Messi joined Inter Miami in 2023.  This is a great book on how his arrival has impacted the league. 

Title/Author:

“The Messi Effect: How the Global Legend Changed the Future of American Soccer” by Paul Tenorio

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review: 

When a global superstar in soccer decides to play for a team in the United States, it makes for a seismic reaction from soccer fans across the world and provides American soccer a lot of publicity.  Three examples of this are when Pele arrived to play for the New York Cosmos in 1975, David Beckham arriving from England to play for the LA Galaxy in 2007 and Lionel Messi’s signing with Inter Miami in 2023.  The latter of these events is covered in this book by Paul Tenorio.

It should be noted that this book’s primary focus is not Messi himself but the business of Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of professional soccer in the United States.  The “Messi Effect” is how his presence in MLS would affect the growth, quality of play, popularity and progression of MLS. The league has taken slow but mostly steady growth since its near bankruptcy in 2001.  There was a noted increase in many of these items when Beckham joined, a fact Tenorio notes often.

However, the connection between the two superstars of different eras is much tighter than that.  After his playing days were over, Beckham became one of the owners of the Inter Miami expansion team, thereby becoming Messi’s employer.  Why Messi decided to join Inter Miami is told in excellent detail early in the book by Tenorio and he does just as fine a job with his explanations of the inner workings of MLS ownership.

Tenorio notes how the principal owner of Inter Miami, Jorge Mas, is a visionary and forward thinker as Mas wants the league to use the power of Messi’s popularity to grow the league’s international status.  As a whole, ownership of MLS has always had a conservative view of growth and favored competitive balance, a formula what was working for the NFL.  Tenorio paints a terrific picture of these owners and how their actions were holding back the size of growth for the league.  There are changes coming that he points out, but they may be too late to complement the exposure the league is getting from Messi and the 2026 World Cup coming to North America.

I bring all these up because this is a fantastic look at not only Messi’s arrival and on-field performance but MLS as a whole – from its beginnings to its upcoming changes on the schedule and rosters.  Any fan of MLS or soccer in general will want to add this one to their library.

I wish to thank St. Martin’s Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link: The Messi Effect: How the Global Legend Changed the Future of American Soccer: Tenorio, Paul: 9781250364173: Amazon.com: Books