Review of “For the Love of the Grind”

I take part in a monthly online reading challenge in which another participant selects books for me to read that month. I alway ask whoever draws my name to pick 4 books for me on sports - this one was one of the April picks by that person. Otherwise I would have passed on it, but I’m glad now that I didn’t.

Title/Author: “For the Love of the Grind” by Sara Hall

Rating: 4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review: Sara Hall had a successful rerunning career, even if she never was able to be on an Olympic team, whether in the marathon or the 10,000 meter run, which was the event for which stride to qualify in 2024. The ups and downs of her career are captured in her memoir which covers a lot of different topics.

The most interesting topic of the book has to be when she and her husband Ryan decided to adopt four sisters in Ethiopia. Part of Sara’s Christian upbringing that she felt strongly about honoring was to help the poor. During one of their many overseas trips for competition or training (Ryan was a world class runner as well) they decided to pursue adoption and saw these four girls. Sara’s description of everything she and her daughters have gone through while Sara was running and raising the girls in a new land was very inspiring.

Her memories of her running career - from high school to Stanford to turning professional to the Olympic trials - make for good reading as well. Despite her many injuries, she always seemed to not only stay positive but she always seemed to find a way to overcome any adversity. Her coaches, especially Ryan, always helped her maintain that determination. Overcoming these injuries, as well as periods of anxiety and obsession over results, made for an inspiring sports story as well. 

These are just a few topics and examples of what I liked about this memoir. It felt honest - not too much bravado but not too much self- criticism either. Sara Hall’s story is one that many readers will enjoy, not just sports fans or runners.

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

Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0FLYNZ1KS/ref=x_gr_bb_kindle?caller=Goodreads&tag=x_gr_bb_kindle-20 

Review of "Cape Dreams"

 My job occasionally takes me on road trips that can mean about 2 hours in the car.  While not enough to finish books, that is sufficient time to listen to audio books while traveling instead of fiddling for radio stations to pick up.  This is one book that I listened to on this type of travel. 

Title/Author:

“Cape Dreams: A Season with the Brewster Whitecaps” by Mark Epstein, narrated by Austin Barach and Max Gifford

Rating: 

3 of 5 stars (good)

Review:

The Cape Cod summer baseball league is a showcase of some of the best college baseball players where 10 teams play a 40-game schedule.  One of the major changes the players get from their college games is that only wooden bats are allowed in these games.  Major league scouts are plentiful during this season looking for new prospects.  This book by Mark Epstien followed one of the teams, the Brewster Whitecaps, during their 2024 season.

The book was what one would expect when recapping a sports team’s season.  It was complete with profiles of people important to the team, a recap of the action on the diamond and stories about the players and others off the field.  One of the more interesting personalities was that of Jane Sullivan, whose life revolved around the Whitecaps year-round, not just during the two months of the season.  While her story was one to make the listener or reader feel good, it, along with many others, seemed a little over the top with its sweetness.

The description of the games also felt a little too generous, especially considering that the Whitecaps didn’t make the playoffs.  Still, that aspect of the book was good and the reader/listener will feel like they are part of the action.  The narration overall is also fine, although there were points where a clicking sound could be heard.  It isn’t clear whether this was missed in the final editing or an issue with the recording, but it was a distraction. Fortunately, that wasn’t an issue throughout the entire book.

For readers/listeners who want to learn more about the Cape Cod League and what it feels like to follow a team, this is a good book to pick up.  Overall, a decent story that will take one back in time when baseball felt like a much simpler game.

Link: Amazon.com: Cape Dreams: A Season with the Brewster Whitecaps (Audible Audio Edition): Mark Epstein, Austin Barach, Max Gifford, markpathfinderbooks: Books

Review of "The Heyday of Willie, Duke and Mickey"

The return of baseball season means I'll be attending games.  My preferred method of transportation for these trips is either a train or a bus, meaning more reading time. Here is my review of this book I read on a recent trip to Yankee Stadium. 

Title/Author:

“The Heyday of Willie, Duke and Mickey: New York City Baseball’s Golden Age Amid Integration” by Robert C. Cottrell

Rating: 

3 of 5 stars (good)

Review:

After World War II ended, major league baseball went through a period of great change as it integrated Black players into the game.  It also went through a period of dominance by New York teams as at least one of the three New York City teams – New York Yankees, New York Giants or Brooklyn Dodgers – appeared in the World Series in 9 of the 11 years between 1947 and 1957.  This period of baseball history is chronicled in this book by Robert C. Cottrell.

Cottrell covers this from two views – one from on the field with good recaps of the seasons for each of the three New York teams.  He also provides readers with the progress of integration of the major leagues. Of course, he starts with Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers, but he does an admirable job of informing the reader of the progress made by other clubs as well. This also includes the lack of progress of integration on some clubs, most notably the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

One thing to note is that if a reader has read other books on either topic, there probably won’t be much new material that they have not already read.  This book gives a good overview of these items.  The sections with the most detail are those that talk about the pennant races and World Series matchups involving one of the three teams.

Something that did catch me by surprise was the title did not seem to really be the right one for the book.  While each of those three Hall of Fame center fielders did get a good amount of text, it felt like the subtitle would have made the better title.  For the record and for those who were not familiar with the names, they were Willie Mays of the Giants, Duke Snider of the Dodgers and Mickey Mantle for the Yankees.

Overall, this was a decent book and one that was fine for passing the time on a train ride to Yankee Stadium for a ball game.  It is best suited for those readers who were not already familiar with this golden age of New York City baseball.

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

Link: Amazon.com: Heyday of Willie, Duke, and Mickey, The: New York City Baseball's Golden Age amid Integration: 9798881842574: Cottrell, Robert C.: Books

Review of “The Magical Game”

 Back to work has meant less reading time, but going to catch up today with a trip to Yankee Stadium. So that meany getting back into baseball books. I finished this one last night and enjoyed it. 

Title/Author: “The Magical Game: The Spirit and History of Baseball’s Superstitions, Rituals and Curses” by Addy Baird

Rating: 4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review: Anyone who follows baseball, even just casually, knows that the game has many rituals, that both players and fans carry superstitions (even if those are not publicly shared) and that it has some of the most famous curses in sports. This book by Addy Baird is a very good explanation of how these became part of baseball lore.

Many times when an author inserts themselves into a non-fiction book, it takes away from the information they are trying to tell (unless it’s a memoir, of course). That is not the case with this book as Baird explains her own rituals and even believed that she had jinxed her favorite team, the New York Mets, until they won a game in which she was able to sit in the broadcast booth with two of the Mets TV announcers.

The book isn’t all baseball stories as Baird takes the reader inside the history of rituals, superstition and jinxes. This was quite interesting as these sections helped explain why people who otherwise would not do something so out of character when encountering a certain event or situation. The stories of the rituals and superstitions of fans, including Baird’s own, were excellent.

Some of the more famous examples of these are covered in an amount of detail that’s just right for those who may not be familiar with them. But for readers who have read other sources about these events, there’s nothing new to learn. The best example of this is the chapter on curses and the two most famous curses in the game - the “Billy goat” curse on the Chicago Cubs and the “Curse of the Bambino” on the Boston Red Sox. Because I’ve read multiple books on both of these, I didn’t find anything new but readers who are not as familiar with them will enjoy these stories.

This was a fun book to read and it’s clear that Baird is not only a loyal Mets fan but she truly enjoyed writing this book. Whether one considers themself superstitious or not, it’s one that can be enjoyed by baseball fans of any level of interest in the sport. 

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:https://www.amazon.com/Magical-Game-History-Baseballs-Superstitions/dp/1250353467 

Review of "Season of Shattered Dreams"

Eric Vickrey’s Season of Shattered Dreams brings new life to one of baseball’s most devastating and least‑remembered moments. It's a book I've been looking into for a long time and finally got the chance to read it.  Here is my review.

Title/Author:

“Season of Shattered Dreams: Postwar Baseball, The Spokane Indians, and a Tragic Bus Crash That Changed Everything” by Eric Vickrey

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review: 

One of the most tragic dates in baseball history is June 24, 1946. On that day, a bus carrying 16 members of the Spokane Indians of the Western International League crashed on a mountain road in the Cascades. Nine team members were killed. A city, a team, and an entire league were left in shock. In Season of Shattered Dreams, Eric Vickrey tells the stories of the players who survived, the ones who didn’t, and the many people whose lives were permanently altered by the deadliest day to that point in professional baseball history. It was a finalist for the prestigious Casey Award in 2024, and after reading it, the recognition makes perfect sense.

While Vickrey devotes a chapter to the crash itself and the immediate aftermath, the strongest parts of the book are his portraits of the players and manager who made up the 1946 Indians. The pre‑crash chapters are especially compelling, particularly those on Jack Lohrke, Ben Geraghty, and Vic Picetti. After the crash, Vickrey follows Geraghty’s long, determined, and ultimately unsuccessful quest to become a major‑league manager, a journey that ended at the AAA Louisville Colonels despite his widely respected baseball mind.

The book captures everything a reader might want from baseball history of that era: the impact of World War II on rosters, the unique structure of baseball west of the Mississippi before MLB expanded, the near‑major‑league quality of the Pacific Coast League, and vivid profiles of the players themselves.

Vickrey also excels in widening the lens. He includes the stories of players who were not on the bus — Lohrke being the most famous example — and shows that their experiences were just as dramatic and meaningful as those who survived the crash. He brings in voices beyond the roster as well: wives and girlfriends, the bus driver, and even the search for the mysterious car that nearly collided head‑on with the team bus before swerving away and sending the vehicle down the ravine. These shorter narratives add depth and texture without ever feeling like digressions.

As Vickrey does in the book, it feels right to name the nine players who died, ensuring their memory endures nearly eighty years later: Freddie Martinez, Chris Hartje, George Risk, Bob James, Mel Cole, Bob Kinnaman, George Lyden, Bob Patterson, and Vic Picetti.

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

Link: Season of Shattered Dreams: Postwar Baseball, the Spokane Indians, and a Tragic Bus Crash That Changed Everything: Vickrey, Eric: 9781538190722: Amazon.com: Books

Review of "Tales from the Montreal Canadiens Locker Room"

I started listening to this audio book on my recent trip to a Canadiens-Rangers hockey game, keeping in line with my policy to read or listen to books appropriate for my trip. However, I didn't finish it that night, had to put it aside to get another review done, and came back to it, finishing today.  Here is my review.

Title/Author:

“Tales from the Montreal Canadiens Locker Room: A Collection of the Greatest Canadiens Stories Ever Told” by Robert S. Lefebvre, narrated by J.P. Linton

Rating: 

3 of 5 stars (good)

Review:

As the hockey team who has won the most Stanley Cups, this book on the Montreal Canadiens from the collection of similar titles for other teams in the four major sports sounded like one that would be full of excellent stories.  While this book by Robert S. Lefebvre has a few of them, especially during the greatest eras for the team in the 1950’s and the 1970’s, overall, this book fell short of those expectations.

One aspect that did not fall short of expectations was the narration of the book by J.P. Linton.  Even more than the good stories, I felt that Linton did a fantastic job on the narration, especially in the earlier chapter when the connection between the Canadiens and the Francophone population in the province of Quebec.  His pronunciation of the French names was very good, and he provided excellent narration of the hockey stories as well.

Here is where the book was not what I expected – the actual stories.  When I see one of these books in the “Tales from the Locker Room” series, I expect a lot of stories about the players’ camaraderie, their antics away from the games and of course game action as well.  This book lacked much of these.  There were more historical stories of how great Canadiens teams were either built or had their dynasties come to an end.  This was especially true for the Montreal teams that won four consecutive Cups from 1976 to 1979.  The stories were more about the players after they left the Canadiens that led to the end of their dynasty in the spring of 1980.  Or, if not that topic, there were plenty on how some of those players were acquired, such as how the trade for Guy Lafleur was conducted. 

Those types of stories, which were many of them no matter what era was being discussed, were good and well-researched. They did hold my interest long enough for me to finish the book, although Linton’s narration helped with that as well.  This just was not the collection of stories I expected.  Readers or listeners who are more interested in the workings of the Montreal front office through the decades would be the target audience for this book.

Link: Amazon.com: Tales from the Montreal Canadiens Locker Room: A Collection of the Greatest Canadiens Stories Ever Told (Audible Audio Edition): J. P. Linton, Robert S. Lefebvre, Audible Studios: Books

Review of “The Hardest Longest Race”

 Happy Easter to those who celebrate. Having taken the Easter week off, it gave me plenty of reading time and as a result more reviews done. This book was a bit of a challenge to finish, but I’m glad I stuck it out and wrote this review while still fresh in my mind as I even upped my rating. Here is my review of “The Hardest Longest Race.” 

Title/Author: “The Hardest Longest Race: Henry Ford and the Cross-Country Race That Changed America” by Eric Moskowitz. 

Rating:  4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review: Before auto racing came into the sport we know today, there was a race across the United States pitting five cars from 4 different auto makers. Billed as the Ocean to Ocean race, this 1909 race from New York to Seattle is chronicled well in this book by Eric Moskowitz.

The five cars were produced by Ford (they had two Model T’s in this event); Shawmut (a small automaker business in Boston); Acme; and Italia, a European maker. The race was used not only for advertising purposes but also to see if the “little guys” from Boston and elsewhere could beat the mighty Ford brand. This was such an important event that Henry Ford himself made the trip to Seattle to see the finish and the prize money was put up by Robert Guggenheim. 

The book takes the reader through the many paths through mud, ruts, potholes and other obstructions through the states. There are various checkpoints along the way where the cars check in for standings and the crews can rest and refuel both cars and bodies. Moskowitz does a very thorough analysis here of all these roads, cars and men in this event. At times it feels too good as one has to carefully read it in order to keep the cars and crew straight and also to fully understand what the conditions were like driving these cars.

Fans of auto racing today - whether Indy car, F1 or NASCAR - will find that reading about race cars with speeds less than 20 miles per hour will be hard to imagine given the speed of today’s cars. But putting in perspective the nature of those early cars, the completely different parts like axles and tires and the road/trail conditions, finishing this race is a major achievement.

There was a major dispute and rules violation that affected the outcome of the race but not the aftermath. This review will not provide a spoiler but will say that this book goes well beyond a sports book on auto racing. It’s a great adventure story with many twists - literally and figuratively- along the way.

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: https://www.amazon.com/Hardest-Longest-Race-Cross-Country-Contest/dp/1250282675/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0