Review of "The Last Stand of Payne Stewart"

While this review comes two weeks after my favorite golf tournament of the year, the US Open, I still felt that this was a good time to review an advance copy of an upcoming book on Payne Stewart, the popular golfer who was killed in a plane crash nearly 20 years ago.  Here is my review of "The Last Stand of Payne Stewart"

Title/Author:

“The Last Stand of Payne Stewart: The Year Golf Changed Forever” by Kevin Robbins

Tags:

Golf, professional, biography, history

Publish date:

October 8, 2019

Length:

227 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

Payne Stewart was one of the most popular and most interesting people on the professional golf tour in the 1990’s. His tragic death in a plane crash in 1999, just weeks after being a member of the famous American Ryder Cup team that made an incredible comeback on the last day of matches to regain that award from the European team. Payne’s golf career and life are chronicled in this excellent book by Kevin Robbins.

While the format of the biography does follow Stewart’s life without much jumping around, what set this biography apart from others was partly Stewart’s very interesting career with its ups and downs and Robbins’ delicate manner in which he handles telling the story. Stewart was not an ordinary professional golfer. The most known aspect of his golf career was the headwear and plus four pants he wore on the course.  It is not as well known why he wore these and this book tells the tale of Stewart’s father stating that in order to become famous, one must stand out. Payne took that advice to heart and his father was never far from his thoughts, something Robbins illustrates in a touching manner several times in the book.

As for Payne’s golf career (Robbins always calls him “Payne” in the book, never “Stewart”), its ups and downs are covered thoroughly in the book as well. Early on, even when Payne started achieving some success and eventually winning his first major tournament in 1991, he often came across as brash and even uncaring at times. It did lead to bouts of depression that he was able to overcome with the help of his wife Tracey. She is portrayed as the rock of their family as she was able to help Payne both on and off the course. I especially enjoyed reading about the putting drill she made Payne go through to work on that aspect of his game, as it is mentioned several times, including Payne’s most memorable and satisfying win, the 1999 US Open at Pinehurst #2.

Of course, the plane crash that took Payne’s life was covered in great detail as well. The book starts and ends with that event and no matter what aspect of that tragedy is discussed, it is told in the same manner as the rest of the important events in the life of Payne Stewart. They are told in a way that a reader will not only feel close to Payne and Tracey, but also that he or she is reading about a person who is truly HUMAN with all the highs and lows that all people experience but is also one that who is loved and whose loss is still being felt nearly 20 years after his death.

I wish to thank Hachette Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

E-book  (Kindle)                                                                                                                                

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Stand-Payne-Stewart-Changed-ebook/dp/B07NCXNT3S/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3S3U5JOSU26HK&keywords=payne+stewart&qid=1561853273&s=digital-text&sprefix=payne+stew%2Cdigital-text%2C150&sr=1-2

Review of "Reclaiming 42"

This book is very different than anything else I have read about Jackie Robinson - and it was very enlightening.  Instead of illustrating the often-told stories about his legacy for baseball integration, this book takes a look at more controversial actions taken by the man. Here is my review of "Reclaiming 42"

Title/Author:

“Reclaiming 42: Public Memory and the Reframing of Jackie Robinson’s Radical Legacy” by David Naze

Tags:

Baseball, politics, race, history

Publish date:

June 1, 2019

Length:

234 pages

Rating: 

4 ½  of 5 stars (excellent)

Review:

While the story of how and when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball (MLB) is well-known to many people, including non-baseball fans, that story that is considered the “official” one by MLB, this scholarly book by David Naze explores the lesser known aspects of Robinson in his life away from the diamond and opines that there is much more to the man than what MLB, the Hall of Fame, and others portray him to be.

Naze states his intentions early on and repeats the theme frequently throughout the book that Robinson’s complete contribution to racial relations and politics is omitted for various reasons.  The examples of the omissions that are rarely published or discussed are Robinson’s letters to Congressman Adam Clayton Powell and to Malcolm X. In both letters, Robinson is critical of the manner in which these civil rights activists are addressing this issue and because of this, Naze contends, Robinson’s true contribution to the issue of race relations is lacking. The same is said for the lack of widespread work that examines Robinson’s remarks to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) when that committee was investigating entertainer Paul Robeson. 

Why this is the case is explained in Chapter 4 of the book when Naze discusses the celebration of Jackie Robinson Day at Shea Stadium in 2004 by then-Commissioner Bud Selig.  Naze makes a compelling case about MLB portraying Robinson in a sanitized manner that is acceptable to the mostly white executives of MLB. Naze illustrates the dual message being sent in describing Robinson’s “heroic” actions to desegregate the game and have MLB congratulate itself for this while still having no executives or owners who are black.  Reading about this “sanitizing” of the complete Robinson story was fascinating and also fairly easy for a scholarly work.

This chapter, however, wasn’t the best of the book.  In chapter 3, to illustrate another point Naze makes that the integration of MLB wasn’t all good as it lead to the demise of the Negro Leagues, he takes readers on a guided tour of two baseball museums.  In great detail, the reader will be lead through the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York and also the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.  (Note: it is emphasize to NOT call the latter a “Hall of Fame.”)  These are done to illustrate the difference in the two museums’ interpretation of Robinson’s legacy.  Naze points out the Cooperstown museum concentrates on Robinson’s individual contribution, as it does for others who are enshrined there. This is the individualism that it illustrates and contrasts with the Negro League’s museum which has a much smaller display of Robinson and includes him in the collective history of black baseball.  That collective theme is in line with the rest of that museum and these two different styles reflects how Robinson is remembered in the annals of history in MLB and in the history of black baseball. 

By profiling Robinson in a very different manner, Naze does a very good job of not only presenting these little-known actions by Robinson but also presenting his argument of how MLB is not presenting the true story of integration.  As mentioned earlier, this is a fairly easy and quick read which is not common for a book of this style. Because of this, the book is highly recommended for readers who want to learn more about Jackie Robinson.

I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

Hardcover

Buying Links:

https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/university-of-nebraska-press/9780803290822/

https://www.amazon.com/Reclaiming-42-Reframing-Robinsons-Radical/dp/0803290829/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Review of "Hardball Retroactive"

Count this book as one that I was frequently overlooking, mainly because of the sheer size of the book. That would usually scare me off from taking a look at it and I went off to read others.  However, the persistence of the author in asking about the status of a review paid off, as I finally opened this for more than a few minutes and am able to say that it is a very good book for the information it is telling.  Here is my review of "Hardball Retroactive." 

Title/Author:

“Hardball Retroactive” by Derek Bain

 

Tags:

Baseball, statistics, history

Publish date:

June 22, 2018

Length:

1287 pages

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

If you ever wanted to know how your favorite team has fared over the years when it comes to the outcomes of trades they have made or the success of their farm system and the players drafted by the team to stock the system, then this book by Derek Bain is for you. 

Using extensive statistical analysis from his computer along with articles he has written on various blogs such as Seamheads.com and his own, Bain breaks down the performance of scores of general managers who have run major league teams throughout the years. The results and rankings, based on statistics like win shares, may surprise some readers. For those who have seen Bain’s earlier book, “Hardball Retrospective”, this book is in the same format and design. It just is now concentrating on trades and farm systems, along with some other fun concepts such as getting extra bases by hustle from singles.

The research is extensive and the charts can be overwhelming at times so it is best to be used as a reference book and to study in depth the teams or statistics in which the reader is most interested.  That is how I approached this book, looking at each section in depth for only my favorite team, the Minnesota Twins.  As a note, if the team has relocated at any time in the history of the franchise, like the Twins did in 1961 when they arrived from Washington, all relevant information from those teams will be used as well. 

While it was hard to locate specific tables and graphs in the PDF format at the page numbers on the file did not match those in the table of contents, it was nonetheless a fun look at how the Twins’ GMs and trades stacked up over the years.  I was pleasantly surprised at how high the former GM, Terry Ryan, ranked in the list of GMs and other readers are sure to find just as many surprises in this wealth of information.   

I wish to thank Mr. Bain for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

E-book (PDF)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Hardball-Retroactive-Derek-Bain-ebook/dp/B07DZ1LBHX/ref=sr_1_1?crid=23IUDGVX6L2PP&keywords=hardball+retroactive&qid=1560959655&s=gateway&sprefix=hardball+retroactive%2Caps%2C606&sr=8-1

Review of "Mantle" The Best There Ever Was"

I might be considered an unusual baseball book consumer because until I read this book, I had never read a book on Mickey Mantle from cover to cover.  I had tried a couple others but didn't finish them.  However, I really enjoyed this one.  Here is my review of "Mantle: The Best There Ever Was."  

Title/Author:

“Mantle: The Best There Ever Was” by Tony Castro

Tags:

Baseball, biography, Yankees

Publish date:

April 12, 2019

Length:

272 pages

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

Not much needs to be said to introduce readers to Mickey Mantle. No matter the age of a reader or how much of a baseball fan that reader happens to be, Mantle is one of those personalities who have become larger than life, long after death and even when all of his shortcomings have been revealed.  However, there may still be readers who have not read much on the man and if you fall into that category, as I did before obtaining this book, then “Mantle: The Best There Ever Was” is a good place to start to understand why he became such a legend – oh, and a pretty good ball player as well.

The book starts with excerpts from interviews with Meryl Mantle, Mickey’s widow, that the author, Tony Castro, promised not to publish until after her death.  Her answers revealed a belief that she had for a long time – that her husband, despite all the issues they had in their marriage, was a good man and also the best baseball player in the history of the game. Having whetted the appetite of the reader with this revelation, Castro makes the pitch why he believes this to be true. 

However, that doesn’t come until the last chapter of the book. In between, the reader will be treated to many stories about Mantle told by Mantle himself (from interviews before Mickey’s death in 1995), teammates and his long-time love, Holly Bright.  Through these stories, many of the beliefs that have been passed down are either confirmed or shown to be false. One example of the latter is the belief that Mantle and Joe DiMaggio couldn’t stand each other as there are examples of them helping each other.  Another is that Bright was not close to Mantle after his marriage – the popular belief is that she was his girlfriend in his rookie year of 1951 but then they went separate ways after he married Merlyn.  According to Bright, they were always close and that he really wanted to marry her, not Merlyn.  He only did so because he was afraid to go against his father’s wishes.

That last point is important as that is always a theme in any narrative about Mickey Mantle – that he was loyal to his father and was always aiming to please him (or didn’t want to disappoint him), even long after Mutt’s 1952 death. Putting this pressure on himself to go with the terrible injury Mickey suffered in the 1951 World Series (another chink in the legend of DiMaggio and Mantle disliking each other) made Mantle a tragic hero even with his extraordinary accomplishments on the field.  Castro also points out that this image of Mantle was further enhanced by the growing popularity of television as it brought Mantle to the homes of millions of boys and their fathers who ended up worshipping Mantle as their hero.

Finally, the book goes back to the point made in the title – why the author and Mantle’s widow believe he is the greatest baseball player to every step onto the diamond. Castro uses sabermetrics to make this point – at least that Mantle was superior to Babe Ruth. However, that is only part of the story why he states this. Castro also points out that so many of Mantle’s peers also made this claim and that Mickey’s championship pedigree should also be considered when making this statement.  The reader will then be able to judge whether he or she agrees with Castro or not.

Because this reviewer had not previously read a complete book on Mantle or any of Castro’s previous work on Mantle, the material felt fresh and was very entertaining and easy to read. Readers who have read other books on Mantle may not gain new information and even feel that because these stories are just that – stories – they may not pass as completely factual.  While that is a fair point, readers who just enjoy reading about this legendary New York Yankee will want to read this one, no matter how much they think they know about him.

I wish to thank Roman and Littlefield for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

Paperback

Buying Links:

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538122228/Mantle-The-Best-There-Ever-Was

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mantle-tony-castro/1129321118?ean=9781538122211#/

https://www.amazon.com/Mantle-Best-There-Ever-Was/dp/1538122219/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1560796654&sr=1-1

Review of "The City Game"

One sports trivia question that I have burned to memory is that City College of New York is the only college basketball team to have won the NIT and NCAA in the same season.  A book on that remarkable team and the point shaving scandal that brought them down is coming out in November, but I was fortunate to obtain an advance review copy - and it is one that I will purchase when it comes out.  Here is my review of "The City Game."

Title/Author:

“The City Game: Triumph, Scandal and a Legendary Basketball Team” by Matthew Goodman

Tags:

Basketball, college, scandal, gambling, politics, championship

Publish date:

November 5, 2019

Length:

448 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

The 1949-50 basketball team from the City College of New York accomplished a feat that will never be done again. They won both the National Invitational Tournament  (NIT) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tourney in the same season. At that time, they were held at different times rather than concurrently as is done now. These championships came at a time when college basketball was much more popular than the professional game and also at a time when gamblers have a large influence in the sport. Through these gamblers, City College was found to have participated in a point shaving scandal along with several other college teams. This City College team, its players and both the good and bad times for them is captured in this outstanding book by Matthew Goodman.

What is the most striking feature about the book and the writing is how a reader will have a deep connection with the City College players, especially Eddie Roman and Floyd Layne.  Roman is Jewish and Layne is black, making them the perfect symbols to represent the student body make up of City College, which was tuition free and comprised mainly of black and Jewish students who were gifted intellectually but would not otherwise have been able to pursue higher education.  Goodman starts the book off by introducing the reader to Roman and his family and ends it with a wonderful success story achieved by Layne in a surprising twist.  In between, the reader will be taken back to that era of smoke-filled arenas and students cramming the cheap seats while the gamblers, politicians and businessmen filled the lower bowls with other items to take care of than watching the games.

While the writing about the basketball was very good and the recap of that special season for City College was easy to follow (and to cheer for them), the coverage of the point shaving scandal is even better.  The reader will get information from several viewpoints – the City College players who accepted bribes to shave points, the gamblers who set up the players and the informants who provided the information prosecutors needed to charge the players and gamblers.  On the latter, the story of Joseph Gross and his flip-flopping on his willingness to testify was especially entertaining.  Between his arrogance when he was arrested and his speedy exit from the courtroom when he was supposed to testify, he is just one character of many with whom readers will become very familiar.

However, that quality is best illustrated when writing about the City College players and their lives.  Whether Goodman is sharing their family life, their basketball prowess, the shame they felt when arrested and deposed, or their various degrees of success after City College, the reader will feel like they have known these men for a long time. The best section in the entire book is when the players are arrested at Penn Station after disembarking a train after a road game – the emotions of not only the players but Coach Nat Holman are on full display.

One more quality about the book that makes it an outstanding read is how several issues that are still discussed today are raised in this book.  Only two of the City College players that were arrested served jail time – both of them African American.  Several times it was pointed out that nearly everyone involved – the schools, the arenas, the gamblers – were making money off college basketball except the players.  These are issues that are still being discussed today.

For these and many other reasons, this is a book that should be picked up by either college basketball fans or readers who want to learn more about the history and times of New York City in the 1950’s as the dialogue has an authentic feel. 

I wish to thank Ballentine Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/City-Game-Triumph-Legendary-Basketball-ebook/dp/B07NKP9869/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-city-game-matthew-goodman/1130550459?ean=9781101882849

Review of "The Sixth Man"

While I cannot call myself a "fan" of the Golden State Warriors, I have two admissions to make about them.  One, whether or not they win the NBA title again in 2019, they are a fun team to watch. Two, books on their players make excellent reads.  Recently I enjoyed a biography of Kevin Durant. Now, I had the pleasure of reading Andre Iguodala's memoir and it was just as good.  Here is my review of "The Sixth Man"

Title/Author:

“The Sixth Man” by Andre Iguodala with Carvelle Wallace

Tags:

Basketball, professional, Warriors, Nuggets, 76ers

Publish date:

June 25, 2019

Length:

256 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

Basketball is unique in one way in that a player can become even more famous when he is no longer in the starting line up and instead will come off the bench to contribute in a valuable manner to his or her team. One player who has done that is Andre Iguodala. While he was a very good player as a starter for the Philadelphia 76ers and Denver Nuggets, he became even more noticed as the sixth man for the team that has won three of the last four NBA championships, the Golden State Warriors.  He tells the story of his life, his career and his take on some of today’s issues in the game in this excellent memoir with Carvelle Wallace.

While the writing may not be as crisp as some other memoirs, what I found refreshing about this book is the Iguodala was very candid about every topic he addressed. Whether it was whether college athletes should be paid, the point in his career when he truly realized that professional sports are a business and not just a game, how the public believes athletes should communicate in the media or racial issues, Iguodala lets the reader know up front that this is his viewpoint and how he sees the particular issue.

The latter two topics come up in the incident in which I believed that this book went from good to excellent and that was when he used a phrase that sounded like one used from the days of slavery when he answered a question on the relationship between a head coach and the players. He didn’t back off of his comment, he didn’t take swipes at those who criticized his remarks (and there were plenty) and his explanation of it was consistent with his stance on his viewpoints earlier expressed on racial matters and the ways in which professional athletes are expected to conduct themselves.

None of them are really shocking or reveal new material, but are excellent to read for the sheer rawness of exposing his feelings. When he praised Curt Flood, who challenged baseball’s reserve clause in 1970, it showed that he has studied the history of these subject extensively and his comment that every professional athlete should thank Flood for them being able to enjoy the freedoms and riches they have today was profound.

Of course, he talks about basketball in the book a lot as well as these other issues. On this topic, he is quite fluid as well. This part of the book does follow the tried and true formula of chronicling the highlights of each level of basketball played. His reflections on his time at the University of Arizona and what coach Lute Olson did for and to him were very interesting to read as it can be the case for many college basketball players, but was something I had never read before.

Iguodala’s time in Philadelphia was marked with many ups and downs, both on the court, where the 76ers enjoyed some moderate success and off the court with his relationship with the fans and press an ongoing drama. After a brief time in Denver, he signed with the Warriors as a free agent and his accounting of his time with Golden State is one in which he really learns what it is like to share the spotlight with superstar players.  He explains how these players like Steph Curry and Kevin Durant not only are excellent players but how they each contribute to the success of the team on the court and in the public eye.

Any fan of the current NBA game, especially Warriors fans, will want to read this book about the team’s vital sixth man and how he sees the world of professional basketball. It is a book that once a reader starts, it will be very hard to put down.

I wish to thank Blue Rider Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Sixth-Man-Memoir-Andre-Iguodala-ebook/dp/B07HVZ3ZBT/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-sixth-man-andre-iguodala/1129662477?ean=9780525534006#/

Review of "They Played the Game"

To start this post, I want to give a shout out to one of the publishers who have graciously supplied me with books to review and I have been successful with getting a review out on every one of them - sometimes later than anticipated but nonetheless I read them.  That publisher is University of Nebraska Press and their great marketing team of Anna and Rosemary.  This review is of one of their books, "They Played the Game"

Title/Author:

“They Played the Game: Memories from 47 Major Leaguers” by Norman L. Macht

Tags:

Baseball, professional, essays

Publish date:

April 1, 2019

Length:

320 pages

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars very (good)

Review:

Some of the best storytellers are former major league baseball players. No matter how long his career lasted or how he compiled his statistics, a baseball player is always eager to share his experiences.  Author Norman Macht has collected anecdotes from 47 former players who played from the Deadball Era of the early 20^th century up to the 1970’s in this fast-paced book.

As is the case for any collection of stories, essays, or other writing, this is a mixed bag.  Some of the stories were very entertaining, some were hilarious and some of them might leave a reader scratching his or her head, trying to figure out just what the man was talking about.  Personally, while I enjoyed reading all of them, I didn’t find any one particular anecdote that would stand out above the rest. 

The best aspect to reading this book is that the reader will be taken back to certain events in a way that a neutral author could not capture. Reading about a moment in which the player was there to experience helps the reader picture the scene even better.  This is true even of events that have been written about many times.  Two very good examples of this involved stores I enjoyed about Babe Ruth. One came from former Yankee Mark Koenig, who described the Babe’s legendary nightlife, and the other was from Carmen Hill, who was thrilled more than fifty years later about the fact he pitched to Ruth in the 1927 World Series.

If those two names don’t sound familiar, then that is the norm for this book – there are many more stories from players who did not become household names or superstars.  Instead, these could be considered as simply stories about the work life of a baseball player much like stories shared in the office at the water cooler, albeit these are about a worklife that many people dream about having when they are kids. 

I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

Hardcover

Buying Links:

https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/university-of-nebraska-press/9781496205506/

https://www.amazon.com/They-Played-Game-Memories-Leaguers/dp/1496205502/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1559913868&sr=8-2

Guest post - Sports Book Lady’s review of “Jackie Robinson West”

The school year is winding down across the United States. As pencils and notebooks are pushed aside, kids turn to their favorite summer activities: summer camp, swimming, late night reading, and little league baseball. In a little over two months, the Little League world will converge in Williamsport, Pennsylvania for its annual World Series. The stands will be packed, and kids appear as happy as ever to play America’s game. Five years ago, two stories took the Little League world by storm: pitcher Mo’ne Davis and the team from the south side of Chicago comprised of all African American players named Jackie Robinson West. Long time Chicago sports writer George Castle followed the JRW little leaguers that year and was compelled enough by their story to chronicle their championship season. 

The south and west sides of Chicago are in the news on a regular basis for shootings, gang involvement, and other related stories. An outsider would think that once one left the city’s downtown, that the entire south and west side is one large grid of gang activity. In certain neighborhoods that may be the case, but the Mt Vernon neighborhood on the city’s south side was founded by middle class, two parent families looking to carve a safe space to raise their children. Castle interviews some of the original residents of Mt Vernon, a neighborhood comprised of stable family units, two parent working families, who desired the best for their children. During the late 1960s, white flight to the suburbs and housing discrimination against African Americans were normal occurrences in Chicago. Even star athletes on both Chicago baseball teams found it difficult to find housing outside of traditional black neighborhoods. Although well north of the Mason-Dixon Line, Chicago was considered the most segregated city in America. Yet, in the 1970s, according to Castle, the hot button issue for African Americans was not gangs but the break down of the family due to the Aid for Dependent Children Act. In order to forge a sense of community and establish deep roots, the Mt Vernon residents started their own little league from the ground up. 

In 1971 Bill Haley put down the roots for the Jackie Robinson West little league. With teams for boys ages 6 through high school and a minimal participation fee, there was a place on a team for every neighborhood boy who wanted to play. Girls could participate in the league as well as Haley issued them pompons and t-shirts and many rooted for their neighbors as cheer leaders. Games in Mt Vernon, later renamed Jackie Robinson, Park were community wide events as the whole neighborhood came to cheer on their boys. These were wholesome families; parents worked as nurses, teachers, police officers, and in various capacities for the city, and there was much parental involvement on most of the Little League teams. League alum David Harris, now an attorney in the Atlanta area, cites his years on Jackie Robinson West as molding his identity as a leader and team player. Harris lauds Bill Haley and Illinois senate leader Emil Jones as the builders of the league that played a role in generations of boys in the neighborhood. It was through this little league and all around community involvement, that families stayed in Mt Vernon as a safe place to raise new generations of ball players, cheerleaders, and wholesome kids. 

As the 1980s moved into the 1990s and then the 2000s, less and less African American children turned to baseball. Sports had become a year round endeavor as kids began to specialize in one sport for the entire year rather than play seasonally. With high participation fees for travel leagues, many African American kids turned to football and basketball as their sport of choice. If parents did not want to risk their kids becoming a statistic by venturing outside to a park, kids stayed home and played video games. Baseball was becoming an afterthought, and Major League Baseball wanted to do something to boost African American participation. Their RBI program aimed at inner city baseball leagues, had opened some eyes, but going forward, many kids prefer other sports to baseball fans even if baseball may be a safer alternative to football. From the major leagues to little league, administrators looked for new ways to encourage African Americans to turn to baseball as their sport of choice. 

The 2014 Jackie Robinson West Little League Team came along at a time when both little league participation and Chicago Major League Baseball was at an all time low. Yet, the team did the unthinkable: the boys made it all the way to the Little League World Series and then made it to the championship game. The boys known as JRW had won America’s hearts and become the feel good story of the year and more importantly increased exposure and television ratings. Yet, according to community members, JRW was not a Cinderella Story. The boys on the team came from two parent, middle class families, and both parents worked with their sons to mold them into top ballplayers, students, and leaders. Galvanized by the team, the community met for watch parties and the city finally had a baseball team to cheer about. Even in a summer with more gang shootings than ever, for two weeks the murder rate was down as people all across Chicago met to watch their boys compete for a title. 

Five years later some members of the 2014 JRW team, now associated with Cal Ripken League, are finishing high school and eligible for major league baseball’s draft. With the draft this week, it will be interesting to see if some of the boys made it. In 2014, the Jackie Robinson West team was the feel good story of the summer. The boys were noticed by African American Major League ball players and the president of the United States. They made their community proud and allowed Chicago to be known for something positive. George Castle, a native Chicagoan, has done a fine job of documenting the Mt Vernon community and Jackie Robinson Little League as one built to last by community leaders and should be commended and used as an example by inner city communities across the United States. 

Review of "Golden Glow"

It isn't often that a book on a swimmer or Olympic swimming is available for review, so when I saw this one on Kaitlin Sandeno, who medaled in the 2000 and 2004 Games, I had to pick it up.  Here is my review of "Golden Glow"

Title/Author:

“Golden Glow: How Kaitlin Sandeno Achieved Gold in the Pool and in Life” by Dan D’Addona with Kaitlin Sandeno

Tags:

Swimming, Olympics, biography, women

 

Publish date:

July 2, 2019

Length:

160 pages

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

Kaitlin Sandeno proved to be one of the most versatile female swimmers in recent Olympic history by being part of a world-record setting relay team for the United States and medaling in three other strokes in the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics – the first one coming when she was just 17 years old.  Now she is the national spokeswoman for the Jessie Rees Foundation addressing childhood cancer, and has also been a youth swimming coach.  Her swimming career and life outside the pool is captured in this short but very good book by Dan D’Addona, a noted writer on the sport.

The most notable aspect of this book that I found interesting was the format – instead of following the chronological order most biographies or memoirs do, the book started with one of Kaitlin’s visits to a children’s hospital, her work with the Jessie Rees Foundation and, in one of the most touching moments in the book, how she met Jessie and the inspiration she gave Sandeno.  This was a good way to introduce the reader to Kaitlin to describe what a positive and upbeat person that she is. 

While Sandeno’s work for the foundation is inspiring, so is the story of her career.  The youngest of three sisters, Kaitlin seemed to be born to live in a pool as she became a swimming prodigy very quickly.  When she qualified for the 2000 Olympics as a high school swimmer, that was when she started gaining world-wide attention and by medaling, she didn’t disappoint.  Her swimming continued at USC, where she won her events in the 2003 NCAA tourney, then capped it off with medals in the 2004 Olympics, including being the anchor on the world-record performance by the United States team in the 4x200 freestyle relay.  Any swimming fan, casual or serious, will enjoy reading about the rise of the friendly, outgoing Sandeno.

The writing overall is quite good – the only problem was an editing matter, in that quotation marks were either missing or put in the incorrect place, making it hard to determine who was providing the quote.  This will most likely be corrected in the final version.  There are other passages that seem to be incomplete.  One example – when Sandeno was struggling with her swimming at USC because she was living a very active social life, it was noted that later she curbed that by having a “long distance relationship” but there is no explanation of how that helped.  These are far and few, however, and the reader will get to learn how happy and outgoing a person Kaitlin is, in both her marriage and her life after her swimming career. Any reader who is a swimming fan is encouraged to pick up this book.

I wish to thank Rowman and Littlefield for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Glow-Kaitlin-Sandeno-Achieved/dp/1538117037/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=golden+glow&qid=1559472133&s=books&sr=1-2