While I primarily will review new or upcoming books, this one was recommended to me by a local librarian. Our library has a weekly Facebook chat on books and during a recent session, this book was recommended since I have read several by the co-author Erik Sherman. I decided to take a look and I enjoyed it. Here is my review of Steve Blass's memoir, "A Pirate for Life"
Title/Author:
"A Pirate For Life" by Steve Blass with Erik Sherman
Tags:
Baseball, professional, memoir, Pirates
Publish date:
May 1, 2012
Length:
256 pages
Rating:
4 of 5 stars (very good)
Review:
It isn't often a baseball player can have a "disease" named after him, but that is what happened to former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Steve Blass. In 1973, he inexplicably lost his ability to throw a pitch in the strike zone. This occurred after his two most productive seasons with the Pirates and he was a rising star on one of the better teams in the National League. His complete story – his rise, his fall and his life after the fall forced him to leave the game – is told in this very entertaining memoir written with Erik Sherman.
It should be noted that while the book follows the traditional path a sports memoir takes, this isn't the most polished memoir written as Blass skips around without a tangential connection between the two topics. There is also a lot of colorful language and unless one is an avid Pirates fan, some of the nicknames may make it difficult to follow a story. That is the worst of the book, which otherwise is very entertaining and is a true reflection of Blass's personality as his broadcasting style – he has done broadcasting work for the Pirates – is exactly like how this book reads.
Blass is honest about the "Steve Blass disease" – or also called "the yips" - that afflicted him and mentions other prominent baseball players that had similar issues such as Mackey Sasser, Chuck Knoblach and Rick Ankiel. The latter one made for one of the better stories not on the diamond as Blass shared that he was watching the playoff game in which Ankiel threw many wild pitches and his "Steve Blass disease" was on full display. He turned to his wife and said that he figured within five minutes, he was going to get a call from a reporter – it took only three.
Readers will enjoy hearing Blass tell about his rise to the major leagues as he not only talks about his pitching, the games and his teammates but also some legendary stories about his nights out with friends and teammates – both during and after his baseball career – in which alcoholic beverages played an important part. It is easy to tell that he enjoyed his adult beverages and some may wonder if he had issues about it but just from the reading, it didn't seem to be that way.
The other wonderful part of the book for a reader is when Blass finally is able to address his trouble with throwing a baseball properly, even though it didn't happen until long after his career was over as he used psychology to overcome his issues. He was so happy about it that he threw out the first pitch at a Pirates game many years after last pitching to show that he could do it. The joy he had doing that is shown both in the text and on the cover as that was where that photo was taken.
Pirates fans will especially love to read this account of a pitcher who seemed to have everything going for him when his baseball world came crashing down but was able to still enjoy all that the game gave to him.
Book Format Read:
E-book (PDF)
Buying Links:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-pirate-for-life-erik-sherman/1119832662?ean=9781617496462
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