While I usually do not make requests for review copies of older books, I did so for this one when I was reading some of the author's Facebook postings about baseball in the 1970s and 1980s and remembered him pitching for the Dodgers. His stories are fun to read and the entire collection is put together well in the book. Here is my review of Jerry Reuss's memoir.
Title/Author: "Bring In the Right-Hander! My Twenty-Two Years in the Major
Leagues” by Jerry Reuss
Rating: 4 of
5 stars (excellent)
Review: Only
29 baseball players have played in in the major leagues in four different
decades. One member of that exclusive club is left-handed pitcher Jerry Reuss,
who was a key member of the 1981 World Series champion Los Angeles
Dodgers. After beginning his career with
his hometown St. Louis Cardinals and then finding success with the Pittsburgh
Pirates, Reuss enjoyed his best years with the Dodgers. After the Dodgers released him in 1986, he bounced
around with other clubs just trying to stay in the game. After stints with the California Angels,
Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago White Sox (twice), he finished with the Pirates
in 1990. Along the way, Reuss accumulated
many stories and memories that he shares with the readers in this fast paced
and easy read.
This
memoir concentrates on Reuss’s time in the major leagues. There are some stories about his youth, his
decision to sign with the Cardinals instead of accepting a baseball college
scholarship and his time in the minor leagues, but the bulk of his stories are
about his time in the majors. He tells
them with the perfect blend of seriousness and humor in order to both inform
and entertain readers. Reuss also shares
his experiences in baseball, both good and bad, with excellent clarity as he
did many interviews with those who were important to his career, be they
teammates, coaches, managers or anyone else.
If a
reader is looking for a serious book with crisp writing and a lot of detail
about the game, this is not that book.
But if a reader just wants to settle back with a light, entertaining
book on baseball – especially during the off-season when a fan is anxiously awaiting
the start of spring training – then this is a very good choice. There isn’t one characteristic of this book
that makes it stand out about above other baseball memoirs, so it didn’t receive
this rating for being that type of book.
Instead, it merits consideration as a good memoir for being the type of
book in which the reader can picture Reuss sitting in the same room with him or
her and just relieving his good, long career in the game.
I
wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in
exchange for an honest review.
Links: https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9780803248977/
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