Review of “A Damn Near Perfect Game”

 Back to baseball here, I found the audio version of this gem and decided to play it during some dead times during the workday. Here is my review of “A Damn Near Perfect Game.”

Title/Author: “A Damn Near Perfect Game: Reclaiming America’s Pastime” by Joe Kelly, narrated by L. J. Ganser

Rating: 4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:  Sometimes the best view of a topic, be it sports, occupations or anything else, comes from someone who has actually experienced it and has done so in many different ways and levels. This short book by Joe Kelly, a relief pitcher who has been with 4 teams, most recently the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024, tells readers and listeners why baseball is such a great game and also the ways it can fix itself. 

This isn’t a complete criticism of those today who feel the game is boring , too slow for today’s younger generations or similar well-worn reasons published on why baseball is not as popular as other sports. Instead, Kelly approaches this two sided. Yes, he does give suggestions on how the game can improve its appeal to younger people. The best part of this approach (and of the entire book for me) was his very productive interview with current MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. That was very enlightening and not at all what I expected. 

The other way that Kelly approaches the task is what one would expect from the title. He extols all the aspects of the game that he believes makes it so good. There are far too many individual points made about this to list them all, but we’ll just say that any reason that fans have said why they like the game is covered in some way in the book. This can come from Kelly or from one of the many famous and not-so-famous people who share their stories on the game.

Speaking of stories, Kelly shares many of his own. There is a little bit of autobiographical material when he tells his rise to the major leagues. But the best is early in the book when he made his famous “pouty face” At Carlos Correa in a 2020 game between the Dodgers and the Houston Astros. Strange as it may seem, he uses this story to tell of his love for the game and why it is so good.

Listening to the audio version of this book, I not only enjoyed L.J. Ganser’s narration, but I felt I was able to connect with the stories told. While I am not one this book seemed to be trying to reach, it is one that any level of baseball fan should enjoy and who knows, it just might convince some that baseball truly is a damn near perfect game.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Damn-Near-Perfect-Game-Reclaiming/dp/1635768896/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0 

Review of "Roberto Alomar"

Sometimes a book on a famous player will allow the reader to learn much more about that player than what they learned in the media or through fandom.  That was the case for me with this book about Roberto Alomar.  Here is my review.

 

Title/Author:

“Roberto Alomar: The Complicated Life and Legacy of a Baseball Hall of Famer” by David Ostrowsky

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (Very good)

Review:  The subtitle of this book by David Ostrowsky is very accurate when discussing the baseball legacy of Roberto Alomar, a Hall of Fame second baseman who played for seven different major league teams but found his greatest success as a Toronto Blue Jay.  Alomar’s entire career, as well as his personal life and the controversies that surrounded him both on and off the field are captured here.

From the very beginning it is clear that Ostrowsky is not going to sugar coat Alomar’s life as the book begins with the infamous incident in 1996 when Alomar, then a member of the Baltimore Orioles, spit on umpire John Hirschbeck after a disputed called third strike. Alomar then further enraged fans and media when he mentioned that Hirschbeck had become more bitter since his son passed away.  While easily the most famous of the controversies involving Alomar, there are others that did not get as much attention but are noted by Ostrowsky.  These included allegations of sexual assault that led Major League Baseball to ban him from the game in 2021, although it would not change his Hall of Fame status.

Lest one thinks this book only covers this side of Alomar, it is also full of food writing about Alomar’s baseball career, from his excitement about the game as a child to his determination to keep playing late when his diminished skills in his mid-30’s would not allow him to hang on with a team.  His brief time with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago White Sox (twice) illustrate how much he had declined.

But when his star shone bright, it was brilliant as his accomplishments in Toronto made everyone who saw him believe he was one of the best, if not the best second baseman in the game.  His knowledge was considered to be off the charts, and he was always sharing it freely with teammates or anyone else who wanted to learn more about the game.

 In short, this book was a very fair, balanced, and informative account of Roberto Alomar.  A reader will come away from this agreeing that he certainly deserves to be considered a Hall of Fame player but will also understand why there are also detractors given the many controversies, justified or not, that surround his legacy.

 I wish to thank the author and publisher for providing a review copy. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.

 Link: Roberto Alomar: The Complicated Life and Legacy of a Baseball Hall of Famer: Ostrowsky, David: 9781538158029: Amazon.com: Books

Review of "The Last Folk Hero"

Jeff Pearlman came on my radar a few years ago with his excellent book on the history of the first edition of United States Football League.  That made me want to read more of his books and while I have read a few of his earlier works, this is his most recent and so far one of his best.  Here is my review of his book on Bo Jackson, "The Last Folk Hero." 

Title/Author:

“The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson” by Jeff Pearlman

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review:

Whenever an athlete can compete at the highest level in two (or more) sports, it is a very noteworthy accomplishment.  When that athlete can do certain feats that even most stars in that particular sport only dream of accomplishing, that is when stories of incredible feats are told and passed down through the years.  Vincent “Bo” Jackson is one of those athletes in which this was accomplished, and his story is told in this excellent book by Jeff Pearlman 

Pearlman has made a very good career on writing sports biographies of famous athletes who may have a flaw or two, but has had either outstanding success in their sport, some great stories to share, a compelling story on the way to fame or, in Jackson’s case, a bit of all three traits.  The “great stories” are feats of amazing athleticism by Jackson shared by those who have claimed to have seen them.  This goes from his youth to high school sports (track and field as well as baseball and football) to college sports at Auburn (again, all three, although his fame there was for football) to the professional ranks.  Because many of these stories have a “you have to see it to believe it” aura, that was the inspiration for the title which is very appropriate.

The book also does an excellent job of portraying Jackson’s life and personality without the benefit of input directly from him.  Pearlman does write that he did contact Jackson about the project and certainly wanted to talk to him, but Jackson declined.  However, he did not give Pearlman any objections to writing the book, so the author went ahead and between his research and over 700 interviews, he ended up with a very entertaining and detailed book.

Among these details are plenty of discussion about Jackson’s accomplishments at Auburn, the NFL with the Los Angeles Raiders and in major league baseball, primarily with the Kansas City Royals, but he also spent some time with the Chicago White Sox and California Angels.  He suffered a devastating hip injury that required a hip replacement and given the medical knowledge at the time, it was considered a near-miracle that he was able to resume his baseball career (his football career was not resurrected) with the White Sox.  Mainly because his football career, especially with the Raiders, was shortened due to the injury, more of the sports accomplishments described are in baseball.  That doesn’t diminish either the writing about nor the stories telling about Jackson’s feats in that sport as well as track and field.

There is plenty of text about Bo off the field as well.  Of course, the “Bo Knows” campaign by Nike is covered and that is quite entertaining as well as informative.  The feeling of Bo being used for business purposes is not unique to him, but his views (as told by others such as teammates or friends) about team owners such as Hugh Culverhouse of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Ewing Kaufman of the Royals was very interesting.  Jackson’s personality also makes for interesting reading.  The easiest way to describe it would be complex as many people of all types of relationships with him have stories to share and they range from him getting very angry at people for seemingly minor issue to being very generous to strangers with his time, money or both.  Something that is very consistent, however, is his dedication to family.  This is true for both his mother and later with his wife and children.  He vowed to ensure that his children did not grow up with an absent father like he did and he is keeping that promise, at least according to those who spoke to Pearlman.

This is a complete book on the man that is all the more remarkable when one considers none of this information came from Jackson himself.  Any reader who “knows Bo”, no matter if it is from sports, TV commercials or some other means, will find this book one that will be hard to put down and well worth the time to read.

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

Link: The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson: Pearlman, Jeff: 9780358437673: Amazon.com: Books

 

Review of "Bring In the Right-Hander!"

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/

https://www.amazon.com/Bring-Right-Hander-Twenty-Two-Years-Leagues/dp/1496229398/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1638147513&sr=8-1

Review of "Tom Seaver and Me"

I decided to pick up this short book while in the middle of two fairly long books (reviews to come soon) just to get a break from them.  It was a productive break from the longer volumes as this one told stories about Tom Seaver that I had never heard before.  Here is my review of "Tom Seaver and Me."

Title/Author:

"Tom Seaver and Me" by Pat Jordan

Tags:

Baseball, memoir, professional, Mets, Reds, White Sox

Publish date:

May 26, 2020

Length:

192 pages

Rating:

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

This friendship between a Hall of Fame pitcher and a well-known sportswriter could fall under two categories. One could say that opposites attract, since Tom Seaver was one of the very best pitchers in the history of baseball while Pat Jordan was a "bonus baby" pitcher of the late 1950's who ended up washing out in the Milwaukee Braves farm system. Or, one could view the friendship between the two men as one of mutual respect for what each of them did in their chosen professions.  Either way, a reader is sure to enjoy this work documenting a friendship that lasted over four decades.

The book is broken into chapters titled with the year that Jordan writes about specific interactions with Seaver. They cover various topics like a pickup basketball between them in 1971, a neat story about Jordan asking Seaver for an autograph because Jordan's grandson found out his grandfather knew a "baseball player", and later on, Seaver's small vineyard that was a successful business for him.  There is baseball talk in the book as well, as one might expect, and it was mostly about Seaver but the reader learns a little about Jordan's pitching as well.  This makes for probably the funniest aspect of the book as Jordan repeatedly tells Seaver throughout the years that his fastball was faster than Seaver's.  Seaver takes this good naturedly, especially when he sees Jordan is not interested in the finer points of growing the perfect grapes for wine.

Even though the book is very short and has a large time gap from the 1980's to 2013, it is notable for covering most of the highlights of Seaver's career.  There isn't much about his 1969 season, which makes sense when the bond between them started in the 1970's but a reader will still learn about Seaver's outstanding years with the New York Mets, his stunning trade to the Cincinnati Reds in 1977 and the blunder that the Mets did when they obtained him again, only to let him be claimed by the Chicago White Sox in 1984, with whom he won his 300^th game.  While the baseball sections are very good, the book's main strength is in the later years when Jordan writes about Seaver's diminishing capabilities due to Lyme disease and later dementia with some melancholy prose.  While it is sad to see the decline of Seaver, Jordan is able to banter with the great pitcher in those years and makes for good reading as well – both the happy and the sad.

Any fan of Tom Seaver or the Mets will enjoy this book, especially with Seaver's recent passing as it tells a side of him that many may not know about and it would take a special friend to tell those stories.  Pat Jordan fits that category and does a terrific job of sharing his bond with the man whose fastball was slower than his.

Book Format Read:

E-book (Hardcover)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Tom-Seaver-Me-Pat-Jordan-ebook/dp/B086H5YK7N/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1614452721&sr=8-1

Review of "John Cangelosi"

Memoirs are written by people of all levels of fame, and this one was written by a baseball player who had a great start to his baseball career, but in the end wound up becoming a valuable utility player instead of a star. That didn't discourage him from writing his memoir.  Here is my review of "John Cangelosi"

Title/Author:

“John Cangelosi: The Improbably Journey of the Undersized Kid from Nowhere to World Series Champion” by John Cangelosi with K.P. Wee

Tags:

Baseball, memoir, professional, White Sox, Marlins, Astros, Pirates

Publish date:

July 9, 2019

Length:

296 pages

Rating: to

3 of 5 stars (okay)

Review:

John Cangelosi had an up and down baseball career. After being bypassed by many teams and scouts because of his diminutive size, he was able to sign a contract with the Chicago White Sox.  After appearing in a few games for the White Sox late in the 1985 season, he made the team in 1986 and started his career by threatening to break several records. How his career and life faired from there is captured in this memoir written with K.P. Wee.

The best way to describe reading this book is that it was much like Cangelosi’s major league career.  Both started out like gangbusters – for baseball, Cangelosi’s start to the 1986 season was filled with promise as he was stealing bases at a good clip and was threatening to break the American League record for bases stolen by a rookie, which was 49 at that time.  The book started the same way, as it was fun to read about his early life and how he overcame the stigma that baseball scouts usually have for shorter players (he was “generously” listed as 5’ 8” in official records) and showed enough talent and heart that minor league coaches, John Boles in particular, often campaigned for Cangelosi to have a spot waiting for him on the major league roster.

Then, just when Cangelosi’s rookie season was about to fully bloom, the White Sox suddenly decided to go in a different direction with their outfielders and Cangelosi was relegated to duties such as pinch hitting, pinch running and entering the game as a defensive replacement.  That made his quest to break the AL rookie record for stolen bases tough, but he was able to accomplish that late in the 1986 season.  That year also marked the only time he was a starting outfielder, as he was in 1987 not only relegated back to a utility role, he spent time in the minor leagues as well. That became his career pattern as he spent time with the Pirates, Mets, Astros and Marlins organizations.  Each time Cangelosi credited a manager for giving him a chance with those organizations – Jim Leyland in Pittsburgh and Florida, Bobby Valentine with the Mets, and Terry Collins in Houston. While he was a member of the 1997 Marlins team that won the World Series, he played sparingly in the Fall Classic, with most of the text in the book about that series being about his strikeout in game 7.

If that sounds like his baseball career had a lot of ups and downs after his rookie year, then that is the best way to describe reading this book felt as well.  When reading about his baseball career up to the point where the White Sox decided to reduce his role, it felt exciting, like the reader is going to go on a wonderful adventure with Cangelosi. After that, however, reading the passages range from entertaining to being a chore.  The latter mainly comes about because of two characteristics. 

One, there is a lot of skipping around or missing chunks of information.  The best example of that is something already mentioned – when Cangelosi reminisces about the 1997 World Series. While the reader will get a feeling about how he and the team felt hosting the first World Series games held in the Sunshine State (and how the media wasn’t too kind about the lack of a “fall” feel) there is barely anything mentioned about the three games in Cleveland and even little about the last two games in Miami, save for his at bat. 

Two, there is a lot of repetition in the book about various topics, most notably about thankful he was to coaches and managers who gave him a chance in the minor or major leagues.  While that was certainly a nice gesture to thank these men, it seemed like nearly every chapter the reader would be reminded how much Boles, Leyland and others meant to Cangelosi.  I was actually talking to the book near the end, saying “Okay, I get it – those guys were very supportive.” 

As for the better aspects of the last 2/3 of the book, I found some of the passages quite humorous and one that even shows a side of umpire Angel Hernandez that current baseball fans would be surprised to learn.  Cangelosi has been friends with Hernandez for a long time as Hernandez’s father started the league where he played organized baseball as a youngster.  Later, when Cangelosi started his baseball school in Florida, Hernandez always comes to support the school and they socialize together.  As for the humor – whether it comes from Cangelosi himself or he got it from another source, it is sprinkled liberally throughout the book.  I will quote my favorite line, which came from Michael Farber in Sports Illustrated.  When the Marlins signed Cangelosi as one of the many free agents they acquired for a championship run, Farber noted that “they paid $4.07 million for two outfielders, Jim Eisenreich and John Cangelosi, who make a lovely pair of bench ornaments.”

While this book wasn’t quite what I expected, it was a good illustration of the ups and downs of Cangelosi’s career in his own words.  Readers who remember him, especially that rookie season in Chicago, would like this reflection on his baseball career.

I wish to thank Riverdale Avenue 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/John-Cangelosi-Improbable-Baseball-Undersized-ebook/dp/B07V5FRPR5/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/john-cangelosi-john-cangelosi/1132430689?ean=2940163178308

Guest post - review of "The Catcher Was a Spy" by Sports Book Lady

This book was another Goodreads discussion and was a very interesting story. Here is the Sports Book Lady's review of "The Catcher Was a Spy."

As a baseball fan, I have always bled Cubbie blue without a doubt; yet, my favorite non Cub players have always been Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg. As a Jew with few Jewish stars to cheer for, I get excited every time a Jewish athlete makes headlines. The team Israel entry to the World Baseball Classic two years ago? My son and I woke up diligently at 4:00 to watch their games? Watching the Houston Astros’ Alex Bregman turn into a bonafide star has me kvelling, not to mention seeing Ian Kinsler get traded to the Boston Red Sox last season and then win a World Series ring with the team. Known as people of the book, Jewish stars are few and far between, so I keep my feelers out any time a Jewish athlete does something special, on or off of the playing field. That is why the Moe Berg, a back up catcher during the 1920s and 1930s has always been an intriguing character to me. Recently, there had been a movie produced about Berg’s life, so I jumped at an opportunity to read the book first, The Catcher Was a Spy by Nicholas Dawidoff. 

Moe Berg was born in 1901, the third child of Bernard and Rose Berg. Although the Bergs were ethnically Jewish and all who knew them could easily tell by their physical features, Bernard Berg tried to distance himself as much as possible from any Jewish acquaintances. An immigrant, pharmacist, and self made man, Bernard Berg moved his family to the Roseville section of Newark, New Jersey as soon as he had the means to leave the Bronx, a neighborhood that had too many Jews for his liking. His children Sam, Rose, and Morris, all common Jewish names during the generation, attended public school, had few Jewish acquaintances, and did not attend religious school. Bernard pushed his children to achieve, instilling in them that they could make something of themselves in America if they studied and became a doctor, lawyer, teacher, or nurse. Sam and Ethel followed their father’s advice and became a doctor and teacher respectively, but Morris, known as Moe, the most precocious of the three, although a stellar student from an early age, decided that he would achieve great heights by playing baseball. 

Although Bernard Berg distanced himself from Jews, he could not understand why his son would rather play a kids’ game than be a scholar. Yet, Moe Berg was a scholar, earning a place in the National Honor Society in high school and earning admission in Princeton University. Bernard Berg wanted his son to be a lawyer yet by the time Moe attended Princeton, he was both a top baseball player and excelling at learning foreign languages. He was also a loner having no close friends and learned how to make himself scarce. One minute, Berg could work a crowd, regaling party goers with his exploits on the baseball diamond, and the next he would have disappeared. By the time Berg graduated Princeton with high marks in 1923 and had offers to play ball from multiple teams, he had already had an eye on his future profession, a spy during World War II. Upon graduation, Berg first played for the Brooklyn Robins, later the Dodgers, as the team sought a Jewish star to appeal to Brooklyn’s population. Yet, Berg could not decide whether to pursue baseball or the law, and, as a result, his ball playing skills fell off. 

Moe Berg eventually received his law degree by attending courses at Columbia during off seasons. Yet, his passion was baseball. It was the only profession, he reasoned, where he could travel the country, play a game for three hours a day, and explore cities at his leisure while the rest of his teammates pursued other, unwholesome activities. Berg shattered his knee in 1929, and during the 1930s stayed on major league rosters for the Washington Senators and Boston Red Sox as a third string catcher turned bullpen coach. He established a habit of reading a minimum of ten newspapers a day, walked everywhere, and spoke seven languages well and understood countless other. Berg became known as Professor Berg to sportswriters and developed lifelong relationships with John Kieran of the New York Times and Jerome Holtzman of the Chicago Tribune. Both writers realized that Berg possessed a combination of knowledge and intelligence rare in a major league ball player, and these relationships, as well as his flare for spinning stories kept Berg in the league with Red Sox well after his talents diminished. 

Following off season trips to Japan and the Far East after the 1932 and 1934 seasons that allowed Berg to travel the world, he became relatively proficient in Japanese. When the United States entered World War II, Berg enlisted and gained admission into the Office of Secret Service once officers discovered his penchant for languages and secrecy. Moe Berg was born to be a spy, yet, according to Dawidoff, he was not necessarily an adept one. Berg’s key assignment during the war was to engage axis power physicists to see if Germany had learned how to split an atom and develop a bomb. Berg was likable and developed relationships with all the scientists he met, yet also wrote excessively and failed to keep expense accounts. Because all of Dawidoff’s interviews were second hand, as a reader it is tough to know whether Berg’s stories or Dawidoff’s opinions are closer to the truth. Was Berg a key player in the OSS who was denied a career in the CIA or a man on the fringes who the government wanted to rid themselves of once the war years ended? The truth was probably somewhere in between given Berg’s idiosyncratic behavior, yet like the spy he wrote about, Dawidoff’s readers will never know the full truth of Berg’s wartime exploits. 

Nicholas Dawidoff wrote The Catcher Was a Spy more than twenty years after Moe Berg’s passing. Most of his family and acquaintances were also dead so the author repeats himself and uses the last hundred pages of the book to mention anecdotes of Berg’s postwar travels. These last hundred pages dragged a bit, and at the essence paint a picture of a man denied the job of his dreams who could not reintegrate into civilian life. Moe Berg was the rare scholarly ball player who was a sportswriter’s dream and spoke more languages than most people could even imagine. Yet, with average ball playing skills and a penchant for being a loner, Berg faded from society until Dawidoff published this volume. While today Jewish kids can look up to Alex Bregman, nearly one hundred years ago Jewish kids were kvelling over the ball playing skills of Moe Berg, a Jew and person who chose to live life on the fringes. 

3.5 stars

Review of "The Legendary Harry Caray"

Even though I was never a big fan of Harry Caray, I was interested in reading his upcoming biography as like him or not, no one can deny his status as one of the legends of baseball broadcasting.  Here is my review of "The Legendary Harry Caray."

Title/Author:

“The Legendary Harry Caray: Baseball’s Greatest Salesman” by Don Zminda

Tags:

Baseball, broadcasting, biography, Cardinals, White Sox, Cubs 

Publish date:

April 12, 2019

Length:

352 pages 

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

Harry Caray is one of the most famous broadcasters in baseball history.  His lengthy career includes significant time as the lead announcer for three franchises – the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs.  While Caray is best known and most popular for his time with the Cubs, this biography of the broadcasting legend covers his entire career thoroughly for each team as well as his early life. Born Harry Christopher Carabina, Caray was raised in a modest manner in St. Louis with his siblings by his mother Daisy until she died of pneumonia when Harry was 14. He was also a good baseball player, which is covered in this book as well as his broadcasting ability. When he couldn’t accept a spot on the baseball team at the University of Alabama, he tried to enlist in the armed forces to serve in World War II. Due to poor eyesight, he was rejected but this led to his turning to baseball broadcasting. Once Caray turned to broadcasting, both his life and the book were much more interesting.  His break came when he was hired to do the games for the St. Louis Cardinals. He was already broadcasting in St. Louis as he was covering minor league hockey games, but his love of baseball and skill at keeping the attention of listeners made the Cardinals want to keep him for many years.  The radio network for the Cardinals, led by 50,000 watt station KMOX, grew exponentially during Caray’s time in St. Louis and the author, Don Zminda, writes that a lot of credit was given to Caray for this growth. Most of his years in St. Louis, which also included two years of broadcasting the St. Louis Browns, he worked with former catcher Gabby Street.  While he rarely had a negative thought about Street, the same cannot be said for many of Caray’s future broadcasting partners. The book covers many of these strained working relationships which included other legendary baseball broadcasters such as Jack Buck, Milo Hamilton and later with the White Sox, Jimmy Piersall. Most of these relationships were later repaired to the point where everyone but Hamilton had much praise for Caray. In a dispute that never was fully explained nor understood, including in the book, Caray left the Cardinals in 1970.  He did radio work for the Oakland Athletics for one year before joining the Chicago White Sox, a gig he held for 11 years.  His time with the White Sox was marked by growing popularity with the fans and in turn, the White Sox, who were on the verge of moving, became more popular with the city’s South Side residents.  Like in St. Louis, much of this popularity is given to Caray and the author again gives a complete and balanced account of this opinion. The book also discusses in great detail his harsh criticism of White Sox players such as Bill Melton.  This is another aspect of Caray’s career in which I believed Zminda handled fairly and in a balanced manner. However, Caray’s legendary status was cemented when he joined the Cubs in 1982, leaving the White Sox and their pay television venture to continue broadcasting on “free” over-the-air TV with the Cubs and WGN.  He was doing games in the bleachers at Wrigley Field and enjoying beers with the fans. He led fans in singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh inning stretch, which became bigger than the Cubs game at times. It is fair to say, and Zminda does so in several ways, that Caray was the reason the Cubs became so popular even when they were not performing well on the field. His drinking and late-night lifestyle was as legendary as his work. Many people in the book, including his third wife and many broadcast partners, comment that they could not keep up with Harry. After a stroke in 1987 and other medical scares in later years, this was toned down, but Harry still kept up an active nightlife until very late in his life. There is one more aspect of Caray’s career that Zminda handled very fairly and that was his many mistakes and malapropos late in his career.  While that endeared him even more to many Cubs fans, it was drawing much criticism from other fans and also other baseball journalists, both in print and on the air.  While many of these critics acknowledged his greatness, they simply believed it was time for Harry to retire.  However, that never really happened as he stayed on the air with the Cubs through the 1997 season and he died before the 1998 season. That was hard on his family, not only for his loss, but he was scheduled to broadcast with his grandson Chip beginning that season.  It was the one thing he wanted to do that didn’t happen.  Otherwise, he led an amazing life that any reader who has heard of the man, whether that reader was a fan of Caray or a critic, will want to read about in this excellent 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/Legendary-Harry-Caray-Baseballs-Greatest/dp/1538112949/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1554674795&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-legendary-harry-caray-don-zminda/1129392599?ean=9781538112946

Review of "When the Crowd Didn't Roar"

A very unusual baseball game took place in Baltimore on April 29, 2015 - it was played with no fans in attendance.  The story of that game and the circumstances that led to the decision to play the game is captured in this excellent book. Here is my review of "When the Crowd Didn't Roar"

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Title/Author:

“When the Crowd Didn’t Roar” by Kevin Cowherd

 

Tags:
Baseball, politics, race, Orioles, White Sox

Publish date:

April 1, 2019

Length:

192 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

On April 29, 2015, the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox played the first major league game in which no spectators were allowed into the ballpark.  Earlier in the week, two other games between the two teams were postponed for security concerns due to the rioting that was taking place in Baltimore following the death of an African-American in police custody. The city of Baltimore and Major League baseball did decide to have the April 29 game played, but with no fans in attendance so police and other law enforcement officials could concentrate their efforts on the aftermath of the rioting. The circumstances of both the game itself and the events that led up to that decision are captured in this excellent book by Baltimore sportswriter Kevin Cowherd.   Two characteristics of this book stand out. One is that Cowherd takes an explosive issue like the treatment of African-Americans by law enforcement and writes about it in a balanced, non-judgmental manner.  He was writing about factual information without inserting his own opinions.  While the book is considered a baseball book, it is much more than that as it is important for the reader to understand the circumstances that called for this unusual atmosphere for the game to be played.   As for the game itself, the best parts of the writing about it were about the players. This is especially true for Orioles players, especially Adam Jones, who was thrust into the role of the unofficial spokesman for an African-American viewpoint from the Orioles.  Chris Davis and Caleb Joseph are also followed through the game.  Joseph’s actions of pretending to sign autographs for fans is one of the actions taken in order to try to give the game a sense of normalcy but at the same time illustrates the awkwardness the players, umpires and other crew members feel.  Many times Cowherd describes how much the normal sounds of a game – pitches hitting the catcher’s mitt, spikes on bases, even the chatter and spitting in the dugout – are magnified in this stadium void of fans.   Through it all, there is some humor thrown in for good measure.  Cowherd writes about the Orioles television broadcasters, Gary Thorne and Jim Palmer, and what they were saying and doing during this game.  Like the players, there was some humor attempted – a line by Thorne when he was telling a play in a whispered tone that he was using his “Masters voice” was very funny – but it was overshadowed by the enormity of the situation.  Again, all of this is brought to life by the excellent writing of Cowherd.   There is one story Cowherd told that captured the spirit of this book, the Orioles and the city.  A young African-American man who wrote a blog about sports from his perspective was provided press credentials for one of the cancelled games.  But he felt he had to be a part of the no-fans game, so using his expired credential, he made his way to the post-game press conference of Orioles manager Buck Showalter. He asked the manager a question that was unlike the typical press conference question and Showalter didn’t back away from the question, but instead gave an answer that made the young man happy.  Of course, he was discovered and had to leave the conference, but this story is the best of the book because it captures the feelings of everyone involved, regardless of their race or political affiliation. For the full details of this story, it is best to read about it in the book as a review cannot do that story justice.   This book should be read under the knowledge that while it is about an unusual baseball game, it is more than just a baseball book.  The reader will have a much better understanding of what the city of Baltimore was enduring during that week and how this game both gave the city a small amount of normalcy during a trying time and was a illustration of how grim the situation seemed at that time.   I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.Excellent basketball memoir Usually a sports memoir will follow the same pattern. An ex-athlete will talk about his childhood, his career while playing his chosen game and his life after retiring. While some of this is true for Metta World Peace (formerly known as Ron Artest), his story takes on extra meaning because of his willingness to talk about his mental health issues so candidly. He does verify some of his more off beat moments, such as working at Circuit City while still a player. He does

 

Book Format Read:
Hardcover

Buying Links:

 

https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/university-of-nebraska-press/9781496213297/

 

https://www.amazon.com/When-Crowd-Didnt-Roar-Baseballs/dp/1496213297/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=