Xanadu Dragon
01-02-2002, 09:38 PM
Quite a while ago, I was given an uncorrected advance manuscript of "The Game - One Man, Nine Innings, A Love Affair With Baseball" by Robert Benson.
I have to confess - - I'm way behind in my baseball books - - - I have about eight or nine of them still lined up, that I want to read; but, haven't gotten around to - yet.
For this very reason, "The Game" also went unread - - until today.
It's a short book - - I finished it in one sitting - - - which is rare for me (as I have an attention span of two minutes).
I highly recommend this book.
Funny, it has some errors - - - in one section, Vince Scully is mentioned when I'm sure it should have been Jack Buck, it talks about the McGwire/Sosa Maris' race of "1999," it mentions Yogi Berra (Cone Perfecto) Day and says Yog threw out the first pitch (when it was Larsen), and there's a line about Bobby Thomson being a light hitting infielder.
99.9% of the time, this is a major turn-off for me in a baseball book. Get one common fact butchered and you've lost me. But, this book is not intended to be a history or stat book, so, one can kind of forgive the errors - - esp. because the rest of the book is excellent, IMHO. (BTW, I thought the errors could have been due to the fact I had an uncorrected copy - - however, a little research proved they made it through to the final print. I blame this on bad editing/cross checking.)
All I can really say is, this is the baseball book that I've always wished that I had written. If you're a "mad" fan for baseball, you will enjoy some to all of this book.
Since it came out in April of 2001, you can get it at a discount at most on-line book sites. Consider it - - and, if you get it, let us know here what you think. If you have any questions on it, post them here as well - hopefully, I can answer them.
I have to confess - - I'm way behind in my baseball books - - - I have about eight or nine of them still lined up, that I want to read; but, haven't gotten around to - yet.
For this very reason, "The Game" also went unread - - until today.
It's a short book - - I finished it in one sitting - - - which is rare for me (as I have an attention span of two minutes).
I highly recommend this book.
Funny, it has some errors - - - in one section, Vince Scully is mentioned when I'm sure it should have been Jack Buck, it talks about the McGwire/Sosa Maris' race of "1999," it mentions Yogi Berra (Cone Perfecto) Day and says Yog threw out the first pitch (when it was Larsen), and there's a line about Bobby Thomson being a light hitting infielder.
99.9% of the time, this is a major turn-off for me in a baseball book. Get one common fact butchered and you've lost me. But, this book is not intended to be a history or stat book, so, one can kind of forgive the errors - - esp. because the rest of the book is excellent, IMHO. (BTW, I thought the errors could have been due to the fact I had an uncorrected copy - - however, a little research proved they made it through to the final print. I blame this on bad editing/cross checking.)
All I can really say is, this is the baseball book that I've always wished that I had written. If you're a "mad" fan for baseball, you will enjoy some to all of this book.
Since it came out in April of 2001, you can get it at a discount at most on-line book sites. Consider it - - and, if you get it, let us know here what you think. If you have any questions on it, post them here as well - hopefully, I can answer them.