|
12-23-2006, 02:34 AM
|
#1 |
|
Member
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: New York City
Posts: 1,107
|
the muse of baseball/great books!
Not sure if this belongs here - but it is about baseball, so I'm placing it - please move if it is off topic.
I have (ever so gratefully) received a gift of "Baseball - A Literary Anthology" (edited by Nicholas Dawidoff) from a friend. This incredible book covers writing about baseball from the late 1800s to curent day (at least, I think it goes to current days - haven't gotten there yet / just started)... I can't recommend this book enough for these dry/thirsty times of offseason. The writing is so incredible - So far in the first sitting, I'm up to writers up to 1920 or so... The descriptions of the game and the issues of the players and fans is so... creative/musical - beautiful. If only we could read stuff like this today in the papers!!!! My father passed away in September - this is a guy that got me out of 1st grade in '61 to see the Yankees beat the hell out of us in the World Series. He took his trumpet to games (Waite Hoyt on the radio: "and there's a young trumpeter in the stands...") This book has enabled a previously forgotten remembrance to happen from when I was somewhere betw. 7 and 9 yrs. old: My dad playing "Three Bling Mice" when the umps walked on the filed - and him giving umpire Augie Donatelli some serious bizness... Me: "why are you yelling 'you're blind' and 'hey augie' at him?" my dad: "because he's a great ump and it's fun" I googled Augie Donatelli after this remembrance and found out that Augie started the umpire's union in '64. He was a main cat! Things are difficult for us in the off-season. A desert really. Every off-season is like this. really. I say - let's keep our problems in perspective!! We have the pleasure and grace of experiencing an obsession with a great game! Baseball. Yeah, football translates better to most on the TV.. but baseball is our thing. The National Pastime! This off-season is the time to warm our hearts/to read from all the great baseball writers who have enscapulated the heart of the muse of our national pastime. To read the language/style of writers in 1890 about our game in this book has overwhelmed me with gratitude and pleasure. I hope you check out this book - highly recommended!!!!!!!  What baseball books have killed you lately? |
|
|
|
12-23-2006, 03:10 AM
|
#2 |
|
Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 5,815
|
Re: the muse of baseball/great books!
Nice Post.
|
|
|
|
|
12-23-2006, 05:50 AM
|
#3 |
|
What Me Worry?
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Bellefontaine, Ohio
Posts: 26,430
|
Re: the muse of baseball/great books!
I look for books like these.
woy has recommended some excellent books that I have added to my collection. I've recently read/re-read.... Fair Ball: A Fan's Case For Baseball by Bob Costas Joe Morgan: A Life In Baseball The Big Red Machine by Bob Hertzel Babe by Robert Creamer I have the following, and are on my list to read... Luckiest Man:The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig Men At Work by George Will
__________________
"panic" only comes from having real expectations |
|
|
|
 |
| Thread Tools | |
| Display Modes | |
|
|
|
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please. |
Linear Mode
