Home Game

I am a Cub fan...so Bret Boone is not exactly my favorite baseball player!  He was a Red, a division foe.  But when I saw Home Game: Big-League Stories from My Life in Baseball's First Family I decided to give it a whirl despite him playing with the bad guys solely because I like to read a good baseball book during the season, especially a good Cubs' season.

In Home Game, Boone and Kevin Cook talk about Boone's baseball legacy, the grandson of baseball all-star Ray Boone, son of all-state Bob Boone, and brother to All-Star Aaron Boone.  Boone discusses his relationship with these men and how his grandfather and father inspired and taught him to be a professional player, though perhaps not a scholar like his father.  Boone then takes his through his professional career as he scuffled to make the majors, despite at times being small.  Eventually he himself would become an All-Star.  In his later years he looked again to the men who inspired him with making adjustments to maintain his career.  Finally, Boone details his retirement and post baseball years as he considers coaching.  

Honestly, at times I really enjoyed Home Game as  read about the rising star of Boone in the minors and beyond.  And I truly grew to appreciate the careers and personalities of Ray and Bob Boone.  Ironically these two men have a very different personality than Bret.  These men were learned, calm and honestly thinking men of the game.  Bret on the other hand was fiery, intense and born to hit.  My personality tends to admire men like Ray and Bob more than Bret's tenacious yet fiery attitude.  

Honestly, I found myself really impressed by this book, written by a man who claims to only have read one book before writing one.  But Boone is very opinionated, including sharing some opinions about my favorite player of all time and his Hall of Fame status.  In the end, I may not agree but he clearly would stand next to his opinions.  

Home Game is a good baseball book, worth a read to a baseball fan.  I enjoyed the stories of games and off-seasons where adjustments were made and stories where shared between baseball men  So despite the fact that I view Boone as the enemy, I had a good time reading his book.

Book Provided For Purposes of Review   

The Matheny Manifesto

In 2008, former baseball player Mike Matheny wrote a letter to parents who asked him to coach their sons on a youth baseball team.  The letter pulled no punches and questioned many of the excesses of youth sports.  He told parents that for their sons to be on his team he would require respectful parents, players willing to move around the diamond and persistence.  Later, the letter would become a sensation online.  And even later Matheny would move from youth coach to manager of the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Matheny Manifesto: A Young Manager's Old-School Views on Success in Sports and Life by Mike Matheny with Jerry B. Jenkins discusses how Matheny came to his sports philosophies and what they mean to him.  Matheny breaks down his own upbringing, youth career, college years and eventual break in Major League Baseball.  Likewise he discusses how he went from retired player to big-league manager.  He provides this story while breaking down the concepts that were found in his parent letter including leadership, confidence, teamwork, faith, class, toughness, character and humility.  All of this is told from his view.

I am a Chicago Cubs fan, and on this opening day of baseball all I really want is Mike Matheny to lose.  Sorry Mike!  Yet, I have been unable to dislike Matheny to the same extent as his predecessor  I think much of this has to do with the poise he has shown on the field and his character.  As a youth coach, in another sport, I did look to see what I could apply to my own style.  And I will not promise that I will not yell (I have some corny encouraging phrases) but I will continue to make clear to parents, following Mike's example, that I am more concerned with who our players are over how they play.  Matheny is right, we have let youth sports get out of control.  Recently a friend was thrown out of youth basketball game from the stands.  And we do need to take stock in the people we are helping to become adults and the lifetime skills they will earn.




Review Copy Provided by Publisher

A Nice Little Place on the North Side: Wrigley Field at 100

I am a proud Cubs fan. I like to read books about baseball, especially when they are about my beloved Chicago Cubs. And I have enjoyed George F. Will’s baseball writings of the past such as Men at Work. So I thought that A Nice Little Place on the North Side: Wrigley Field at One Hundred would be a huge hit for me in my reading diet. Sadly it was not to be.

Will in A Nice Little Place on the North Side argues that Wrigely Field is part cause and part symptom of the Cubs’ dysfunctional performance. Will discusses the early Cubs, how they moved to Wrigley Field and then chronicles the Cubs history until this 100th birthday of the beloved stadium. He discusses players, key games, economics and more in the context of Cubs’s history.

I do not have much to say about this book so I will make it short. The books feels like one long essay with three page topical building blocks. There are no chapters and just small breaks that let you know that the writer has moved onto a new unrelated and unnamed topic. Though you feel like the thesis makes the book about Wrigley Field itself, there is plenty of discussion around Wrigley Field adjacent topics that only indirectly are about the schedule. And I do not agree with all the topic choices, especially in more modern times. For me one example is the lack of discussion of the Ryne Sandberg game (Ryne Sandberg does not even make the pages of the book) which brought the stadium into a national television audience. Though there is a large discussion of the Bartman Game, and not it’s relationship to the stadium, which Will was in attendance for.

In the end, Will recommends in his pages several great histories of the Chicago Cubs. I would suggest taking his recommendations instead of grabbing this title.


Copy Provided for Purposes of Review 

The Spirit in Baseball by Kathryn Nixon and Ana Boudreau

Kathryn Nixon and Ana Boudreau in The Spirit in Baseball presents the fruits of the spirits from Galatians 5:22-23 to children through images and word pictures related to baseball. For example, they present to children the idea of patience through waiting for one’s turn at bat. Or one learns about joy through the excitement of a homerun. Each of the nine fruits of the spirit is presented in two pages, with one page providing a supporting verse and the other page matching the specific fruit of the spirit to a concept familiar to those who enjoy baseball. The book also includes an afterward from Mrs. Nixon’s husband Trot Nixon, former Major League Baseball player, and a baseball themed prayer.

I’m a big baseball fan, so this book caught my interest since I could share faith and baseball at the same time with my son. But to be honest, as a young three year old what engaged him was finding the baseball in every picture. He really likes sports balls. So the great news was he would be willing to sit through multiple reads since he could find the baseball every time. But alas the fruits of the spirit are at this time over his head. But, this book does help serve to introduce concepts like kindness and self control to young children.

Review Copy Provided by The B&B Media Group, Inc.

Pujols: More Than the Game by Scott Lamb and Tim Ellsworth

Scott Lamb and Tim Ellsworth in Pujols: More Than the Game chronicles the life and spiritual walk of St. Louis Cardinals slugger and Major League Baseball MVP Albert Pujols. They chart his life from the poverty of the Dominican Republic, immigration to the United States and settling in the Kansas City area as a teenager and his quick impact on the game of baseball. Lamb and Ellsworth don’t just document Pujols life between the lines but also chronicle the efforts of Pujols and his wife Deidre to walk a consistent Christian life.

I have a bias. I’m a Cubs fan…so Pujols haunts my dreams. So I came into this reading not wanting to like Pujols. The writers are clearly fans of Pujols and they create a picture of a very moral man who makes choices out of his faith in God and a compassionate heart. In the end, the authors make it difficult for even a Cubs fan, hopefully Pujols’ 2012 team, to dislike this Cardinals’ hero. And the strength of the book is the stories of Pujols’ compassionate acts, these are the scenes where the reader get to better understand Pujols the man, father and husband. Honestly it’s the baseball scenes of the book that are lacking. The authors provide lots of names, numbers, facts and season summaries at a quick pace making it difficult to dig into the action of games and seasons. Also, the book lacks the young people with money acting silly sort of stories that one typically finds in baseball books. I don’t need stories of Pujols drinking and acting immorally but an excellent Christian witness would be stories of a young man really enjoying himself as he earns millions playing a game and being in top physical condition. Honestly this book lacks the funny and silly stories one typically finds in a baseball biography, that is not exploring the evils of steroids. Also, the authors do mention some negative incidents in Pujols career especially in incidents with the press, but they defend Pujols’ character strongly. In fact perhaps too strongly, giving readers a 20 point list of why Pujols has never used steroids, that could easily be boiled down to faith, integrity and bodily stewardship. Sadly, this book is at times just too bland to be considered a great baseball book.

Review Copy Provided by Thomas Nelson