Prophet of the Sandlots

Windgardner, Mark. Prophet of the Sandlots: Journeys with a Major League Scout. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press 1990. Print.

First Sentences:

A good fifty years ago, the St. Louis Cardinals had a Class D minor league baseball team in Fostoria, Ohio, and the shortstop on that team was a five-foot-five kid from the South Side of Chicago named Tony Lucadello.


Description:

Not quite sure why I have been reading so many baseball books lately, but each one references another, pulling me in deeper and deeper into great writing about this sport. From fictional teams (Brittle Innings and The Great American Novel) to the creating of baseball films (The Church of Baseball), to in-depth biographies (I Was Right on Time), oral histories from the Negro Leagues (The Glory of Their Times), reminiscences (Road Swing and Wait Till Next Year), and baseball columns (Jim Murray: An Autobiography), each has revealed what is so exciting, humorous, and deeply captivating about this game. 

Somehow, they have all led me to my latest plunge into the rabbit hole of baseball writing: Mark Winegardner's Prophet of the Sandlots: Journeys with a Major League Scout, Where Brittle Innings was a fictionalized memoir of a baseball scout's former playing days, Prophet of the Sandlots is the real McCoy: the observations, thoughts, and decisions made by a real life baseball scout, Tony Lucadello, as recorded by the author. 

Winegardner was allowed to accompany Philadelphia Phillies' scout Tony Lucadello as he toured the midwest high school and college fields looking for talent, mile after mile, in rain, cold, and blustery days, even into the nights sometimes. Lucadello rarely sat still during these games, observing players from the outfield, first base stands, and even behind trees. 

That's how I analyze their body, by looking individually at the top front, back, right, and left sides and the bottom front, back, right, and left sides. That makes eight.

Oh, and he also constantly strolled under the bleachers and the sidelines looking for loose change, the donating his findings once a year on September 15 to the first church he sees on his travels.

Lucadello, while driving over 2.2 million miles in nine states and three Canadian provinces over the last fifty years, has signed forty-nine major league players, including Fergeson Jenkins, Mike Marshall, and Mike Schmidt. He knows what he is looking for, what players need to do to improve their chances of signing, and how to deal with parents to close a deal or present the bad news that their son will not be given a contract.

The weather in Tony's territory in March April, and May -- the critical months before the annual draft -- ranges from erratic to arctic. To have a fighting chance to see the players he wants to see, Tony gets the schedules from every baseball team in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan and plots out where he needs to go and when. 

Tony has two important pieces of advice for young players that he shares with parents who want to improve their son's chances. These already have been utilized by several of his prospects at an early age and their improvement has been significant.

1. Build a 4' cinderblock wall in the backyard. Inspired after seeing basketball hoops in every driveway, Tony felt boys should have an opportunity to groove their fielding and throwing every day, using a wall as a partner;
2. Hit 100 or more plastic golf ball a day with a bat to improve hand-eye coordination and confidence.
   

Lucadello, himself, had briefly been a baseball player as a Class D (lowest level) minor leaguer as well.

Tony Lucadello was a dirty-uniformed, clean-living little guy who never drank or smoked or swore, who always knew how many outs there were, who never threw to the wrong base, who always was the first to the ballpark and the last to leave, who never made a one-handed catch unless he absolutely had to. Not a lot of talent, really, and a build more like a jockey's than a ball player's.

In short, Tony Lucadello is an interesting, knowledgeable, personable man, someone the author feel very lucky to spend a scouting season with and glean tidbits of Tony's wisdom. The book is a wonderful insight into the man himself, the players and coaches trying to make the major leagues, and the insights he has on how to identify which player from among the hundreds that he watches has the best chance to make the next step to a contract.

And last of all, Tony is a modest man, even after 50 years of successful scouting. It was intially difficult for author Winegardner to persuade Tony to allow him access on his travels, mainly because Tony felt his story might be uninteresting to readers. It is far from that, trust me.

I had doubts, to be honest with you. Why would anyone want to read about me? I'm not famous. I don't want the attention. I'm just an old man who loves the game of baseball. I've given my life to it. And you -- maybe you [Winegardner] can help me spread the word. Maybe you can help me save the game of baseball.

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

     More Book Recommendations 

          (and an Intro to The First Sentence Reader) 

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Bishop, Michael. Brittle Innings.   

A fictional, quirky look from the eyes of an aged baseball scout about his younger years as a minor league prospect rooming with the real Frankenstein creature, the team's hard-hitting, erudite first baseman. (previously reviewed here)

 

Brittle Innings

Bishop, Michael. Brittle Innings. New York: Bantam 1994. Print.

First Sentences:

When I look at it, minor league ball back then was sort of like B movies. Thrills on the cheap, Cheap buses, cheap hotels, cheap stadiums, cheap seats, cheap equipment, cheap talent. Cheap-cheap. Sound like an Easter chick, eh? Or like the mechanical conductor on those subway trains out to Atlanta's airport.


Description:

Here's the premise (and kind of a spoiler) for Michael Bishop's quirky Brittle Innings:. During World War II, Dr. Frankenstein's giant creation is quietly playing first base for a minor league baseball team in backwoods Tennessee. Just let that visualization sink in for a moment.

 

Sure, it sounds like a silly concept, a comic romp with madcap players and goofy situations. But Brittle Innings is actually a highly-intriguing glimpse into the minds of both a 17-year-old rookie baseball player from a tiny farm town in Oklahoma, and an 8-foot, horribly disfigured, slick fielding, book-reading infielder who both play for the Tennessee Highbridge Hellbenders in the class-C Chattahoochee Valley Baseball League.

The novel's narrator is Danny Boles, currently a grizzled minor league baseball scout, who now recounts his early time with the Hellbenders. Danny is assigned a room with the team's giant first baseman, "Jumbo," (actually Hank Clerval), a quiet, thoughtful man reluctant to speak. But when Hank does converse, it is in a beautifully formal, almost Victorian preciseness and vocabulary, an unusual voice among his scruffy minor league teammates. Visually, though, Hank is something, shall we say, different.

His body parts didn't seem to fit. His stringy-haired block of a noggin didn't belong with he bullish neck and the wide sloping shoulders under it. His proportions were more of less okay, I guess, but the colors and textures of his skin didn't match up the way you'd've expected. It was like some'd kneaded biscuit dough, cake dough, and a mass of Piedmont clay together without blending. Even as he snored, Jumbo reminded me of a body, wounded or dead.

The young rookie Danny is also mute, unable to speak due to a traumatic encounter with his father and later from a fight with a soldier. He is a willing listener and thus able to observe the world and people involved with his minor league team. He and Jumbo strike up a mutually silent friendship as roomies and fellow talented ballplayers.

All progresses well during the season until Danny stumbles onto Hank's diary. In it, Danny reads of Hank's experiences with the world that brought him to the Hellbenders. Of course, Danny finally comprehends who Hank really is. No one else suspects, mainly because Hank, despite his strange ways and appearance, to his teammates, manager, and owner, he is simply an odd, but prodigious home run hitter who might just lead them to the league championship. But from Hank's diary, he reveals his true purpose for becoming a baseball player:

The central business of every human being is to be a real person....What now infused meaning into my days...derived less from tiresome social intercourse than from the galvanizing physical sensations of hitting a ball hard and far, and of throwing it with exactitude....[D]runk with the restored robustness of my borrowed body, I would have only faceless teammates and unending occasions to exercise my intellectual and animal faculties playing baseball.

It's a coming of age story for Danny Boles, a backstory of a famous literary character, and a world of scruffy, quirky baseball players and supporters that held my attention through every page. Author Bishop's strong story-telling skills offer an insightful peak into the world of second tier baseball and the people who help keep it in existence. 

Actually, there is not a massive amount of actual baseball games recounted, as the novel focuses more on the off-field interactions between players, racism, management, friends, and family. As the team assistant and wonderful player (who is unable to be on the field due to his race), Darius reflects about a lifestyle choice he made: 

I think it's cause me life done crept into its brittlest part, like unto them innings when the whole thing could go either way -- depending on jes when the crucial bonecrack happen, and to whom. I awmost waited past the snappin point. Mebbe I did. But if I beat it now, mebbe I'll git past my brittle innings and play on through to a stretch that'll heal me, that won't jes shake me down to splinters and shards.

OK, maybe I did give away Hank's identity to you, but that revelation is something you would probably have figured out long before Danny did a quarter of the way into the story. But it is that intriguing information that led me to this book in the first place. Who could resist reading about Mary Shelley's creation in a baseball uniform, rooming with a mute teenage teammate in a tiny town during World War II? Certainly, I couldn't pass it up and was not in any way disappointed by this thoughtful, clever, compassionate, and insightful dive into the world of Danny Boles, Hank "Jumbo" Clerval, and the Highbridge Hellbenders. Hope you enjoy it as well.

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Roth, Philip. The Great American Novel.   

Quite a bit more  black humor and satiric look at rag-tag baseball during World War II when regular players were unavailable. Here, the Rupert Mundys field a team with players named Baal and Gil Gammesh, a fast-ball pitcher who tries to kill an umpire with a pitch, a fantastically talented player made to ride the bench to teach him humility... all narrated by an excitable, eccentric journalist whose first line of his recollections of the Rupert Mundy's baseball team is, naturally, "Call me Smitty." One of my all-time favorites. Highest recommendation.  (previously reviewed here)

I Was Right on Time

O'Neil, Buck. I Was Right on Time. New York: Simon & Schuster 1996. Print.

First Sentences:

Call me Buck.


Description:

Since it is nearing the end of summer and therefore the baseball season, I thought fans might enjoy this highly entertaining, first-hand account of the Negro Leagues as written by a player from that era. Buck O'Neil's I Was Right on Time offers an insider's look at and stories about the players, teams, stadiums, and fans, along with the quirks of each one as remembered by O'Neil, an actual Negro League player, featured storyteller on the Ken Burns Baseball documentary, and member of the Baseball Hall of Fame Veterans Committee.

 

O'Neil, using his conversationally casual writing style, takes us on his personal journey from his boyhood days playing pick-up baseball games to his eventual signing to play with the mighty Kansas City Monarchs, considered to be one of the best Negro teams ever, with lineups that included Satchel Paige, Oscar Charleston, Bullet Joe Rogan, and Rube Foster. The Monarchs were the first team to play under the lights, mounted on telephone poles which gave them a home field advantage for any ball hit into the darkness above those low-level lights. Hde later became a scout and coach in the (White) major league.

And the stories are absolutely the best, particularly those featuring O'Neil's teammate, Satchel Paige. O'Neil laughs at the events that caused Paige to always refer to O'Neil as "Nancy." O'Neil also recounts when, in the Negro League World Series with the Homestead Grays and their feared home-run hitter, Josh Gibson, Paige intentionally walked the bases loaded just to face Gibson in a critical situation to see who was the best. Or the time Paige told all his fielders to leave their positions and come to the mound while he went about striking out the side.

O'Neil writes about players with colorful nicknames: Sea Boy, Gunboat, Steel Arm Davis, Ankleball Moss, Copperknee, Mosquito, Popeye, and Suitcase. Of course, there are anecdotes about the more famous Negro League players such as Jackie Robinson, Ernie Banks, Roy Campanella, Frank Robinson (the first major league Black manager), Henry Aaron, Willie Mays, and Bob Gibson as well as some tremendously talented, if lesser known stars like Larry Doby,  Luke Easter, Smokey Joe Williams, Josh Gibson,and Cool Papa Bell ("So fast he could get into bed after switching off the light switch before the room got dark." Spoiler: Bell had noticed a slight in his hotel room's on/off switch, causing a slight delay before the lights went black. Bell won some money from a gullible Paige for that neat trick).

 

And O'Neil clears up many misconceptions, such as that the one that Negro League players were inferior to white major leaguers. O'Neil compares all-star lineups from each league and concludes the Negro players would have a strong chance to beat their White counterparts. Also, his league did not play make-shift games in rag-tag environments with poor equipment as so often was portrayed in movies. Negro Leaguers in fact played established schedules in up-to-date ball parks, cheered on by fans that rivaled the major league parks in attendance numbers.

O'Neil has plenty of stories as well from his own later career as a major league coach and scout. I particularly gasped when, while in Mississippi scouting for the Chicago Cubs, O'Neil once got lost looking for the Jackson State-Grambling game and ended up at an unknown field where the Klu Klux Klan was holding a fund-raising rally in white robes and full hooded regalia.

As a member of the Hall of Fame's Veterans Committee, O'Neil was instrumental in petitioning the Hall to consider including Negro League players initially not eligible for the Hall. Later, he and the Veterans Committee were tasked to come up with the historic Negro League players worthy  to be considered for Hall inclusion. Luckily, O'Neil had either played with, coached, or at least heard about most of the best men from the past.

 

But O'Neil also inserts a few examples of the prejudices facing him and these players, from restaurants to hotels to press coverage, that still go on as he wrote this book.

I still hear African-American players referred to as "articulate," as if we should be surprised a black man speaks so well. I still see a black player labeled as an underachiever, while a while player who carries the same stats is called an overachiever. Joe DiMaggio? Why, when people talk of him, they talk of his grace and his intelligence and his consistency. Willie Mays? He was "naturally gifted," as if he didn't have to work as hard as DiMaggio to be come a great ballplayer. Poppycock. From 1949-1962, eleven of the fourteen National League MVP trophies went to black men, and all of them, including Mays, Aaron, and Banks, worked damn hard to get those trophies.

But for the most part, O'Neil revels in the wonderful opportunity he had to be a part of this league and play with these men who were heroes in their communities. It's a warm, funny, honest depiction of that era, one that any fan (or anyone else) interested in fascinating stories about bigger-than-life personalities playing the game they loved.

 

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

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About The First Sentence Reader blog

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Ritter, Lawrence. The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It.  

The definitive book of early baseball in the late 1800s through the early1900s as told through oral interviews with the men who played the game then. (previously reviewed here)

The Baseball 100

Posnanski, Joe. The Baseball 100. New York: The Athletic. 2021. Print.

First Sentences:

There are many words we sportswriters use way too often. We might write that something quite believable is 'unbelievable" and that something that falls well into the realm of the possible is actually "impossible." But, if I had to guess, I would say that most of all we use the word "unique" too often.

    [Comments on Ichiro Suzuki, the first player profiled - rank #100.]


Description:

It never gets old to discuss the greatest baseball players of all time. Ranking the Top 100 adds an even greater challenge. But backing up an all-time greatest list with statistics, first-hand observations, comparisons, and commentary from articles, books, interviews, and other relevant resources makes a strong case for which players and rankings shake out in a convincing Top 100 list.

In The Baseball 100, writer Joe Posnanski of Sports Illustrated, The Athletic, New York Times, etc. fame, presents his own well-researched list of choices for the greatest players of all time. And it is a compelling, convincing, fascinating, detailed, and astonishing lust. While I personally am no longer the biggest baseball fan, I absolutely loved reading about the players I have heard about or even watched play in my younger days.

The book is more than just Ruth, Cobb, DiMaggio, Berra, Mays, and other familiar names. No, Posnanski introduces the cases for less-famous (to me, at least) Bullet Rogan (#92), Charlie Gehringer (#87), Kid Nichols (#82), Monte Irvin (#69), Smokey Joe Williams (#62), Arky Vaughan (#61) and Oscar Charleston (unbelievably #5!). Each player gets 5-8 pages of stories, stats, quotes, media coverage, and interviews to substantiate Posnanski's case for their inclusion on this list.

And what a page-turner this book it, all 869 pages of it. I couldn't stop myself from reading about childhood heroes and learning about unknowns who with their dazzling skills made significant marks. I loved reading about their childhoods, with overbearing (Mantle #11) or gentle fathers (Mathewson #36); rich (Cobb #8) or poor (Aaron #4); naturally gifted (Mays #1) or driven but possessing fewer skills (Rose #60); good-looking (Williams #6) or short and squat (Berra #43); Jewish (Koufax #70) or racist (Collins #29); young (Feller age 16 #55) or Paige (age 58+ #10). Every player is given a detailed analysis and a recap of his moments of glory.

  

[Probably just listing these players' rankings might raise some arguments in any dedicated reader's mind, but that what makes this book wonderful.] Here are some highlights:

• Reggie Jackson #59 - "I didn't come to New York to be a star. ...I brought my star with me."
• Warren Spahn #49 - always wanted to be a hitter, not a pitcher until he saw his high school team's first baseman (Spahn's position) and said, "That guy is a lot better than I am" and decided then and there to become a pitcher.
• Yogi Berra #43 - had only 12 strikeouts in the entire 1950 season.
• Nap Lajoie #39 - under "fixed" conditions, went 8 for 8 on the last day of the season to beat Cobb for the batting title and win a new car.
• Satchel Paige # 10 - threw rocks as a boy to protect himself from gangs. "Rocks made a real impression on a kid's head or backside," he said.
• Jimmie Foxx #33 - after retirement from baseball at age 37, coached a women's baseball team and was the inspiration for the Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) character in the film, A League of Their Own.
• Johnny Bench #30 - caught a fast ball bare-handed just to convince his pitcher he had no speed that day.
• Pop Lloyd #25 - played catcher one game for the Macon Acmes. Since the team couldn't afford catching equipment, he played without a mask, knee or chest protectors, winding up with two swollen eyes and bruises all over his body. That was when he became a shortstop.
• Ricky Henderson # 24 - Jim Murray wrote of Henderson's squatting batting stance, "He has a strike zone the size of Hitler's heart."
• Lefty Grove #22 - in his first game, age 19, he pitched seven inning and struck out 15; in the second game he threw a no-hitter and struck out 18
• Tris Speaker #18 - played so shallow in center field that he made 450 assists (a record never to be broken - second is Mays with less than half that number). He also made six unassisted double plays.
• Stan Musial #9 - would go up to strangers celebrating in a restaurant, borrow a $1 bill, fold it into a ring, and slip it onto the fan's finger just to add to their fun and memories. He also carried a harmonica with him everywhere, but could only play four songs.
• Ty Cobb # 8 - in 1947, age 60, he was asked at an old timers' game what he would hit in modern baseball. "About 300," he said, "but you've got to remember I'm 73 years old."
• Walter Johnson #7 - A batter who faced him "saw (or didn't see) two fastballs go by for strikes and headed back to the dugout. 'You've got another strike coming,' the umpire shouted to the player. 'I don't want it,' the hitter said. 'I've seen enough.'"
• Ted Williams #6 - could "hear a single boo in a Fenway Park filled with cheers."
• Henry Aaron #4 - as a kid practiced hitting with a broomstick and a bottle cap.
• Babe Ruth #2 - in 1920 was sold by Boston to the "lamentable New York Yankees who had never won a single pennant in their entire existence."

I have dozens more of quotes I'd marked while reading, but I'll stop here. Suffice to say, it's a fantastic book for any baseball aficionado or even for a casual fan interested in human stories, history, culture, jargon, and even a bit of baseball. Get it now to read or pass on to someone you love. They will love you back for a long time as they work their way through the players' profiles ...each and every one of them.

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

More book recommendations

About The First Sentence Reader blog

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Peterson, Robert. Only the Ball Was White: A History of Legendary Black Players and All-Black Professional Teams.   

Simply wondrous oral history of the Negro Leagues as told through interviews with the men who played the game in those days of segregation. Real baseball lingo, lore, and memories here. Fantastic peek into that era, its players, and their baseball lives.

 

Welcome to the Circus of Baseball

McGee, Ryan. Welcome to the Circus of Baseball. New York: Doubleday 2023. Print.

First Sentences:

"Oh, man. I think that sumbitch is actually dead!"

 

Description:

 

Hardly the first sentence one might expect from a book about minor league baseball, but there it is. Turns out to be the thoughts of a spectator watching  an in-game entertainment act called, "Captain Dynamite.' In this act, a family assembles a make-shift coffin around the father, loads him up with dynamite, seals the lid, and then ignites the whole thing to a thunderous blast. (He does recover, walks away, albeit a bit unsteadily, piles his kids and wife into their beat-up wagon, and proceeds on to the next gig down the road.)

It's just one of the fascinatingly unusual recollections of author Ryan McGee, currently a senior writer and co-host on ESPN, about his first sports job experience as a minor league baseball team intern in 1994. His memories of the trials, tribulations, and genuine goofiness of people, events, and work demands are set down in his wonderful new book, Welcome to the Circus of Baseball.

Fresh out of college, McGee lands a job as an almost-unpaid ($100-a-week) intern for the Asheville minor league baseball team, the Tourists. This team is in the Division A league, meaning the players are most likely just out of high school, from a Spanish-speaking country, or a veteran re-habbing from an injury. For many, it is their first time away from home, cooking, doing laundry, managing money, etc. All are trying to climb up the ladder to join the major league, "The Show," although only a handful will make it.

The Asheville Tourists play in McGee's favorite stadium from his childhood, McCormick Field. It's the same field where Crash Davis (Kevin Cosner) hit his final dinger before hanging 'em up in the film, Bull Durham. It's America's oldest ball park, and once hosted Cobb, Ruth, Gehrig, Bonds, and many other great players. 1994 also was the year Michael Jordan tried his hand at baseball and played for the Hickory Crawdads, although he never played against Asheville. Needless to say, the Tourists sold out all those home games anyway before the season even started.
 

McGee's various jobs include providing balls to the umpires, pulling the tarp over the infield on rainy days, stocking the Dairy Queen machine with gooey mixture (with disastrous results), running the concession stand, and providing beer to the star player, even though it was forbidden by the dugout rules. He once even donned the Tourist mascot outfit, Ted E. Tourist, the bear, for the team photo. The regular mascot was a college method actor who felt he had to "become one with the bear" and therefore could not be held responsible for his actions while in costume, specifically groping a few women fans..

McGee also wrestled with the 165-lb beer kegs on Thirsty Thursdays when every drink was only $1. He noted that most fans bought two beers, then returned to the back of the line, timing it so they were finished with those original two beers by the time they again reached the counter so they could get the same order again ... repeating this rhythm for the entire three-hour game, never watching a single batter. One Thursday, 66 kegs of beer were sold, about 8,600 servings to the 4,000 fans. Predictably, all Thirsty Thursday games were sold out.) 

McGee loved baseball, but some of his expectations were trimmed when the first busload of the team arrived:

The Tourists stepped out into the shadowy concourse behind the ballpark, not a superhuman gladiators arriving to take stock of the colosseum where they would do battle. No, they unloaded off the bus like someone had spilled a stack of bowling balls ."Where the hell are we?"

Instead of observing the actual Tourist ball playing, McGee focuses on the stadium itself ("The coaches' quarters were both so tiny that it never felt like you walked into them. It was more like you were putting them on.") and the behind-the-scenes workings of what makes a minor league team work; how fans get attracted to game (see Captain Dynamite and Thirsty Thursdays references above); and who exactly were the people who contributed to or watched the final product.

A few of the quirky individuals included:

• Ron McKee, Tourists GM, who bleached the baseballs to make old ones look new enough to use in games rather than buy new balls;
• James the Mountain Man who, dressed only in overalls, would dive into the bushes behind the fences to retrieve lost baseballs for reuse, not minding the snakes and other critters who frequently bit him;
• Big Mike who repeatedly throughout the game walked away from the concession stands carrying nachos, four hot dogs, and a large drink, and usually additional items for his consumption;
• The Circuit Rider who galloped in from right field on his horse, preaching and singing Bible-related sermons;
• Macaullay Culkin who was filming Richie Rich and needed someone to throw him some pitches. Another Tourist intern made $100 for this pitching gig, but GM McKee made $300 just from renting the pitcher's screen, a widely-repeated joke.

Memorable events included when author McGee and the interns mistakenly poured bags of kitty litter onto the infield dirt to dry it out for the next day's game, inadvertently inviting hundreds of feral cats to come to the park that night to use their new facilities. And don't forget the Great Mascot Brawl at the 1994 All-star game. Truly a sight to behold.

McGee has so many more stories that I could go on and on. Suffice to say, if you love baseball, especially the workings of minor league teams, and quality humorous writing, then Welcome to the Circus of Baseball is a great choice for you.

Don't tell me about the labor pains, just show me the baby. 

     - General Manager Ron McGee to the complaining intern/author Ryan McGee 

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

More book recommendations

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Shelton, Ron. The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings, and a Hit.   

Humorous and detailed account of the filming of Bull Durham. (previously reviewed here)

The Church of Baseball

Shelton, Ron. The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings, and a Hit. New York: Knopf. 2022. Print

First Sentences:
 

Bible stories were a big part of my growing up. The dramatic tales of Moses parting the Red Sea and coming down from the mountain and Jesus routing the money changers in the temple and the whole fantastic narrative still live loudly in my DNA.

Description:

If you have never seen the minor league baseball movie, Bull Durham, stop reading this right now and find that film somewhere ... NOW!  And don't come back until you have watched this cinematic gem, certainly one of the best sports movie of all time.

Ron Shelton, the screenwriter and first-time director of Bull Durham, walks us through the process of making his film in his delightfully entertaining The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings, and a Hit.

The book is divided into four parts: "Development" where Shelton discusses his personal history playing professional baseball and his experiences as the seeds to create the original script; "Preproduction" that details the interviewing and hiring of actors, identifying shooting locations, etc.; "Production" with the ups and downs of the actually filming, along with the challenges of costumes, lighting, and weather; and "Postproduction" when the movie actually hits the public screens and the response by reviewers (lukewarm) and public (wildly enthusiastic). 

Each stage has its unique nerve-wracking pitfalls, missteps, and obstacles which threaten to stop production. The ballpark had to be re-painted to a preferred color, the frosty breath of actors during the Durham cold weather had to camouflaged, and hundreds of extras had to be found (without pay) to fill the stands. But each trial has its own humorous moments (taken in hindsight by Shelton who probably did not find them funny at the time). He walks us through scene by scene, decision by decision, to really help us understand the entire film-making process. I only have room to present a few interesting items to whet your interest.

• "Crash" Davis, the film's main character, was actually a real person whom Shelton read about while looking through minor league records. Davis had hit the most doubles (50) in a minor league season. Ebby Calvin LaRoosh was a bright-eyed waiter who served Shelton at a restaurant with the introductory words, "Call me Nuke" (but he didn't know how to spell it when asked by Shelton). "Annie" is a generic name given by players to female groupies. "Savoy," Annie's last name, was on a matchbook that Shelton found in his pocket from a dive bar in Los Angeles.

• Costner wanted to audition for the part by demonstrating his throwing and hitting. Both he and Shelton found that they each "kept a glove and ball in the trunk of our car for reasons neither of us questioned.' Turned out Cosner was a switch-hitter with a beautiful swing;

• Throughout the shooting, the studio heads did not like Tim Robbins as Nuke and repeatedly tried to replace him. One unnamed head felt Susan Sarandon was completely wrong as well. About half way through shooting, Shelton received a phone call from the studio saying they were unhappy with Cosner's performance and they were immediately sending Kurt Russell down to replace Cosner and re-shoot everything fresh. (Turned out to be Russell on the phone making a prank call.)

• Studio producers tried, right up to the film's release, to remove the pitcher's mound scene where the players discuss the curse on a player's glove, what to get Millie and Jimmy for a wedding present, and how to align Nuke's chakras. (Preview audiences, however, on comment cards consistently rated that scene as their favorite);

• When they needed to fill the stands with extras, a production assistant contacted a friend working with the Pink Floyd concert nearby at the University of North Carolina. The band then announced to their fans that there would be a great after-concert party at the ball park, so concert-goers all trooped over to sit in the stands, waiting for Pink Floyd to show up (which they never did), and were unknowingly briefly filmed as background;

• Paula Abdul did the choreography for Nuke's bar dancing scene in exchange for a promised speaking role, a deal which Shelton did not know about and was not added to the film;

• After the film was public, Shelton met the pitcher Milt Pappas, who held a grudge for being included in Annie's speech about the worst trade ever in baseball ("Who can forget Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas, for God's sake?");

• [Shelton recalled]: When I signed off on the final cost of the movie, I believe we were ten cents under budget.

•  When Bull Durham opened, it faced competition from current movies including Big, Die Hard, Coming to America, Cocktail, Midnight Run, Rambo III, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. It grossed $5 million the opening weekend, then shockingly grossed more the next weekend and the third as well. After 28 weeks that summer, the film grossed the equivalent of $120 million in today's dollars.
  

 

What's not to love about a well-written memoir full if eobderful stories about likeable people, while gently walking us through the steps and decisions around constructing a delightful movie? I loved it and gobbled it up in only a few reading session. Can't wait to see the movie again and remember the process, choices, fights, and joy behind each portion.  

[Writer/Director Shelton]: My interest in baseball isn't analytical, romantic, or even patriotic. I like the game -- it's nuanced and difficult and physical-- but it has a appealing vulgarity, an earthiness...

Happy reading. 

Fred

Other book recommendations
About The First Sentence Reader blog

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Elwes, Cary. As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride

Recollections from the star of the wonderful adventure comedy, The Princess Bride, about the making of the movie, from ad-libbed comments by Billy Crystal that made Mandy Patinkin laugh so hard he broke a rib, to the weeks of sword fighting instruction, to Andre the Giant plowing around the landscape on a motorcycle, breaking Elwes toe in the process. Delightful.

The Glory of Their Times

Ritter, Lawrence. S. The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It. New York: HarperPerennial 1984. Print

First Sentences:

This is a book about the early days of baseball.

It is a book about what it was like and how it felt to be a baseball player at the turn of the century and in the decades shortly thereafter. At least that was my intent when I began working on the book five years and 75,000 miles ago. But now that it has been completed, I am not so sure.

 

The narratives contained in this book are chronicles of men who chased a dream and =, at least for a time, caught up with it and lived it.


Description:

 

One of the many attractive features of Lawrence S. Ritter's The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It is reading the actual words of baseball players from the earliest days of professional ball at turn of the century. Each of these 26 narratives on individual players consists only of the words of the players. No analysis by the author, no footnotes, no embellishments. Just their conversational recollections of their entrance to baseball, their playing days, other opponents, and their later years.

 

Author Ritter traced down old-time players using team records, newspaper articles, families, and just plain doggedness to track down the men. Some are recognizable as Hall of Famers like Rube Marquard, Wahoo Sam Crawford, Smokey Joe Wood, Goose Goslin, and Hank Greenberg. Other seem vaguely familiar like Fred Snodgrass (who dropped a fly ball in the World Series that besmirched his name forever), and Babe Herman (whose son Don was my math teacher in high school). Then there are those I knew nothing about, such as Specs Toporcer (the first infielder to wear glasses) and Stanley Coveleski (who beat the New York Giants three times in one week in as a rookie to win the pennant for the Phillies).

 

Every interview is fascinating, bringing alive this sports-mad era, the colloquialisms of speech, and of course detailed stories from their playing days. The men generally downplay their own achievements, whether getting six hits in a row in a World Series (Goslin), throwing faster than Walter Johnson, according to Johnson (Wood), or having a fourth best all-time lifetime batting average of .349 (Lefty O'Doul).

 

They preferred to tell of their own childhood days on farms, in mines, and working at miscellaneous jobs before sneaking away to play on local teams. Contracts were low, conditions of fields, travel, and housing poor, but to a man they said they would pay to play the sport they loved, although they weren't above holding out for more money, especially if they could time their holdout to miss spring training.

 

They also talk about fellow players, usually with awed reverence for these players' achievements. Grover Cleveland Alexander coming in hung over to strike out a dangerous hitter in a key World Series situation. Jim Thorpe running faster than any man in baseball. Christie Mathewsonm, the kindly gentleman, throwing his unhittable screwball. and the hated/beloved manager John McGraw. It was interesting to hear stories regarding the same opponent or game from different interviewees.  

I just couldn't get enough of reading their memories. Ritter's style makes you feel you are sitting next to the player by a cosy fire, listening to him drift back in the years to his youth. His highlights, lowlights, lucky breaks, and longtime friendships all blend together to transport readers to an era of spit balls, 43-oz bats, and players who rarely struck out.

Highly recommended for anyone, especially those fascinated by oral histories and the bygone era of baseball.

Happy reading. 

Fred

Other book recommendations
About The First Sentence Reader blog

____________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Tye, Larry. Satch: The Life and Times of an American Legend.   

Now hear the memories from Satchel Paige, one of baseball's Negro League's best pitchers and truly genuine characters. Painstakingly researched and wonderfully told, this is a real insider's look at the Negro Leagues stars and lifestyles on and off the field. One of the best sports books ever!

Special Post - Best Sports Instruction

Now that summer is here, it's time to think about playing outdoors. And playing a sport well is the best fun. But if you really wanted to learn how to be efficient, effective, and joyful at tennis, golf, baseball, and/or swimming, which books would you choose to read? 

Below are my favorite instruction books for these sports. I have used them all for years and each has changed how I play each game. Also, they have given me a better understanding of the principles of efficient use of my physical and mental energy toward a goal of playing well and simply having fun. 

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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Tennis For Life - Peter Burwash

First Sentences 

If you're like almost every other tennis player, you've reached a plateau on which you're stuck.

No matter how hard you practice, no matter how many lessons you take, you're stuck on that level. 

Description:

Peter Burwash, a former tennis professional from Canada, observed the common traits followed by successful pros and then incorporated them into lessons for us ordinary players. He discards the usual advice such as "Watch the ball" and "Racquet back," and instead stresses techniques that actually influence the ball. Burwash emphasizes the importance of the contact point between racquet and ball (backswing and follow-through do not actually direct the ball since the ball is not on the strings during each of these!); snapping the wrist in serving; "catching" volleys like a baseball player; and responding to emergency situations when perfect strokes are not possible. 

He breaks the game down into techniques easily understood, remembered, and applied. These techniques work for players of all levels. Believe me, I've seen it happen countless times when I taught beginning and nationally-ranked players using these same concepts. Definitely a game-changer of a book.

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Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way to Swim Better, Faster, and Easier - Terry Laughlin

First Sentences  

It's no mystery why people why people have trouble swimming as fast or as far or as smoothly as they'd like: Most of them are doing it backwards.

"Don't worry if you form's not perfect," coaches and instructors have always assured us. "Just get those laps in. Eventually you'll be fit enough to develop a smoother, stronger stroke." 

It really works the other way around, but that's not how it's been taught.

          

Description:

Author Terry Laughlin was a competitive swimmer all his life including college, but gave it up due to the boredom of endless laps and lack of personal progress in speed and efficiency. Entering Masters competitions renewed his interest in pursuing a revolutionary method of swimming and training: using streamlining and gliding techniques rather than energy-inefficient power strokes. Easy to comprehend and easy to practice, these step-by-step progressions practiced in short bursts of one lap provide fun, highly obtainable results. Really changed my stroke and enjoyment as now I can swim over a mile smoothly without becoming winded.

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Five Simple Steps to Perfect Golf - Count Yogi

First Sentences  

It has always been said that good golf starts with a good grip. That is true.

        

Description:

Count Yogi was a highly successful golfer who hustled for money and gave demonstrations on California courses using a simplified approach to mastering the few essentials of the sports: grip, balance, approaching the ball, total swing, and putting.

Instead of breaking down the swing into minute elements no one can remember or implement, he simply focuses on stroke smoothness and a few minor tips (hitting through the ball). Count Yogi also adds plenty of snarky comments about current pros and their detailed books which offer advice the pros/author don't use on the course ... because they all are actually using Count Yogi's techniques, of course. A hard book to find, but worth the effort. Lots of fun to read and plenty of great tips.

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The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance - Tim Galloway

First Sentences  

The problems which most perplex tennis players are not those dealing with the proper way to swing a racket.... 

The most common complaint of sportsmen ringing down the corridors of the ages is, "It's not that I don't know what to do, it's that I don't do what I know."

   

Description:

Self One and Self Two are constantly battling inside the head of every tennis player. Self One, the critical one, says "Why did you do that, you moron," while Self Two, quietly envisions the success of the shot. Author Galloway argues that silencing Self One and focusing on Self Two via visualization of quality shots and results will be more successful than endless drills and techniques. His offers an easy-to-comprehend philosophy, relying on imaging and quietness of the mind to achieve goals. Fascinating, and it actually produces great results both in shots and one's enjoyment of the game.

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The Science of Hitting - Ted Williams

First Sentences  

Hitting a baseball -- I've said it a thousand times before -- is the single most difficult thing to do in sport.

Description:

Williams, the last baseball hitter to end a season with a .400 average, shares the science and practice behind successfully hitting the ball. He has broken this seemingly simple action into details that are easily understood, but require practice, discipline, and then even more practice to achieve the goals. Very solid writing and theories behind this difficult art.