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Books- June
Jul. 5th, 2014 11:29 amOut of My League- A Rookie's Survival in the Bigs- By Dirk Hayhurst - Hayhurst was a pitcher with a short major league career and is now a Baseball commentator. He wrote a book called "The Bullpen Gospels" which got a lot of acclaim, and gets comparisons to the groundbreaking Ball Four by Jim Bouton,
To be fair, I have not read that book. This is the sequel, which is why I picked it up so cheap. It is a comparable book, I am told, with some reviewers preferring the former, and some the latter. Also, let's be clear, in a world of 24 hour sports (multiple) networks, twitter, Deadspin (the sports version of TMZ), Hard Knocks and everything else, there will never be another Bouton.
That said, some people are uncomfortable with Hayhurt's book, and it's biggest revelation is one that is just seeing the light of day. Minor league players get paid squat. Mother Jones just did an article last month and undoubtedly, we will hear more. Taking out the $84 million contracts, we are talking there is a vast difference between being the worst player in major league baseball and the best player in the minors. To the tune, that the MLB minimum salary is $84,000/month, and a Triple A player (a step away from the bigs) might get paid just over $2000 a month
This isn't a serious expose, but that is the background of the story. Hayhurst talks about the difference in lifestyles- the pay, the per diems, the hotel, the travel. He does it in a fun way and is a good writer (though one suspects, maybe this could have just been some blog posts) and it does seemingly go on for a few pages too many. There's rookie hazing, of course, and Hayhurst is a virgin teetotaler (mostly) around a group of manly men.
There is a very human element in his story which makes it an all-audiences book, not just a sports book. His family stories will appeal to some- a disfunctional relationship not too far from Silver Linings Playbook.
Also what makes it work is we all know people who had great talent and didn't make it (high school injuries, etc) and bookshelves are lined with books by the supergreat. What makes this story of Hayhurst's so compelling is that he is one of those somewhere in the middle. When do you give up on the "Dream"? Why do you keep following the "Dream"? When is it about money, fame, family? It's not black and white.
A good book, but three stars (out of five) for being so long, and though there is certainly something here for everyone, not sure everyone would want to make it through a 340 page slog.
Wicked River: The Mississippi When It Last Ran Wild by Lee Sandlin
This book caught my eye, and I have to say it lived up to it. It is not a typical "history" which a few pages in feels a bit "off", but by the end of the book, you have probably decided you wouldn't want it any other way.
It covers about 60 years where life on the Mississippi River was shall we say 'colorful' and Sandlin makes a compelling argument that it was wilder than the Wild West.
There's pirates of the most terrifying kind in The Crow's Nest. There are the worst possible disasters (and ones we don't read about) in the sinking of the Sultana and the New Madrid Earthquake. There's con men, revivalists, tonic peddlers, and all manners of vice that goes with them, and that ultimate place of vice in Mardi Gras.
There's Lynch Mobs and Lynching, which is not quite what you may think of, but is indeed, immediate justice with no courts, but the public taking drastic action. There's legends and myths like John Murrell, who was supposedly inciting a slave uprising (though actual facts seem to have no bearing on the excited claims that the public believed and led to angry mobs and violent actions taken toward river-side gamblers.
There's the siege of Vicksburg, which you don't hear about. There's the tall tales like Mike Fink and where they came from. There's the Moundbuilders and the ancient history of the region. There are the painted panoramas that take over Europe with the painted description of the river and the crowds that wanted to see it.
I enjoyed this book a lot. It draws a lot from contemporary accounts of the day, so it's the kind of history book that gives you things you don't know and make you feel like you were there.
I have always intended to read Twain's Life on the Mississippi and although I haven't, it is my understanding that this has a lot of material to reference. I also found it somewhat funny that reviewer on goodreads said it would be good source material for role-playing games, but honestly it is. It is good reading for storytellers, film makers, bloggers, etc who want some good source material that is underused.
Interestingly, railroad comes along and kills off the exciting, dangerous world of the Mississippi, and the story ends with Twain lamenting that there is nothing like what he saw as a youth. 60 years of the River being wild and then done. No more of the flatboats that Abe Lincoln once floated on in the 1830s. Nothing resembling the traffic of those years when that was where money was to be made.
A near perfect book for me. I found it incredibly fascinating in a 'myths and legends' sort of way, and really getting a feel for the day-to-day. As in if someone wrote a history book about 2014, it would cover elections and supreme court rulings and foreign wars, but to really get a feel for 2014, you would have to know who the Kardashians are (I am not wrong). This book does a good job of getting to those nooks and crannies of everyday life back then. Highly recommended.
To be fair, I have not read that book. This is the sequel, which is why I picked it up so cheap. It is a comparable book, I am told, with some reviewers preferring the former, and some the latter. Also, let's be clear, in a world of 24 hour sports (multiple) networks, twitter, Deadspin (the sports version of TMZ), Hard Knocks and everything else, there will never be another Bouton.
That said, some people are uncomfortable with Hayhurt's book, and it's biggest revelation is one that is just seeing the light of day. Minor league players get paid squat. Mother Jones just did an article last month and undoubtedly, we will hear more. Taking out the $84 million contracts, we are talking there is a vast difference between being the worst player in major league baseball and the best player in the minors. To the tune, that the MLB minimum salary is $84,000/month, and a Triple A player (a step away from the bigs) might get paid just over $2000 a month
This isn't a serious expose, but that is the background of the story. Hayhurst talks about the difference in lifestyles- the pay, the per diems, the hotel, the travel. He does it in a fun way and is a good writer (though one suspects, maybe this could have just been some blog posts) and it does seemingly go on for a few pages too many. There's rookie hazing, of course, and Hayhurst is a virgin teetotaler (mostly) around a group of manly men.
There is a very human element in his story which makes it an all-audiences book, not just a sports book. His family stories will appeal to some- a disfunctional relationship not too far from Silver Linings Playbook.
Also what makes it work is we all know people who had great talent and didn't make it (high school injuries, etc) and bookshelves are lined with books by the supergreat. What makes this story of Hayhurst's so compelling is that he is one of those somewhere in the middle. When do you give up on the "Dream"? Why do you keep following the "Dream"? When is it about money, fame, family? It's not black and white.
A good book, but three stars (out of five) for being so long, and though there is certainly something here for everyone, not sure everyone would want to make it through a 340 page slog.
Wicked River: The Mississippi When It Last Ran Wild by Lee Sandlin
This book caught my eye, and I have to say it lived up to it. It is not a typical "history" which a few pages in feels a bit "off", but by the end of the book, you have probably decided you wouldn't want it any other way.
It covers about 60 years where life on the Mississippi River was shall we say 'colorful' and Sandlin makes a compelling argument that it was wilder than the Wild West.
There's pirates of the most terrifying kind in The Crow's Nest. There are the worst possible disasters (and ones we don't read about) in the sinking of the Sultana and the New Madrid Earthquake. There's con men, revivalists, tonic peddlers, and all manners of vice that goes with them, and that ultimate place of vice in Mardi Gras.
There's Lynch Mobs and Lynching, which is not quite what you may think of, but is indeed, immediate justice with no courts, but the public taking drastic action. There's legends and myths like John Murrell, who was supposedly inciting a slave uprising (though actual facts seem to have no bearing on the excited claims that the public believed and led to angry mobs and violent actions taken toward river-side gamblers.
There's the siege of Vicksburg, which you don't hear about. There's the tall tales like Mike Fink and where they came from. There's the Moundbuilders and the ancient history of the region. There are the painted panoramas that take over Europe with the painted description of the river and the crowds that wanted to see it.
I enjoyed this book a lot. It draws a lot from contemporary accounts of the day, so it's the kind of history book that gives you things you don't know and make you feel like you were there.
I have always intended to read Twain's Life on the Mississippi and although I haven't, it is my understanding that this has a lot of material to reference. I also found it somewhat funny that reviewer on goodreads said it would be good source material for role-playing games, but honestly it is. It is good reading for storytellers, film makers, bloggers, etc who want some good source material that is underused.
Interestingly, railroad comes along and kills off the exciting, dangerous world of the Mississippi, and the story ends with Twain lamenting that there is nothing like what he saw as a youth. 60 years of the River being wild and then done. No more of the flatboats that Abe Lincoln once floated on in the 1830s. Nothing resembling the traffic of those years when that was where money was to be made.
A near perfect book for me. I found it incredibly fascinating in a 'myths and legends' sort of way, and really getting a feel for the day-to-day. As in if someone wrote a history book about 2014, it would cover elections and supreme court rulings and foreign wars, but to really get a feel for 2014, you would have to know who the Kardashians are (I am not wrong). This book does a good job of getting to those nooks and crannies of everyday life back then. Highly recommended.
