Book Review: Five Seasons

[bedsitter23]

Five Seasons: A Baseball Companion by Roger Angell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I finally read Roger Angell.

For starters, he is considered one of the masters of baseball writing. I picked up this book because there was some 1973 “Ya Gotta Believe” Mets content.

I am tempted to use the cliche “they don’t make it like this anymore”, but that’s simply not true. There is some great baseball writing out there.

But what I can say is the hype is true. Angell is as good as any body who’s ever wrote about baseball. There’s an observational level where Angell isn’t just writing about sport, but he’s talking about American life.

Five Seasons is a collection of writings so some of it is very general audience timeless like the story of three Tigers fans, he wrote for the New Yorker; or the story of Steve Blass who inexplicably and seemingly overnight went from AllStar pitcher to not being able to throw a strike. Other pieces are just stadium travelogues.

For that, it is hard to recommend Angell to non baseball fans, though it is still worth looking up those classic New Yorker articles just to experience this great American writer.

For me, the players are the ones I grew up with. It really hit me hard in the nostalgia.

Five Seasons was probably randomly picked,since it was published in 1977 and happened to collect 1972 through 1976 as they had just passed. But with retrospect, they are important seasons. The As and Reds dynasties are here, as well as the Orioles on the descent and the Yankees on the ascent.

It’s hard not to think of these if not as the last glory years of baseball, at least the transition years. So much change: Players Union, the first strike (over pension), the Designated Hitter, night baseball, and free agency. Angell even talks about the way baseball scouting has changed

Charlie O Finley is here. He of the Orange Baseballs, the Designated Runner, and the extra pay bonus for players who would grow a mustache. He would take the best team in baseball and break them up with his penny-pinching ways.

Some great moments too. The 1975 World Series as good as one ever played. Hank Aaron pursuing Babe Ruth’s record. The seemingly ageless Willie Mays finally getting old. Lou Brock, Nolan Ryan Joe Morgan. So many names, often up and coming, written as it happened. The greats and the now forgotten.

Angell captures everything with a wide angle lens. So not only is his take on the game good, but he catches the fans in the stands. The crack of the bat as well as the peanuts and crackerjack.

Baseball (and life) always changes. Angell wrestles with ideas such as the San Francisco Giants being bought by a Japanese company, baseball on tv being called by Howard Cosell, and the eternal fight between owners and players. Heck, we still fight over the Designated Hitter, and disparity between players and owners gets ever wider.

Because it is a collection, there is some repetition. I do think anyone who really loves the game and regularly reads sports books will enjoy it. Otherwise, it may be too gigantic of a task for those who might come to the subject half-heartedly. That said, Angel’s writing is easy to find and every American should check out one of his famous stories.



View all my reviews