by Roger Kahn
Wow, oh, wow. And to think I almost crossed this one off my list unread! The only, absolutely only criticism I have is that he kept on going a little too long after the ending. But I'll give him that--he deserved it after his long labor.
If you're considering reading (or listening to) this, I'll give you some advice. The first half of the book was semi-autobiographical. It jumped around a little in time, so you weren't stuck reading, "I was born in City General Hospital in 1939...." and on though first grade, second.... None of that tedium. It jumped around a lot. from his growing up days of watching the Dodgers through a broken board in a fence and them from the roof of a neighboring store; to his first years as a sports writer--he covered a lot of high school football--to his meeting the team and getting stories from them.
That stuff was all interesting but not what made the book for me. The second half, interviews with the players in their later years, was awesome. Both sad and delightful. For some of the guys, when they were playing major league baseball they still felt, acted and reacted like boys. Grown up and facing life after baseball, they learned how to live.
I don't dare quote a single thing--any little tiny bit would be a spoiler. Just read it.
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