3 comments about An American Journey: My Life on the Field, in the Air, and on the Air.

1. Jerry Coleman has honorably served America both as a military man, as a baseball player during the 1950's for the New York Yankees, and as an announcer for the Yankees, CBS, and as an announcer/manager for the San Diego Padres. He considers his greatest achievement in life to be the five years he spent as a marine during both World War II and the Korean War. He grew up in a home with a physically abusive father, and a very devoted mother. His best friends with the Yankees were Allie Reynolds, Vic Raschi, Ed Lopat, Bobby Brown, and Charlie Silvera. Coleman believes Mickey Mantle's alcohol problems became full blown after he retired from the game and the cheering stopped. Coleman vividly recalls the incident in May of 1957 when Yankees' infielder Gil McDougald lined Cleveland Indians' pitcher Herb Score in the eye. This had a great emotional effect on McDougald who considered quitting the game. Coleman's one year at the helm of the Padres did not go well. His players viewed him as the team's announcer, and a relic from the past. Coleman gives his views on various things regarding the game such as the size of players compared to when he played, and the effect large contracts can have on some players. He blames the players' union for fighting against a strong drug program which has ultimately harmed players who play by the rules. Coleman considers Aaron to be the all-time home run leader with Maris to be the home run leader for a single season. This book is light easy reading, and I enjoyed reading about one of the bubble gum cards of my youth.



2. I don't know how many "with." books I have read not 100 but more than fifty. Even wrote two of them. YOGI IT AIN'T OVER WITH YOGI and THE OCTOBER TWELVE with PHIL RIZZUTO.Jerry Coleman's "WITH" RICHARD GOLDSTEIN did an outstanding job. I envy him but not for writing the book. Writing is hard work. Spending time in the company of Jerry Coleman is a joy. A tonic for the soul.



3. I bought this book for my father as he has been an avid Padre fan since 1969. He just loves it. Jerry Coleman is the San Diego Padres.
   
   Scott
   El CAJON, CA

5 comments about The Yogi Book : I Really Didn't Say Everything I Said.

1. Yogi really DIDN'T say everything that's attributed to him. A whole cottage industry for sports writers has sprung up inventing way too clever stuff and putting it in Yogi's mouth.

   Unfortunately, it may be too late to correct the record. How can Yogi disown such gems as "It's deja vu all over again" when everybody WANTS to believe he said it?

   In the early 1980's I read an interview with Berra in which a journalist walked him through the fifty best known Berraisms, and Yogi disowned about half of them. Included in the spurious Berraisms was the world-renowned "It's deja vu all over again."

   Sorry to be a spoilsport, but let's have a little truth here. Does anyone seriously believe that during his playing days this guy, who had such a shaky command of basic English, had the French expession "deja vu" in his word stock to draw upon when needed?




2. This small book contains many of Yogi Berra's humorous, and sometimes thought-provoking, statements. I added over 30 to my quotes collection. He explains how many originated and that he did not say some of the sayings attributed to him (p. 9: I really didn't say everything I said). Quite a few of them have been quoted so often as to have become part of our culture:
   
   p. 30: It's dèja vu all over again!
   p. 95: You can learn a lot by watching.
   p. 118: The future ain't what it used to be.
   
   But some were new to me:
   
   p. 64: It gets late early out here.
   p. 73: Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't go to yours.
   p. 93: Never answer an anonymous letter.
   
   Finally, Yogi's family contributed some of their own:
   
   p. 125: Tim-I knew exactly where it was, I just couldn't find it.
   p. 125: Betsy-Sometimes you have to get lost to find yourself.
   p. 125: Mario-I've double checked it six times.



3. This is a must have for Yogi Berra fans or just anybody who appreciates baseball in an older, more pure era. This book contains not only his most famous quotes, but many from his personal life at home as well. The book is short (30 minute read). It is definately well worth reading or at least scanning through.



4. It is a very short book, with classic Yogi Berra saying and descriptions of the events that surrounded these funny phrases being uttered.



5. Yogisms are a special kind of aphorism which usually involve a certain surface absurdity , and perhaps grammatical error- a cliche mispoken- but which add up somehow to something funny and wise at the same time.
   Hearing that the mayor of Dublin Robert Briscoe was Jewish , Yogi said, "Only in America".
   When Mantle and Maris hit back- to - back home runs in their famous duel to hit sixty homers, Yogi said "It's Deja- Vu again"
   I somehow thought it was Casey Stengel another aphorist of note, but this book says it's Yogi who said ," It ain't over till it's over".
   "If you come to a fork in the road, take it."
   "You should always go to other peoples' funerals , otherwise they won't go to yours."
   About Yogi himself it might be said " They broke the mold when they made him" Or with a word of apology to Leo the Lip " Nice guys are funny first."

5 comments about The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth.

1. The main difference between this book and last year's biography of Lou Gehrig (Luckiest Man) is that "Big Bam" is an entertaining look at one of the most entertaining figures in sports history, while 'Luckiest Man' is an informative look at one of the least entertaining sports figures from history.
   
   Both books are good, but this book is FUN! It captures the era of Ruth, and details his amazing career in an entertaining Sea Biscuit like way.
   
   Highly, highly, highly, recommended.



2. I received this book as a birthday present and was really looking forward to reading it as I enjoy sports and biographies. But reading this book was agonizing. I got 40 pages into it and still couldn't tell you one thing about Babe Ruth. The writing was horrible and incomprehensible.
   I finally just gave up. Life is simply too short. If you are interested in purchasing or reading this book, try reading the beginning first. Maybe you'll save yourself money and grief.
   
   Can't wait to see how this author butchers Ted Williams biography.



3. If you like historical accounts of baseball, this is a must read for you. There are accounts in this book about the most famous player to ever hit, Babe Ruth, that will make you wonder how he even survived to become the legend he did. Babe Ruth did not get a "cookie cutter" road to becoming the great hitter he became. IN His first years of professional baseball he was taunted, harassed, and insulted by virtually every possible means available to the other players. His nickname cannot even be mentioned in this review because it was so terrible. He was set up and fell for every trick in the book, and was the [...] of every joke because he was so innocent (in those ways of the world). In this book, you learn about the "young man" who becomes a legend, dispite the mean and cruel way he is treated. This young man, from St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys was freed by a Jack Dunn, a baseball guy from Baltimore. Ruth could hit as well as he could pitch. No one really explains where these talents ever develop, but the book mentions this legend (Ruth) as being extremely crude and racially motivated by anything that moved. Far from a gentleman, and never caring about it anyway, gradually he becomes recognized as one of the greatest hitters of all time. This initiation, into a most popular sport in the world's biggest city, turns out to be exactly what he needs to be molded into the world's greatest player. Babe Ruth knew how to live life in and out of baseball. He took everything everyone threw at him, and somehow became the greatest of the greats. This is an amazing tale of how a great one is made through saw dust and blade cutting, unlike say that of Joe D or Mickey. Ruth took all the pot shots, and learned to fire them right back. Nothing got to him, nothing. You have got to read this book, it is fantastic!!!! 10 stars. guyairey



4. This is a nicely revealing look at the Sultan of Swat, one that informs about George Herman Ruth (1895-1948) both on and off the field. The narrative begins by examininig the Babe's turbulent childhood and upbringing in a Baltimore orphanage. Readers see how this young man's incredible pitching arm and all-around skill led to a professional contract. Reaching the majors in 1914 at just 19, Ruth helped pitch the Red Sox to three World Seriers titles from 1915-1918. After switching to the outfield, Boston foolishly sold him to the Yankees, where New York media, radio, newsreels, plus the Babe's tape-measure clouts turned him into a national icon. As the author shows, the Babe was an equally-enthused drinker and skirt-chaser (particularly prior to 1926). We also learn about his 60-homer season in 1927, his relations with Lou Gherig, teammates, and management, barnstorming, calling his shot in his last (1932) World Series, and his inevitable slide. The author concludes with a briefer look at Ruth's post-baseball days, frustrated desire to manage, and untimely death from cancer.
   
   Author Leigh Montville provides much information about the Babe, his emotions, genuine sympathy for kids and orphans, and his troubled family life. Sadly, Montville didn't uncover every relevant fact - in such instances he pleads ¨fog.¨ Still, this is a very good biography, nearly matching THE LEGEND COMES TO LIFE by Robert Creamer.



5. If you only read one biography of the Babe, then the Big Bam would be an excellent choice. It's a solid, well researched look at the biggest name in baseball history. One of the strong points - the author's decision not to speculate - results in a lack of titillating vignettes from both the Babe's earliest years and some of his escapades. However, the reader gains that back in his confidence in the reliability of the book. Besides, the Sultan of Swat generated more than enough stories that are reported.
   
   A number of photographs are included and they add a great deal to the biography. The excellent bibliography also allows one to reasearch further.
   
   Overall, I was wishing it was a longer book by the time I was done.

5 comments about Playing with the Enemy: A Baseball Prodigy, World War II, and the Long Journey Home.

1. Playing with the Enemy is Gary Moore's first book. Either he had a helluva good editor or he is a natural storyteller. I prefer to think the latter, since the subject of the book is one very close to his heart. It's the story of his own father, Gene Moore, a small-town boy from southern Illinois who could hit a baseball "a country mile" and was one of the best catchers in the game, good enough that he was drafted at only 15 to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. But then WWII intervened and young Gene's dreams of making it to the "bigs" were shattered, along with his ankle in an historical "friendship game" between German POWs and their U.S. guards at a camp in Louisiana. After a privileged wartime enlistment of playing ball as entertainment for the troops in North Africa and the Azores, Gene and his Navy baseball teammates had been detailed to this guard detail. It had been Gene's idea to teach the game of baseball to the German U-boat sailors. There is a lot of very strange history here that has received little or no attention before this book. Also a first class story of fathers and sons, this book pulls you in from page one and is very hard to put down. I finished it in just two sittings. And I'll bet it will make one great film too! Whether you're a history or baseball buff - or if you just appreciate a good story - read this book. I guarantee you'll like it. - Tim Bazzett, author of Love, War & Polio: The Life and Times of Young Bill Porteous (RatholeBooks 2007)



2. Gary Moore has written a wonderful book. As a baseball fan and a military buff, Playing With the Enemy it has become, simply, one of my favorite non-fiction reads of all time. It has earned a place on my shelf of books to keep, and will be one of those books I give as gifts. But it won't be given only to fellow baseball and military historians, as this is a story that will peak the interest of anyone who likes to read of ordinary people doing the most extraordinary things while living out their private lives.
   
   Moore's book tells the story of his father, Gene Moore, a baseball prodigy whose promising baseball career was interrupted by the Second World War. Drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers as a teenager, Gene Moore entered the Navy in a little-known program that allowed Major League talents a chance to serve their country, play the game they love, and entertain the troops. Unlike Steven Bullock's Playing for Their Nation (2004), an exhaustively researched book which explained the various baseball programs that existed in the U.S. military during The War, Moore's book comes to life. While Playing for Their Nation is a must-have reference for any military baseball historian, Playing With the Enemy is a page-turner that anyone with an interest in human drama that seems too unreal to be real will enjoy. The saga of Gene Moore is as unlikely as any of the far-fetched but fun-to-read baseball stories by W.P. Kinsella; but Moore's is even more compelling because it is true. Readers will find themselves rooting for Gene Moore to make it: through The War, through a tragic and impossibly unfair injury, and through his fall into the darkness of alcoholism and lost dreams.
   
   Gary Moore's book actually has much in common with another book, Flags of Our Fathers (2001) by James Bradley, the son of Iwo Jima flag raiser John Bradley. James didn't know much about his father's experiences in World War II until his father passed away. Gary didn't know much about his father's War experiences either, but was able to have a magic moment with his father just before he passed away. The result of that magic moment is Playing With the Enemy.



3. Ugh, I don't know where to start. Poorly written and researched, at best. Try to remember that it is 'based on a true story'. But the true story part doesn't resemble the climax of the book, at all. I've read plenty of books that are baseball related, this is the only one I've ever been viscerally disappointed in.
   
   Elroy Face learned the forkball in the MAJOR LEAGUES from Joe Page, the Yankee reliever who ended up his career with the Pirates. Save your money on this one. In honor of a great Pirate, Elroy Face, don't waste any money on this book.



4. How many of us wish we had our fathers back to ask a few more questions, to learn more of his life, and to let him know how much he meant to our lives? Gary Moore had a father who held secrets, like so many of the WW2 era fathers. The fathers of that era always thought they had to be strong, they could show no weaknesses, and also could show little emotion. When we lose a father, we lose forever all that they had kept inside. But Gary's dad gave Gary a gift during his last few hours....he shared some of those secrets with Gary. Gary then made it a mission to learn more of his father's life story and ended up with an inspirational book about his father, WW2 prisoners and the life that his dad had kept secret. We all have regrets, and we all hope our father's know that we loved them. This book is Gary Moore's "I love you" to his father and we get to go along for the ride. Very enjoyable read. I'm sending it to my baseball playing nephew.



5. I absolutely loved this book. I read it to my 8th grade classes because of the historical aspects, and they LOVED it. I had kids who would normally sit there and sleep coming in to class everyday asking me what was going to happen in the story. It is just an amazing story of sacrifice, courage, and love - for not only baseball, but also for mankind and friendship. I would recommend this book to anyone who teaches American History because the historical part of it is great. Kudos to Gary Moore for pestering his father enough for him to tell his story.

5 comments about Get in the Game: 8 Elements of Perseverance That Make the Difference.

1. I am not now nor have I ever been a baseball fan. It just never appealed to me. But Cal Ripken has been heralded as the nicest guy in baseball and the sub-title ("8 elements of perseverance that make a difference" was definitely attractive, so I read the book.
   
   I'm glad I did.
   
   Ripken interweaves a literal history of baseball into his core message of how persevverance plays out in a ball game and life. It's an interesting, informative approach. I can see why Ripken has succeeded in his motivational speaking career as he did is his baseball career: life literally starts anew each day for this guy. Yesterday's msitakes and regrets are left behind. One of the most fascinating parts of the book for me are Ripken's descriptions of team work in baseball and how it works. Frankly, because I've never been a fan, I didn't realize just how much cooperation and coordination is required on the field.
   
   Overall, a very worthwhile read and uplifting.
   
   Jerry



2. This is an excellent book by one of our modern-day greats: Cal Ripken, Jr. A native of Aberdeen, Maryland, he spent his entire career with the Baltimore Orioles. He broke a record that many said would stand forever, and this book parallels the former holder of that feat, Lou Gehrig, with a treasure trove of quotes about the latter's life. In a sense, we learn as much about the character and perseverance of Mr. Gehrig as we do about Mr. Ripken.
   
   One early quote set the tone for the entire book:
   
   "I just played because I loved the game, and because I had been taught certain principles that prevented me from backing away from anything."
   
   Mr. Ripken chronicled his youth, the special relationship with his father, Cal, Sr., and then explained in concise fashion his eight principles for perseverance. Some themes related directly to baseball, while others are about life itself.
   
   Here are the eight elements:
   
   Right Values
   Strong Will to Succeed
   Love What You Do
   Preparation
   Anticipation
   Trusting Relationships
   Life Management
   The Courage of Your Convictions
   
   This is a very entertaining and informative book. Thank you for the opportunity to review it.



3. Life's little lessons taken from one who knows. Good title. Inspirational! Thanks Cal.



4. Get in the Game is not only a book about Cal Ripken Jr., his consecutive games streak and his fine career. It's a recap of some simple but overlooked values.
   
   Using his core strength in baseball to describe his thinking, the reader will not only appreciate some particular plays in his career, but also down-to-earth ways of approaching things in life.



5. This book provides extremely useful guidelines in dealing with situations we all eventually run into in our lives. While alluding to baseball related examples, it does not simply dwell solely on recounting Mr. Ripken's impressive baseball accomplishments or relate amusing/interesting anecdotes. Instead it gives thought-provoking insights into two all too fast-disappearing basic axioms in our country's psyche: "practice makes perfect," and "do unto others." I highly recommend this book for everyone, especially young people still in their formative years. In fact, it presents an excellent opportunity for parents to reconnect with their child(ren) by reading it aloud and together, with discussion centering on each of the eight elements as they are completed.

5 comments about Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big.

1. Boy am I glad I checked this out of the library, instead of purchasing it! It shows the steroids not only super-inflated Canseco's body, but his ego as well. I wouldn't know, so I wonder if he was always this cocky and arrogant? Aren't there any humble jocks out there?



2. If youre looking for book about someone complaining about being accused of taking steroids in a book where he admits to taking steroids and implements others with no proof, this is the book for you. Not once does he submit proof of any of his claims.. Multiple times he complains that he was accuse of steroids even though he says the results were obvious. Also he is so cocky. He repeatedly calls himself the best player ever. NOT EVEN CLOSE. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK OR HIS NEW ONE!!



3. A very bitter man indeed. I guess these books are what you do when you have been disgraced to no end. Your career written off, you're a joke to everyone, your ex is in a men's mag telling how you're basically a eunuch due to your juicing... What's left to do? Throw unsubstantiated accusations at everyone and try to take as many with you as possible. This guy was on ESPN the other day promoting the new book and accusing A-Rod while exonerating Clemens in the same breath. Need I say more? Buy it if you need something to level off that uneven table in the dining room...



4. This was really fun to read. It's been passed along about 4 times...great beach reading



5. I read this book when it first came out and I am glad I did not review it then. Like many others I was skeptical about what Canseco was saying. I just couldn't believe that all the famous athletes that he named took steriods or HGH. The idea that he personal injected many of them seemed ludicrous. The media put it down as a bunch of lies to sell books. Canseco also had his ups and downs and did not have a great reputation in baseball. After the hearings things looked even worse. But what came out in the long run was that everything he said became highly plausible or confirmed by drug testing or further investigation. This book is now a landmark book in the history of major league baseball. The only thing I disagree with Canseco on in this book is the idea that taking steroids was good for the game of baseball even though it led to more home runs and excitement for the fans. At least in his new book based on the accumulated medical evidence he has changed his tune. No one can deny that this was one of the major books to blow the lid on the use of steriods in baseball.
   
   I believe that Canseco wrote this book for the noteriety and the money and that his selective choice of names to name was deliberate to sensationalize the book and sell copies. He now freely admits to naming people to make the book marketable in his new book vindicated. Also I think the book was intended to provide a rationalization for his own use of steroid and for turning so many others onto it. But hte Mitchell report and other investigations has confirmed that those named were really users!

2 comments about Tim McCarver's Diamond Gems.

1. When I first read this book I saw that this was simply not a book about the sport of Baseball but about the history and of the names that come to mind whenever we relate a great moment to a parrallel in our own lives. Tim McCarver in his own right as a former player and now broadcaster is one to respect with his interviewing methods as more like sitting with these respected individuals on a Sunday in your living room just letting these stories flow and though sometimes you feel that you've heard all this before, this book brings it straight and to the point.



2. Tim McCarver's "Diamond Gems" is a comprehensive collection of anecdotes and stories from the legends of the baseball diamond. These stories, gleaned from McCarver's internationally syndicated, talk show, weave an almost mythological tapestry of the mindset of the greats of baseball. Stan Musial claims he was a "low ball hitter and a highball drinker." These stories divulge amazing and often profound revelations. Don Mattingly credits Lou Piniella as the person who taught him how to hit for power in the majors; Mike Schmidt, with sadness that oozes off the page, regrets that he didn't have a friendlier relationship with the Philly fans; and Alex Rodriguez and Cal Ripken relate the same story of how Ripken was pushed into playing shortstop for one last time during his last all star game appearance. This gem of a story is told from the point of view from Ripken and Rodriguez and neatly juxtaposed in the book. With stories like these how can you lose? "Diamond Gems" is a must-read for all baseball fans and sports enthusiasts alike. Everyone will have their favorite stories, their favorite gems from the baseball diamond.

No comments about Yankee for Life: My 40-Year Journey in Pinstripes.

5 comments about Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and the Battle to Save Baseball.

1. I wouldn't recommend you open Jose Canseco's new book "Vindicated" unless you are ready to let go of your fantasies about baseball -it starts off on Roger Clemens and it is not good----that is really going to fire up the old Rocket. Arod takes a big hit too with direct quotes.
   Once again the pictures alone tell the whole story. I beleive Canseco.
   It is a good book if you like straight talk with a bit of a righteous edge.
   
   
   You would be hard pressed to find someone who loves baseball as much as I do.I have had a love affair with the sports since I was a little boy growing up in California. I have it bad.
   
   I also love and admire Roger Clemens. He is one of my all-time sports heros. I think that other than Sandy Koufax he is the greatest pitcher that the game has ever seen. When Roger Clemens signed with Houston where I live, I bought a Season Ticket package the very next day. I went to nearly every game he pitched and I loved watching him---he was amazing to see. I flew to St Louis to see him pitch in the playoffs. He is a credit to the sport and I don't care if he did steroids or not they cannot take away what he accomplished. There is one thing I also know and sadly so does everyone else thanks to Roger Clemens and his unwillingness to be straight about it.
   
   It is my firm belief that Roger Clemens used steroids during his career in Major League Baseball. We all know it; the public knows it, his trainer knows it, his best friend in the world knows it, and as much as it bothers him Roger knows it too. Canseco makes it pateently clear and inescapable.
   
   Fortunately for Roger he is loved and he is white so he will be forgiven. Unfortunately for The Rocket he literally decided to make a federal case out of it. When he did things went bad for him.It seems that what would have blown over pretty quickly after the release of the Mitchell report didn't. My guess it the Mitchell report fervor would have run its course and been forgotten in about two weeks. Roger's ego dragged it out several months. It would have all gone away quickly and quietly had he just walked up and said ya I tried the stuff several times, in the end I didn't like how it made me feel so I stopped, but no. He had to take the world on. He denied the accusations not only publicly but under oath. He literally made a federal case out of it....not just the cliché. Just like Bill Clinton never counted on the Lewinski blue dress, Roger never imagined someone would pull out a bag with his blood, his DNA and the evidence that would hang him. Now people think he is a liar and an idiot.
   
   I still think the world of him. He was a great pitcher, a wonderful asset to the sport and he is a very good man. I live in the community he lives in. Though I don't know him personally I know people who do. Everyone that knows him says he is a first class human being.
   
   Take a deep breath Roger, time will heal it. Look at Clinton. In the end you will feel the love. But I am afraid your little stunt cost you the Hall of Fame on the first ballot and that ego of yours is going to take a beating on that fateful day in 4 ½ years.
   
   Jose -- keep he faith baby
   
   KC



2. CONSIDERING THE AUTHOR, I SHOULD NOT EXPECTED MUCH BUT EVEN FOR JOSE THIS HAD TO BE ONE OF THE BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENTS IN READING. FLAT OUT TERRIBLE.



3. In 2005 Jose Canseco wrote "Juiced" in which he "outed" the baseball steroid scandal for what it was. Canseco was derided for doing a money-grabbing job, but a funny thing happened along the way: it opened the floodgates, including congressional hearings and a supposedly stricter baseball policy on steroids. Now comes the sequel, in which Canseco muses on what has happened since his first book came out.
   
   in "Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and the Battle to Save Baseball" (259 pages), Canseco goes on in his "hold no prisoner" way on what he feels is right and wrong with how the baseball steroid scandal has unfolded since his first book. Canseco looks back at the indignation of the baseball world when "Juiced" came out, only to be proved "right" of course. He has choice words for the likes of Rafael Palmero: "Palmeiro knew he was a steroids user, and he knew I knew. [...] Now here we were, only months after the hearings, and Rafi tests positive. Who's lying exactly?" On the Mitchell Report: "Senator Mitchell claimed he had personally all the players connected to the scandal. Maybe he called a lot of players, and maybe, for all I know, he called every single one of them. But he never called me."
   
   On the "outing" of Magglio Ordenez and A-Rod, Canseco sounds pretty vindictive, but then again, he tells it how he sees it and it's difficult to argue with him. only time will tell if Canseco is right on these calls, but with his track record, I wouldn't bet against Canseco. Is Canseco self-serving in this book? of course he is. Is this another "money-grabbing" job? likely. But the facts have been with Canseco and this book doesn't diminish from that fact. (As a total aside, I read in today's newspaper that Canseco's house is being foreclosed on...)



4. its a crack book you will finish fast and feel kinda different. i picked up this book to see what he had to say about the red sox. he dident say much but it was still a good read. i hate a-rod too jose. he dident do my wife tho



5. Vindicated? This book drips with Revenge and self justification as the unholy goals of this scumbag drug pusher. Once Jose Canseco was duly blackballed, he is marketing this filth as his way of dragging everyone else down to his Clintonian level. I confess it's always interesting to learn scandalous details, true or not. It's a page turner, but it leaves one with the impression that most of our baseball "heros" are horribly humanly flawed. Drug pushers like Jose should serve time in prison for his crimes. There should also be established a "Jose Conseco Hall of Shame", with his face on the door mats, toilet seats and urinals. That lie about trying to clean up baseball is just another guilt dodge. Still it was captivating reading to see how many lives he has ruined.
   -- Donald C.

5 comments about The 33-Year-Old Rookie: How I Finally Made it to the Big Leagues After Eleven Years in the Minors.

1. Philadelphia Phillies catcher Chris Coste has written an inspirational account about what it takes to get to the major leagues. Coste, a backup catcher, shares the heartaches, self-doubts and physical injuries he had to endure during his 11 years in the minors. He gives the reader an interesting look at life in the minors and with independent teams. Although Coste was determined to make it to the majors, there are hundreds of others who are just as talented and as determined who don't achieve their dreams.
   
   Coste's book is refreshing in that he's a player who appreciates everything he receives as a major leaguer. He vows not to complain about how much taxes he pays on his major league minimum salary of $370,000. He's a down-to-earth guy who hasn't been jaded by the major league life, and hopefully will never succumb to the pitfalls.
   
   You can't help but to root for Coste and cheer for him when he does well in the book. Any one who reads this book will be a Chris Coste fan. The book is thin at 196 pages and easy to read. While adults will enjoy it, I believe younger readers who don't know much about what it takes to get to the majors will also find it interesting and enjoyable.



2. This is a wonderfully entertaining book. It is great to read about people like Chris who work hard trying to reach their goal, and then to actually make it. Well-written. This book, along with "Working at the Ballpark" by Tom Jones, and "We Would have Played for Nothing" by Fay Vincent, are the top baseball books of the year because they provide truthful and poignant stories of what it's truly like to work in major league baseball.



3. I am currently still reading the book, but so far it is very good. I am a true Chris Coste fan and can now appreciate his story.



4. every body should read this book about life about never giving up in life in hard time and good time



5. Very well written, loved the beginning dream sequence, story of grit and determination.
   
   I would recommend it to any baseball fan - or anyone else who needs a review lesson in "how to catch your dream".