The Baseball Whisperer

May 23, 2016
In a remarkable tribute to an exceptional coach with a special summer baseball program in a small town in Iowa, Tackett, an editor in the Washington, D.C., bureau of the New York Times, shares the journey of Merl Eberly, a “baseball whisperer” who from 1961 to 1997 nurtured young hopefuls dreaming of being big-league players. Eberly, considered the patron saint of second chances and lost causes, had a troubled past but steadied his life with a solid marriage and a leadership of his Clarinda A’s baseball team, which stressed discipline and team play. Tackett addresses the drawing power of Eberly, who coached the team for over four decades, also serving as its general manager under his death in June 2011, attracting many players nationally, including Hall of Famer shortstop Ozzie Smith, Philadelphia star Von Hayes, and pitching standout Buddy Black, who became a San Diego Padres manager. One of Eberly’s teammates says he loved the sport and Clarinda, revitalizing the youngsters to “learn so much more than the game of baseball.” Highlighting the late coach’s themes of using baseball as a means of transforming boys into men with values and standards, Tackett’s story touts a man from small-town America who was a major influence on our national pastime. Agent: David Black, David Black Agency .

May 1, 2016

Tackett, an editor at the New York Times, came across this genial story when his college-age son played summer baseball for the Clarinda A's in 2010. Since the 1960s, the small Iowa town has supported an amateur summer baseball team that was run by Merl Eberly and his wife, Pat, until his death in 2011. Eberly, who never took a salary from the team, is the main focus of the book, but the warm-hearted Clarinda community plays a large role as well, in that each player worked for a neighborhood business and stayed with a local family while playing for the A's. Over three-dozen future major leaguers played on the A's under Eberly, yet the manager is remembered here for his positive impact on countless youth to set priorities that extoll faith, family, and friends above all else. The most compelling tales involve the many players who trained under Merl and remained in contact with him until his passing, including Ozzie Smith, Von Hayes, Bud Black, and Chuck Knoblach. Smith even commissioned a bust of Eberly that was installed posthumously in front of the organization's ballpark. The team today is coached by of one of Eberly's sons. VERDICT A charming book about the affirmative side of sports.--John Maxymuk, Rutgers Univ. Lib., Camden, NJ

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2016
Before Ozzie Smith ever heard the roar of excited Cardinal fans, he learned to listen carefully to the soft-spoken but demanding coach of an obscure semipro team playing ball among the cornfields surrounding Clarinda, Iowa. In chronicling the life of that coachone Merl EberlyTackett reminds readers of just how close baseball lies to the nation's heart. This deeply engrossing narrative follows a boy born in poverty into an aimless adolescence and through a remarkable transformation effected by a war-hero high-school coach who recognized his potential to become a power-hitting catcher. Though Eberly, who died in 2011, falls just short in his subsequent effort to make the major leagues, Tackett illuminates the attributes that make a baseballer not quite good enough to play in the majors but more than good enough to coach a small-town summer-league team, the Clarinda A's, that soon attracts attention of baseball insiders as the ideal place for young players needing extra help to prime themselves for Division I college ranks or even the major leagues. Joining Smith in lauding Eberly as a formative influence, not only in sports but also in life, are dozens of former and current major leaguers, including Von Hayes, Jamey Carroll, and Chuck Knoblauch. One of baseball's most humanizing backstories.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)