Are We Winning?
Fathers and Sons in the New Golden Age of Baseball
گزارش تخلف
کتاب های مرتبط
- اطلاعات
- نقد و بررسی
- دیدگاه کاربران
نقد و بررسی
March 22, 2010
A day at the ball park prompts a meditation on family ties in this loose-limbed, beguiling memoir. Sports journalist Leitch (God Save the Fan
) recounts a 2008 game at Wrigley Field at which he and his father watched their beloved St. Louis Cardinals lose to the Chicago Cubs, who were on the brink of clinching the divisional title. His sprightly color commentary covers the bases with adroitly analyzed play-by-play, awed encomiums to Cards slugger Albert Pujols (“an alien using superior technology to mock us feeble humans”), and rabid incitements against the hated Cubs. As in any ball game, there's plenty of downtime for arcane statistics, ruminations on drug scandals—who cares, Leitch asks, as long as steroids mean more homers?—and commercial interruptions (“I'm a subscriber to the MLB At Bat application, which allows you access to... real-time score updates with full box scores and stats”). Most of all, Leitch delivers an homage to his dad, a laconic stalwart brimming with manly truths—some imparted while driving a pickup with an open container—that sports bring to the surface. The result is a jaunty, heartfelt, Father's Day–ready celebration of baseball as the ultimate bonding rite. Photos.
February 1, 2010
"New York" magazine sports columnist Leitch's reference to "fathers and sons" in the "new Golden Age" sounds more like a holdover from baseball's original golden age over 50 years ago, notwithstanding that Leitch is in his thirties. He is referring both to his own father and to his intention to father a son for future emotional connection through baseball. Interweaving his coming-of-age memories with stories of attending a 2008 Cubs-Cardinals game with his father and a pal, he writes of how a shared love of the Cardinalsand baseball generallybecame "the one language" through which these Midwestern males could share deep feelings. This memoir has all the salty language of today and is imbued with Leitch's enthusiasm for baseball's personalities and its mysterious complexity. Sure to be loved by many of today's baseball fans and memoir readers, all the more so if they love the Cardinals.
Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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