The Dad Report

May 4, 2015
Having already explored the parent-child sports dynamic in Driven: Teen Phenoms, Mad Parents, Swing Science and the Future of Golf, Cook turns his attention closer to home as he shares the story of his father, Art, and how baseball lived at the center of their relationship. By juxtaposing his father's days as a high school star, minor leaguer, coach, and gambler/bookie with the up-and-down tales of major league fathers and sons like the Boones, Griffeys, Bells, and Davises (as well as Babe Ruth and his daughter), Cook creates a narrative that shows how sports can connect one generation to the next. What makes Cook special as a sportswriter is that he is able to balance the joy and pain of being a fan with the investigative and analytical skill of a professional journalistâwhich is especially important when featuring a polarizing figure like Barry Bonds, or when his own son's baseball field is destroyed on 9/11. The book's title comes from the nightly phone calls father and son shared discussing their fantasy baseball teams (and nothing else). Cook's prose has the perfect conversational style for combining baseball's childlike dreams and grown-up realities into a satisfying narrative.

April 15, 2015

Drawing on years of extensive conversations with Major League ballplayers as a sportswriter, Cook (Flip; Kitty Genovese) shares some of the stories he has collected about the relationships between fathers and their children in baseball families. They include the first three-generation big-league family (the Boones), the adopted daughter of Babe Ruth (Julia Ruth Stevens), Michael Jordan's attempt at baseball, and accounts of the Bonds, Davis, and Griffey families, among others. Cook does a commendable job chronicling in an honest fashion, with struggles and difficulties included. What makes the book truly enjoyable is the way in which the author weaves his own family story into the narrative, beginning with a home run his dad slugged off him at age 12 in a father-son match, and ending with a game of catch between Cook and his son. Although the author's dad never made it beyond the minor leagues, it is his experience that frames all of the others and helps bridge the potential disconnect between big league families and ordinary folks playing in their backyards. VERDICT This absorbing book will be of interest to all baseball fans, especially those who can draw upon their own personal family memories.--Brian Sullivan, Alfred Univ. Lib., NY

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.