Baseball Lives: Men and Women of the Game Talk About Their Jobs, Their Lives, and the National Pastime.

by Mike Bryan

“Like a baseball equivalent of Chicago’s Studs Terkel, [Mike] Bryan allowed those intimately involved in the game on various levels to tell their own stories.”— Chicago Sun-Times
 
A sport, a career, a business, a passion—it’s all baseball, and it’s all in Baseball Lives, the ultimate insider’s account of the national pastime. Every aspect of the game comes alive as fifty-four people, some celebrated, some unknown, talk about the workaday world of the ultimate American sport. From the minors to the majors, from spring training to the world series, Baseball Lives takes a long fly look at the game as you’ve never seen it before.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, Biography

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Leonard · Rating 4 out of 5]

An old book, (1989) which gives old timers like me a chance to compare the old guys to the way things are done now. The Diamondback, Rockies, Rays & Marlins weren't even around yet. I like the perspective that he interviewed people that are not players, some were at onetime, but most were either dreamers or otherwise non players. A fun read.

[vard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I'm in it. But I would think it was a great book anyway.

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed playing baseball as a kid, but knew I wouldn't become a pro player. I found I enjoyed watching the minors and the majors, and thought, hey, instead of being a professional player, since that wasn't in the cards, could I work elsewhere in baseball? I found this book was quite interesting in diving into the other jobs out there that kept the work in the game. I appreciated that you got introduced to a number of very different people, in many different jobs. I don't think I'll ever make it in the game, but I think I would have enjoyed working with some of these folks.

[Daniel Suhajda · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me several years to finally finish. Initially I didn’t appreciate its charm or what it had to offer because I was only interested in reading about the stars. Now at almost 50 I appreciate the little things more. The last chapter about a child card collector could have been me.

[Michael Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the very best books about baseball I've ever read....