The outspoken major league manager discusses his abrupt dismissal from the Cincinnati Reds in the 1970s, the managers he admires and the players he respects, and his absence from the early 1989 season
I love Sparky. And he loves baseball and has a mancrush in Pete Rose. But he needed someone to guide him through the process of writing a book.
As much as I enjoyed all the stories he told, he did repeat himself an awful lot, contradicted himself a bit, and the book didn't have an easy flow to it, it just jumped all over the place.
My favorite chapters were about his All Star team picks, baseball legends, and his take on every major league ballpark.
Overall, it felt like someone's papaw telling old stories with a random stream of thought.
I really wanted to like this book because everything I've heard about Sparky makes me like him, and this book did still add to that. But the book was difficult. He contradicted himself, talked in circles, jumped around, repeated himself both within paragraphs and between chapters. The stories of his life are fascinating, but this book didn't really hold my attention.