Home Game: Big-League Stories from My Life in Baseball's First Family

by Bret Boone, Kevin Cook

From the first third-generation player in Major League history, a sometimes moving, always candid inside look at his family’s seventy years in baseball   A five-foot-ten fireball questioned by scouts because of his small stature, supposed lack of power, and cocky attitude, Bret Boone didn’t care about family legacy as he fought his way to the Major Leagues in 1992; he wanted to make his own way. He did just that, building a career that featured three All-Star appearances, four Gold Gloves, a bout with alcohol­ism, and the mixed blessing of being traded three times. But now that he’s coaching minor leaguers half his age—and his fifteen-year-old son has the potential to be the first fourth-generation Major Leaguer—Bret has a new perspective on his remarkable family, with its ten All-Star appearances, 634 home runs, 3,139 RBIs, and countless kitchen-table debates about the game’s great­est players. For the first time, he’s ready to share his adventures as part of the sport’s First Family.   Infused with Bret’s candor and deep love of the game, Home Game traces baseball’s evolution—on the field and behind the scenes—from his grandfa­ther Ray’s era in the 1950s to his father Bob’s in the ’70s and ’80s to the one he shared with his brother Aaron in the ’90s and 2000s—sometimes called the PED era—when players made millions, dined on lobster in the clubhouse, and, in some cases, indulged in performance-enhancing drugs. Along the way, his book also touches on Boone family lore, from Ray playing with his hero Ted Williams and Bob winning a World Series with the 1980 Phillies to Bret’s flop in a nationally televised home-run derby and Aaron’s historic home run in the 2003 playoffs.   Blending nostalgia, close analysis of the game, insight into baseball’s un­written codes, and controversial thoughts on its future as a sport and a busi­ness, Bret Boone offers a one-of-a-kind look at the national pastime—from the colorful, quotable scion of a family whose business is baseball.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Memoir, Nonfiction

282 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 10, 2016

Reviews

[Brina]

There are few images as American as a kid playing a game of catch with their father in the backyard. Although baseball has lost its complete hold as America’s game in recent years, the pastime is passed down through generations with fathers teaching and telling stories about the game to their children. The Boone family can take this iconic image one step further: they are the first family to field three generations of ball players in the major leagues, with a fourth generation perhaps joining them in the years to come. Bret Boone, he of the third generations of ball playing Boones, has penned this account of what it is like to grow up in a family of baseball royalty. Collaborating with gifted baseball storyteller Kevin Cook, Home Game ended up being an uplifting, fun baseball read.

As patriarch Ray Boone claims, the family is descended from pioneer Daniel Boone. Ray, known here as Gramps, attended the same San Diego high school as Ted Williams and followed him to the big leagues a few years later. He had the good fortune to play for the 1948 Cleveland Indians, the last Indian team to win the World Series. Although a stellar shortstop and one time All Star, Ray’s knees gave out, and he was out of the big leagues by the age of thirty. Yet, Ray Boone was married to the game of baseball, and he stayed active in the game for the rest of his life as one of the best scouts in the business, having a keen eye for talent that would comprise future generations of ball players. He is best known for signing ace pitcher Curt Schilling, yet nothing gave Ray more pride than seeing his son Bob follow him into the big leagues.

Bob Boone was a catcher primarily for the Phillies and Angels for nineteen years. The anchor of many quality teams, Bob Boone won a World Series ring with the 1980 Philadelphia Phillies team full of future Hall of Fame talent including Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton. Bob Boone called a quality game behind the plate and won nine gold gloves and followed his father to the All Star game, becoming the first father and son pair to do so. Bret Boone and brothers Aaron, now the Yankees manager, and Matt, grew up in a home where the Phillies’ Veterans Stadium was their personal playground. They received hitting tips from Pete Rose and were privileged to take fielding practice on the field. If they were unable to attend a game, their primary babysitter was their Gramps, Ray. It is little wonder that the Boone boys desired to follow their grandfather and father into the family business. Even though it is a long shot for anyone to make the major leagues, the third generation ball playing Boones had two generations of ball playing pedigree on their side. Being around the game for their entire childhood, it is little wonder that all the Boones wanted was to play baseball.

After attending the University of Southern California, Bret Boone was originally drafted by the Mariners and Aaron by the Reds four years later. Younger brother Matt played in the Tigers minor league system for a number of years and could have been the most talented of the three before back problems forced him to hang up his spikes. Both Bret and Aaron played for a number of quality teams in their careers and were teammates on the Reds in 1997-98 when their father Bob was the team’s bench coach. Later, they both made the 2001 All Star team, making the Boones the first three generation All Star Family. Ray Boone was able to attend that special week, reminding all of his old ball playing friends that he had two grandsons playing in the game. All quality baseball players, the Boones, along with the three generation family Bell family, who Bret acknowledges here, are baseball’s dynasties.

Today Aaron Boone is the manager of the Yankees and Bret manages in the Oakland A’s organization with a dream of making it to the big leagues. Both Bret and Aaron have sons who want to go into the family business as does current Reds manager David Bell, with both families vying to become the first fourth generation major league family. This year’s major league draft featured a number of sons of former major leaguers. Besides quality genetics, these young men grew up watching their fathers play in major league stadiums and got free tips from their teammates. It is little wonder to me that families like the Boones are privileged to field more than one generation of ball players. Yet, three generations of All Stars, that is unique to the Boones, who have been in the majors for more than seventy years and have more baseball stories than most of us could dream about. The Boones are indeed baseball royalty.

4 stars

[Mimi]

Boone was a Mariner, so I was familiar with his career, and of course I'm familiar with his brother as well. I hadn't realized that he was a third-generation major league player, and I enjoyed that aspect of his story. Though cocky, opinionated, and a terrible writer, there was enough of the inside baseball scoop to make it an interesting and quick read.

[Rachel]

It was pretty interesting. I was a huge fan of Bret Boone when I was younger so I liked reading this. It brought back some good memories such as getting a foul ball from him when I was a kid.

[Lance]

Bret Boone made history when he was called up to the Major Leagues by the Seattle Mariners in the 1992 season. His grandfather Ray Boone and his father Bob Boone also played in the Major Leagues, so his call-up made the Boones the first family to have three generations of players in the Major Leagues. Bret shares his stories of his trip through the major leagues, some family memories and his life after playing baseball in this memoir.

It reads much like a typical sports memoir with early childhood memories, the adventures of high school, college and minor league baseball on the way to the majors, insight into the life of a major league player and what he has done after he had to make the painful decision that he could no longer play the game. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if a reader is looking to find out more information on this family that has produced three generations of big leaguers, it doesn’t contain a lot of stories on Ray or Bob Boone. There are a few, mainly what was passed down to Bret, but from the title, one might expect more about father and grandfather.

Instead, there is a lot of information about Bret that he shares. The style of writing is also typical of a sports memoir, complete with jock talk, some locker room hijinks and a lot of the confidence that Bret had in his quest to make it to the major leagues. This isn’t to say that there is not much information on the family – in fact, one of my favorite lines comes when his younger brother Aaron is also called up to the majors, saying that in June 1997, “…the Reds promoted a skinny punk of a backup infielder, Aaron Boone, from Triple A to the majors.” Sounds like some loving brotherly talk.

The book also sheds some insight from Bret Boone’s point of view about the rising use of statistical analysis in the game, performance enhancing drugs, the 1994 strike that wiped out that year’s World Series (Bret was very active in the player’s union) and some other historical moments. One of the better baseball chapters was when he recalled the 2001 season for the Seattle Mariners. He was a member of that team who set the current record for most wins during the regular season at 116.

Overall, this is a fun book to read and I admit I did try to find a reason not to enjoy it when I realized that it would be mostly about Bret and not very much about his father and grandfather. Nonetheless, I did finish it and I am glad I did. Recommended for readers who enjoy sports memoirs.

I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Critterbee❇]

This is the inside story of a life lived in baseball. from the self-admitted hotheaded, third generation Major League Baseball player, Bret Boone.

He talks about his grandfather, Ray Boone, his father Bob (I have a few of his old baseball cards!) his brother Aaron, and his 15 year old son, Jacob, and all of their relationships with baseball.

Most of the book consists of Bret's words running right at you, without subtlety, much the same as how he played the game. He has very strong opinions, which can at times be irritating. For example, one snippet I do disagree with is "If the stars of grandpa's era played today, they would be average." Grandpa being Ray Boone, who played 1948-1960.

Bret writes about what he knows, in his forthright manner. I find this worth reading, however I needed some breaks from the somewhat brash nature of the book.

Baseball fans will enjoy this unique perspective on baseball.

**eARC Netgalley**

[Nancy]

This kind of sports memoir is not my typical reading material. But my son is a budding baseball star and we are Mariners fans, so I read this to get a glimpse of the kind of world he may be getting into. In that, it satisfied. We remember the years of Boonie playing for the M's with fondness and his tale of the kind of hard work, grit, and yes, self-confidence, that it took to get him to the top was more interesting and educational than I had expected.

[Dave Cottenie]

“Home Game” definitely surpassed expectations. Focusing on the life of Bret Boone, it offered an atypical sports biography perspective in that he was the first third generation player in Major League Baseball. “Home Game” never gets too stuck on the details of the seasons which tend to have sports biographies drag on. The writing style was such that the read was super fast and very easy going. Some questions remain as to if Boone took steroids, and his responses to those questions remain a bit unsatisfactory and his struggles with alcohol are seemingly compartmentalized to one chapter rather than being woven throughout. Overall, a very enjoyable read and on the surprising side.

[Paul Ogden]

Good not great. I am a baseball fan,so I couldn't help but find the book interesting. But I think there was a lack of objectivity in its writing. Boone was completely dismissive of steroid use and talked about how bad salary caps are. Back in the real world, steroid use really hurt the game of baseball and not having a salary cap has hurt the competitiveness of MLB compared to other sports.

[Eóin Ó Fuartháin]

Not a terrible read. What I found difficult is that I couldn't relate to his story. He comes across as the product of someone who has lived with a generous amount of privilege. If you're a fan of the Boone legacy you'll find this to be a good read.

[Rick]

An enjoyable tale of baseball life and family life of the Boone family.

[Larry Hostetler]

Good book, especially to finish reading on Father's Day. Even though I won it in a Goodreads giveaway it was an enjoyable read that (obviously) didn't take long to get through. It is told in a conversational tone without a great deal of the kind of content that makes for reading twice to understand and takes longer to wade through. Plenty of stories about the many baseball greats, including my favorite, Pete Rose (whose son Petey and Bret were good friends from Pete's and Bob's days on the Phillies).

As a Cincinnati Reds fan I knew of Bret Boone (and his father Bob, his grandfather Ray, and his brother Aaron, all Major-Leaguers and all but Ray having an association with Cincinnati.)

I wasn't aware of Bret's reputation for being difficult, although his intensity as a player was noticeable to any fan paying attention. What I enjoyed about the book was learning more about the family and particularly his insights into baseball. I agreed with most everything he said about the way the game is played and administered, so perhaps that had some bearing.

I imagine there were still things that could not be said, or needed to be softened, since Bret is part of the Oakland organization and surely wants to stay in the game. But there is plenty of direct and honest commentary, as well as what I have found unique in this book. For instance, I learned about the relationship of length and weight of bats as well as the nature of ash versus maple and wood versus aluminum. I also learned about the kind of spirit in the clubhouse and on the diamond that hasn't been as evident in other baseball books I've read. Bret's insight into the art of hitting is as informative as was Jamie Moyer's into pitching (the last baseball book I read; Moyer was a teammate of Bret's in Seattle.)

The book spans and has insight not just into Bret's career but also into the baseball of his father's and grandfather's era. For that reason it is well worth the reading. Again I am hampered by having to give it a rating of either four or five stars. It's close to a 5 but not perfect. I noticed two typos in the last chapter, and some of the content - particularly about live after his playing days - seemed less engaging and more strained as if trying to finish the book and provide sufficient content. I would give it 4 1/2 stars, though, if I could.

[Lane]

a good baseball biography. Many about Bret but some about his dad, grandfather and brother who all played in the majors. I would have enjoyed more about the others but it is mainly Bret's story. He writes like he played, in your face and I am right. There is some interesting ideas about major leagues baseball and the climb to succeed but I expected more.
a quick easy read. for a sports biography, very few errors in facts but maybe that is because Bret knows what he is discussing.

[Curtis Edmonds]

Bret Boone makes a lot of promises in the early chapters of HOME GAME, and he doesn’t fulfill many of them. Boone says that the book will focus on “inside baseball,” the game within the game, and provide the reader with unexpected insights about the national pastime. But it’s also billed as a book of stories, and there are a lot more stories than anything else.

Read the full review at Bookreporter.com - http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/h...

[Ron]

One of the better baseball auto-bio's I've read in a long time.

Three Generations of Boones played Major League baseball and the 3rd Generation had two of them. All decent players with good skills and baseball smarts. While this is Bret's story, he does share the pages with his brother, dad and grandfather.

It is hard to talk more without giving spoilers, but if you like baseball, this is the book to read.

[Maurice Jr.]

Great read! As one who grew up in the '70's watching the Phillies play, I enjoyed this inside look at those Phillies through the eyes of Bret, a boy tagging along with his dad Bob. And, as one who saw Bret play throughout his career, I enjoyed his behind the scenes look at the quest to reach the big leagues and stay there. Any baseball fan will enjoy this.

[Brian]

Bret Boone is not that likeable, but I found his book to be a quick, easy, informative and pleasurable read. It was interesting learning about the Boone baseball family, but I thought the scarcity of passages about this wife and mother, and how professional baseball affected them was unfortunate.

[Jeff Valluzzi]

Pretty standard sports "auto"biography. Nothing too interesting here. Bret Boone is a bit of a strange character, and this book just solidifed that. Still fun to get a brief, surface-level look inside the Mariner's best season of all time.