Nine Innings: The Anatomy of a Baseball Game

by Daniel Okrent

You'll never watch baseball the same way again. A timeless baseball classic and a must read for any fan worthy of the name, Nine Innings dissects a single baseball game played in June 1982 -- inning by inning, play by play. Daniel Okrent, a seasoned writer and lifelong fan, chose as his subject a Milwaukee BrewersBaltimore Orioles matchup, though it could have been any game, because, as Okrent reveals, the essence of baseball, no matter where or when it's played, has been and will always be the same. In this particular moment of baseball history you will discover myriad aspects of the sport that are crucial to its nature but so often invisible to the fans -- the hidden language of catchers' signals, the physiology of pitching, the balance sheet of a club owner, the gait of a player stepping up to the plate. With the purity of heart and unwavering attention to detail that characterize our national pastime, Okrent goes straight to the core of the world's greatest game. You'll never watch baseball the same way again.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, History

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Daniel Okrent's 40-year career has encompassed nearly every form of mass media. In book publishing, he was an editor at Knopf, Viking, and Harcourt. In magazines, he founded the award-winning New England Monthly and was chief editor of the monthly Life. In newspapers, he was the first public editor of the New York Times. On television, he has appeared as an expert commentator on many network shows, and talked more than any other talking head in Ken Burns's Baseball. In film, he was featured in the documentaries Wordplay and Silly Little Game, appeared in a speaking role in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown, and had what he calls "a mumbling role" in Lasse Hallstrom's The Hoax. Online, he headed Time Inc.'s internet efforts in the late 1990's, and has recently given in to the dubious charms of Facebook.

But all that, he says, was either preparation for (or distraction from) what he most wanted to do: write books. Beginning with Nine Innings in 1985, and proceeding through the 2010 publication of Last Call, Okrent has been (wrote novelist Kevin Baker in Publishers Weekly) "one of our most interesting and eclectic writers of nonfiction over the past 25 years." In addition to the books featured on this site, he was also co-author with Steve Wulf of Baseball Anecdotes (Oxford University Press, 1987), and author of The Way We Were: New England Then, New England Now (Grove Weidenfeld, 1989), currently out-of-print.

Reviews

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a MAJOR LEAGUE book in my baseball library.
Availability. Paperback, E-Book; hardcover used.
Type. THE GAME
Use. READ; [EH perhaps]
_explanation_

The format of this book is that a more or less "average" game, in early June of 1982, between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Baltimore Orioles, is described in pitch by pitch detail. Sounds boring, but Okrent digresses on almost every page to bring background information to the fore, dealing with baseball strategy, the personalities and biographies of the players, managers, and front office men involved, and the history of the game. I did have a problem with these constant, and sometimes lengthy, digressions in the early going, since for me they made it a little hard to keep track of what was actually going on in the game. But that really isn't an issue, since the detailed description of the game is only a small part of what the book is about.

A very enjoyable and informative baseball read. I especially liked the section in which Okrent described the machinations which took place at the dawn of the free-agent era, which had only occurred about five years before the game described. (The 30th anniversary of that game, which took place on June 10, 1982, is less than a month in the future, as I write!) It's hard to imagine now, but at that time the major league minimum salary was just $34,000. That's not much more than I was making in those days as a programmer, certainly less than two times as much. The increase in player salaries had been swift, however. Between 1977 and 1982 the Brewers' average salary had escalated from $54,435 per player to more than $330,000!

Other topics which were equally fascinating included the portrait of Bud Selig which emerges, and the account of the way in which a major trade develops at a winter meeting.

Specifically, the trade described occurred on December 12 of 1980, when Milwaukee received from Whitey Herzog's Cardinals Ted Simmons, Pete Vukovich and Rollie Fingers in exchange for Sixto Lezcano, David Green, Larry Sorenson and Dave LaPoint. The key player in the trade from Milwaukee's point of view was Fingers, since Harry Dalton, their GM, had concluded that they needed an ace closer as the last piece of a pennant-contending team. Herzog apparently wanted David Green more than anyone else in the trade, and insisted Green be included or no deal. I must admit that 30 years later I didn't even remember David Green's name, but at that time he was a young player from Nicaragua in the Brewer's farm system, who the scout that had discovered him, Ray Poitevint, insisted was the most talented prospect he had ever seen in his 22 years of scouting. Apparently Herzog and the Cardinals agreed, and Harry Dalton and his scouts agonized over giving him away.

Turns out that David Green was not the second coming of Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, or any other Hall-of-Fame quality player. He did break in with the Cards for 21 games the next season, '81, at the age of 20, which is certainly a good sign. In '82 he played in 76 games, then became a regular in '83. But after two decent seasons the Cards traded him to the Giants in February '85, along with three other players, to acquire Jack Clark. He played one season for the Giants at first base (replacing Clark), then faded away. According to The Ballplayers,

Personal problems, including fear for his family in strife-torn Nicaragua, led to his decline. After flings in the Mexican and Japanese leagues, a glimmer of his potential shone again in September 1987. The Cardinals recalled him during their successful pennant drive to substitue for the injured Clark, and Green hit .267 and slugged .500 in limited action.

This book should provide a very pleasurable and informative read to any baseball fan who would like to dip into the state of the game three decades ago. There were a couple potential digressions that were not made in the book, that I would have liked to see: more information about umpires, and also about the official scoring of baseball. Regarding the latter, I would have liked to have seen comments on why scorers seem so averse to call errors, rather than give hits, on close plays. But maybe that is a more recent development, I don't know.

_to TOP TEN_

_to next MAJOR LEAGUE_



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[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okrent uses a game played in Milwaukee on June 10, 1982, as scaffolding for his analyses on baseball. I was living in Milwaukee then, a fan of the Brewers since being taken to my first game in County Stadium three seasons before with a university orientation group. Because I was already familiar with the ‘82 Brewers, I had even more interest in this fascinating account than I might have had otherwise.

I’m sure I didn’t attend this particular day game, on a Thursday; but I’m also sure that after walking home from work, my shift ending at 1 P.M., I turned on the radio to listen to the Uecker broadcast. He’s in the book too, as well as a description of how broadcasting rights worked then for a smaller market. That day I was almost exactly two months away from giving birth to my first child. The game itself likely made me nervous as it continued into later innings, and it was interesting to read of why it didn’t make the Brewers feel the same.

Okrent has an easygoing style, digressing smoothly and seamlessly as he relates what happens, or has happened, “behind the scenes.” I only lost a bit of interest during the detailed machinations of the winter meetings, but that’s a quibble. I was intrigued by Okrent’s theory of a role of the manager being the repository of players’ doubts, so those players can play freely.

The epilogue wraps up the rest of the 1982 season for the Brewers. Even with their Game 7-World Series loss, it’s a season I enjoyed immensely and remember fondly. However, the epilogue ends on a depressing note, describing the Brewers’ dismal 1984 season. I was back in New Orleans and not as invested, only able to follow them through the newspaper. I was also very busy, as I’d had my second child a month before 1984’s Opening Day. (Not) to make excuses, but in ‘84 Yount was having back problems and Molitor, injured at the start, was out for the whole season. Though recognizing their talent and potential, this book, published in 1985, doesn’t know how illustrious their careers would become.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

OKRENT ON BASEBALL

The author dissects a game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Baltimore Orioles played on June 10th, 1982 - this book was originally published in 1985. This may sound a tad boring - it wasn't a classic or even an especially memorable game. But Daniel Okrent, while keeping tabs on what transpired on the baseball diamond that day, with a lot of familiar names - the Ripkens, Earl Weaver, Robin Yount, Paul Molitor and Bud Selig - weaves a tale of not just that day's game but of baseball itself.

The author digresses, reminisces, pontificates, explains, opines and analyzes America's favorite past-time, inside and outside the ball-park. He supplies the reader with baseball history, legend and anecdotes and the story is anything but boring. This is a true baseball fan's book for true baseball fans.

[James Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a baseball fan you'll find lots of fun in Nine Innings. It's a wonderful read embracing "the living, breathing, tragic and joyous thing" that is baseball while concentrating on a single game between the visiting Baltimore Orioles and the Milwaukee Brewers on the afternoon of June 10, 1982. More than a close analysis of that particular game, Okrent's book is an analysis of baseball in the late 20th century and an analysis of the Brewers. Though his focus is on a single moment in the long flow of baseball time, he demonstrates the universality of the game and how it's played.

The actual play by play on June 10 is spread across 266 pages and is inserted inning by inning between many pages of digression and anecdote. June 10 in Milwaukee is like an omphalos from which spokes radiate to connect all the dots and moving parts of baseball so that the single game stands for every game. A play leads to a digression about a similar play or player which, in turn, triggers another digression. Baseball administration, especially of the Brewers organization, is a major topic. This includes a long description of the annual winter meetings and a history of the Baseball Commissioner's office, but Okrent also details for the reader such subjects as labyrinthine trading discussions, different glove types, what happens in a pitcher's arm as he's warming up, how lineups are determined, how signs are used, and the physics of the slider.

Through it all Okrent takes care to point out the game is played by individuals, all of whom have strengths and weaknesses of character both on and off the field. These individuals determine the outcome of this and every game. Anecdotal material, particularly, allows us to view the players as personalities rather than simply the stats and performance we see on TV and at the park. They're freed from the abstract to become 3-dimensional, human, triumphant and tragic.

The story of the June 10 game itself becomes a pleasure. Aware of Philip Lopate's judgment that one of baseball's primary attributes is its ability to create narrative, a drama in which we follow players as characters and become involved in their fates, that each season and game and each at-bat is a story, I didn't allow myself to look ahead. The slow, deliberate progress of the game to its eventual outcome is part of the fun.

The end of the game is followed by an "Epilogue" detailing some of the subsequent events of the 1982 season. We learn what happened to some of the key players in later years as well as the successes and failures of the two teams. My edition includes an "Afterword" by Okrent written in January 2000. In it he writes about the many changes to baseball since he wrote about the Baltimore-Milwaukee game. He's critical of players being more rude, owners being more corporate-minded, and about the corrupting influence of bigger and bigger money. But he continues to love the game. It's such fine writing about baseball which allows our love for it to keep expanding. Having finally come to this book after so many years, it joins George Will's Men at Work and Jim Bouton's Ball Four and the baseball writings of A. Bartlett Giamatti on my shelf as an essential work on the game.

[Tom Gase · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had been eyeing this book for years, and finally picked up this book that takes you inside a good afternoon game in 1982 between the eventual AL champions Milwaukee Brewers and the 1983 World Champion Baltimore Orioles.

I liked this idea a whole lot. This was a game played in Milwaukee in JUNE of that year. Where most books these days on baseball take us inning-by-inning of a World Series game or no-hitter, this was just a regular game in a pennant race, which as a fan, is what I am more likely to see if I go to a ballgame.

Daniel Okrent, who is featured in Ken Burns baseball documentary a lot, does a good job writing this book. Although the book does kind of go all over the place, it does do a good job of sticking to the subject matter of the hitter or the pitcher most of the time. The only time this book suffers in my mind is when it goes away from the game to talk about owning teams with Bud Selig, or with the start of free agency with Marvin Miller. Frankly, I don't care about that stuff, and I don't like it when the business side is included too much in baseball books, but as a reporter I guess I realize it's necessary at times.

This book has stories of a whole bunch of good players such as Cal Ripken, Eddie Murray, Paul Molitor, Robin Yount, Rollie Fingers. It also has some stories on lesser-known players such as John Lowenstein, Storm Davis, Jim Gatner, Gormon Thomas, Ben Oligive, Charlie Moore, Rick Dempsey, Bob McClure, Jim Slaton, Ken Singelton and Al Bumbry. Just shy of the 30th anniversary of this good game, this was a good read. A plus in the book I thought was interesting was this whole book describes what goes on in an average baseball game for about 250 pages (would have been better if it was closer to 215) but on the last page it has a copy of the New York Times brief on the game that is only 5 paragraphs or something. So it really goes to show what goes on in a reporters head as he takes all this information he saw while watching a good game that could be written into a 260 pages book, and instead makes it a five paragraph little brief. Good stuff. I recommend for any baseball fan, basically a must-read for any Baltimore Oriole or Milwaukee Brewer fan.

[David Longo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read a lot of baseball books and Daniel Okrent ' s "Nine Innings: The Anatomy of a Baseball Game" is the most original and clever of them all, if not the best. An otherwise mundane game in the middle of June 1982 between the Baltimore Orioles and the Milwaukee Brewers hardly seems like cause for a book, even if these were very good teams with a number of future Hall of Famers connected to each. Yet the mundane is what makes "Nine Innings" so engrossing. As an example, as Paul Molitor steps in to bat at one point, a player I have long admired and thought I knew a lot about, Okrent takes me to places I have never been before. While awaiting, say, a 2-2 pitch, the reader is invited on a ride that turns into how highly touted a youngster Molitor was, what position he best excelled at, why the Brewers moved him to third base, the animosity switching his position caused in the clubhouse, the delicate balance of an entire make-or-break transition this would become, Molitor's relationship with fellow great Robin Yount, Yount's own amazing baseball ride, and so much more. It's basically a speedy biography...and then the pitch.

What Okrent does with Molitor, that is, the separate tales he interweaves, he does throughout with dozens of people, and not just star players like Eddie Murray, Rollie Fingers, Ted Simmons and the aforementioned Yount. You'll learn about the minor leagues, in-game strategies, Cal Ripken before he was the Cal Ripken of yore, scouting, labor issues, things that happened in the game in the 1950s, Ben Oglivie 's bilingualism and ridiculous IQ, fragile Jim Palmer ' s Jockey waistband size and his even more fragile, bizarre relationship with his nutty manager, Earl Weaver, and so much more. In a word, wow! For me, "Nine Innings" was great even if for only going back to the days of my youth. What I got in addition was learning intimate stories about ballplayers known and unknown, and shedding a whole new light on what otherwise were faces on baseball cards. Simply stated, I could not put this book down and I read it in two days. Baseball by a historian, which Okrent is, who loves baseball more than history---what could be better?

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

When a pitcher throws a pitch, at least 8 things are happening at the same time - even if we are not consciously aware of them.
The author used a June 10, 1982 game between the Orioles and Brewers. This book is a detailed examination of the components of a typical baseball game.
I really liked the vivid description of each play. I got a really good mental picture of the ball spinning towards the hitter, who is is flexing his bat preparing to unleash his own kinetic energy.
On the other hand, the book seems to be overwhelming in its detail of each players’ lives, contracts and so on.

Overall, I give it a 3/5.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sated my baseball needs during the 2022 lockout. Dated in some of its references but remains a delightful look at baseball in a specific time and place. Great work going beyond statistical re-caps and laying out all the aspects of the sport: strategy, finance, and oddities.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Have you ever asked someone a polite question and then gotten so scattered and long winded of an answer that you immediately regret ever asking them anything?

“Hey, Mr. Okrent! How was the ball game?”

A soliloquy follows that covers the home team’s radio ad revenues, the ins and outs of their scouting program, and the complete life history of every man, woman, and child in attendance at the game.

And somewhere, mixed in with all that, is a mediocre recap of a pretty close baseball game.

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

To someone who is not a baseball fan, I am guessing the premise of this book may sound more boring than anything they could possibly imagine. A detailed inning-by-inning, batter-by-batter, pitch-by-pitch account of a random insignificant baseball game in the middle of June, 1982. Even when this book was published, in 1985, much closer to the game in question, it had to have had a similar effect among non-fans. But for me, a lifelong baseball fan, I was instantly intrigued when I read about this book, and also read the praise it received, with more than a few noted baseball writers and analysts lauding it as their favorite baseball book of all time.

The biggest reason that people give for not liking baseball is that "it's boring". Fair enough--different people are excited or bored by different things, and you're rarely going to convince someone otherwise. I find soccer to be incredibly boring, but billions of people all over the world beg to differ. Nonetheless, when people are willing to engage, I love to talk about all the strategy that goes into every single "boring" play within a baseball game--into every pitch in fact. When I came across "9 Innings", written by the founder of Rotisserie League baseball, no less, I was excited to see how Dan Okrent had been able to write 250+ pages about a single baseball game. The answer is...he didn't...not really.

Stepping back, I should have mentioned that this random game, on June 10, 1982, was between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Baltimore Orioles, my favorite team. Although it was written more from the Brewers' side of the field (I'm not sure if Okrent is a Brewers fan, but they were the team that was more heavily researched, and to which he had the greatest access leading up to the game in question), there was still quite a bit of detail about the Orioles. Also, much of the Brewers' front office at the time was comprised of former Orioles brass. So, in addition to just being curious as to how this book would go in general, I was interested even more due to the fact that the O's were involved. I was born later that year and didn't really start to follow the team until 1989 or so, but I certainly recognized all of the players' names, especially Cal Ripken, Jr., who I do fondly remember watching play up until his retirement in 2001.

But here's the problem I had with this book, and the reason I only gave it 3 stars: the majority of the pages are filled with background on specific players/coaches/executives (mainly on the Brewers' side) having little or nothing to do with the game in question. I understand the bigger point that Okrent is trying to make here. Player X wouldn't be playing in this very game if this sequence of events in his life hadn't culminated in his being acquired by the Brewers. Or maybe Player Y wouldn't have been playing at all today, if Player Z hadn't gotten injured. Etc., etc. But one can go down the butterfly effect rabbit hole with darn near anything that happens in life. The same would have been true if he were detailing the game on June 9, or June 11. Furthermore, although some of the chapter lead-ins tied seamlessly into the action that was about to ensue on the field in that particular inning, oftentimes it didn't. The chapter intros were often meandering, with illogical transitions. I am completely making up this example and being somewhat hyperbolic, but it kind of went something like this:

"Catcher Ted Simmons was acquired from the Cardinals in the offseason. Used to being a full-time catcher, Simmons had accepted his new role with the Brewers, willing to do anything to help the team...while Simmons sat on the bench and scratched his butt, the Brewers took the field in the top of the 5th". And then the action of that inning would have nothing to do with Simmons or even the Brewers' current catcher.

It was still interesting at times, but not exactly what I thought I was going to be getting. To his credit, Okrent did do a good and thorough job of describing the action within the game. Every out and nearly every pitch was detailed. He also did a good job of detailing the different pieces of strategy that go into the game, whether it be whether or not to hit-and-run, whether to pinch hit, or whether to throw a fastball or curve in a specific count. In general, the strategies of that time were quite different than they are today, in this age of analytics. Earl Weaver, Orioles manager, was somewhat of a pioneer in his disdain for bunting and stealing bases, but these were strategies that were heavily used back in the early-80s.

I did find myself reading the book like a suspense novel of sorts, not wanting to look up any spoilers about what would happen (who would win the game). I was rooting for the 1982 Orioles in my mind, since rooting for them in 2021 is usually a thankless effort. But, alas (spoiler alert!), the O's fell 9-7.

On the whole, this was a good book for fans of baseball and baseball literature. It just fell a little short of what I was expecting.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was debating between 4 stars and 5, but I'll give it five if only for it's uniqueness. Okrent uses a game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Baltimore Orioles on June 10, 1982 as the base for an examination of all things baseball. There are stretches where he examines every fascinating detail of an at-bat, describing in 4 minutes worth of reading what transpires on the field in seconds. He uses various events in the game as a springboard to discuss different tangents, whether it's the journey a player made through the minors to get to the major leagues, the reasoning behind a managerial switch, or what makes a young Paul Molitor a useful player, or Earl Weaver a great manager. The tangents are all interesting and always connect back to the game itself. There were only a couple of instances where the tangent went on so long that i had to flip back a few pages and re-orient myself to where we were in the game. One very interesting subject in the book is a look at Bud Selig, owner of the Brewers, a decade before he became arguably baseball's most transformative (and perhaps hated) commissioner. Also interesting is how little attention is given to Cal Ripken Jr., explainable by the fact that this game was two months into his career. This edition has a short epilogue and afterword that look back on the game and the events discussed in the book from a perspective almost 20 years later. I think someone who is old enough to remember baseball in 1982 would get the most out of this book, but anyone who enjoys looking beneath the surface in baseball, and there is a lot beneath the surface, would find this a very interesting read.

[Randal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic baseball book; starting to age badly otherwise it might be five stars.

Most of the characters here have moved on (Bud Selig as the obvious exception) and as surely as the game has morphed into a battle between power pitching and home runs, a lot of the strategy insights here seem almost quaint (particularly in the use of the bullpen). That also makes me wonder if there's any truth in the modern game about a lot of the little clubhouse and front office details. Okrent talks about how the game has moved on from the days when Yogi Berra and Scooter Rizutto had to sell menswear in the offseason to supplement their salaries. I suspect the gulf is as large between current players and the future Hall of Famers on the Milwaukee Brewers portrayed here -- Rollie Fingers, Robin Yount, and Paul Molitor.

Okrent manages to weave in and out of the single game he's using both as metaphor and as structural element without the obvious signposting prevalent in some titles (Next Man Up: A Year Behind the Lines in Today's NFL), so it feels like a natural progression of the narrative.

It's very well-written. It's just very well-written about yesterday's game.

[Caroline · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bleh.

I wanted to like this book. I really did. It's Daniel Okrent writing about baseball, for crying out loud!! Unfortunately, Nine Innings fell flat.

I think my main problem was it was the wrong era of baseball. I read and loved Three Nights in August, which is a similar in-depth treatment of a three-game series by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2003. But as someone who became a baseball fan in the early 2000s, reading in exhaustive detail about teams, players, and staff from the early 1980s just wasn't fun. After a certain point, my eyes would start to glaze over, particularly when it was taking dozens of pages to get through a single at bat, with the knowledge I had an entire nine innings to slog through. Okrent's writing style didn't help. Conversational it wasn't.

If you were a big baseball fan in the early 1980s or swear allegiance to the Brewers or Orioles, this might be a worth a read. Otherwise, I'd pass.

[Reid Mccormick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love baseball. I think it is a very poetic game. Each game was wonderful characters and multiple storylines that I can sit and watch while eating a hot dog.

Many people I know are not affectionate towards baseballs. In some cases, I know people who hate baseball. They find it slow, boring and odd. After reading 9 Innings by Daniel Okrent, I understand (a little) how they feel.

This book dragged on and on. Okrent is a great writer, but his transitions from the game and story were very wide. By the time he got back to the game, I had already forgotten everything. I forgot the batter, the score, the situation, everything.

His stories were at times good. I enjoyed early information on Bud Selig (who later became MLB Commissioner) and the infamous Earl Weaver. However, the other characters were forgettable for me. The idea of the book was the intricacies of an ordinary baseball game, but in the end I was bored.

[Javier Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

In encompassing the goings-on of just one nine-inning game in the middle of June 1982, the result of the battle becomes almost immaterial. The book broadens its scope to the events, people, and systems that produced this struggle between two (then) powerhouses of the American League, the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Baltimore Orioles. From the internal office politics between the better and highly paid professional ball players to the management of Brewer personnel and ownership (epitomized by the at-turns taciturn and outgoing Bud Selig. From labor-management issues to the natural evolution of the game over the century, the book is a wonderful primer for those interested in learning more about baseball in a non-game atmosphere. Mr. Okrent's writing is so genial and caring that, before long, you'll think as if he's right beside you in the stands holding your hand as he explains the game the occurs around the game.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd go 4.5 stars if I could. This is a book, however, for baseball fans. If you have no interest in or knowledge of the game, this is probably way too technical for you. I particularly enjoyed this read because it delves into baseball in 1982, back when I was still following MLB (my husband and I bowed out after the second strike in which grossly overpaid players wanted more money), and I recognized most of the names of players who were featured. Okrent took a very interseting tack in that while he does walk us through the game on a nearly-pitch-by-pitch basis, he intersperses the account of the game with deep dives into all aspects of baseball which led to these players being here on this day, as well as to the pitches that were made and the batters' responses, as well as the managers' calls. Highly recommended for big fans of baseball--especially for big fans of the old strategy days in baseball.

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nine Innings is a fantastic look back at the players, teams, and personalities that make up an early June 1982 baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and Milwaukee Brewers. What may seem an inconsequential regular season game ends up holding playoff significance as these two teams end up fighting for a division title. Okrent sets the scene for this game in overwhelming detail, meandering through the history of baseball, the Brewers and Orioles, and how the players, coaches, and staff found their way to the day's events.

A sharp contrast to today's bite-size video highlights plastered across social media, this book is a relaxing boat cruise down a slow-moving river. Baseball fans will enjoy the look back at the game, its players, and its strategy through one afternoon in Milwaukee.

[Colin Post · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of a single game that I read in bits and pieces over three months. It’s a testament to Okrent’s skill and the structure of the book that I was able to pick this up and read about a half inning here and a half inning there over the course of an extended reading period. Despite the conceit, of course, the game is not the real story but the prompt for discussing changes in baseball - from in-game strategy to off-field labor relations - and recount the stories of many colorful players who are not necessarily among the historical luminaries. We learn about Ben Oglivie’s eclectic reading habits and Mike Caldwell’s “warm” personality. The 80s were a pivotal time in baseball history and this book is an anatomy of the game in flux.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend of mine and I read this book at the exact same time and came away with two different perspectives. He hated it. I loved it. Kind of like a sporting event, huh?

At any rate, what I liked about this book is that it was perfectly structured -- like a game, with action -- while also allowing a reader to see how Mr. Okrent's mind roamed, which in turn allowed the reader's mind to do the same.

I also appreciated the way Mr. Okrent included a history of Milwaukee and the Brewers into the story.

[John H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable read. Somewhat nostalgic as these were the teams of my elementary school days, so I remember all of the players. I really liked how Okrent interspersed 'inside baseball" stories between outs as players came to bat. It gave an interesting view into minor leagues, recruiting in high school and college, winter meetings, strategy of the game, development of players in general, and even some physics of hitting and throwing. Very fun, easy read, but also more in depth than a typical sports story.

[Andrew McNally · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beautiful game. At first I struggled a bit with the style here, but it got more and more engrossing. There's a lot of interesting threads that go far deeper then you'd ever expect as it takes a VERY close look at the managing of a baseball team. Even though it's 40 years old and focuses heavily on pedestrian players that can be tough to keep track of, it's usually very interesting. A few little dashes of dry humor, too.

Keep your eyes peeled for a segment on a young player who isn't living up to his full potential yet: Cal Ripken Jr.

[Doug Dams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a June 10, 1982 baseball game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Baltimore Orioles. It details the action of each inning and the strategy used by both managers. It also tells about the stories on and off the field that led to the game. This includes how contracts were negotiated, players acquired, the personalities of the general managers and owner Bud Selig. Plus it lets you into the club house to see how these different personalities interacted. It's a very interesting read for any baseball fan, even more so for a Milwaukee Brewers fan like myself. I thought I knew the players from the 1982 team very well, but even I learned things about each ballplayer. All in all it was an entertaining book that lets you see the game from an entirely different viewpoint. In the future, the baseball games I watch will be a lot different knowing what goes on behind the scenes. I'm glad my nephew lent me this book.

[WorldOfBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being a diehard baseball fan from far (Literally! I’m from Australia), I found the author going painfully deep into unrequited emotions tied to a random game in 1982. There are better books out there on how the game is run. This could have been a lot more entertaining read had the author stuck to the decision making in the game. A pretty boring read but still giving it 3 stars ⭐️ for my love for the game.

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully original idea to uncover a wealth of knowledge about baseball: describe an "ordinary" game in June of 1982 and surround it with amazing discussions: history, owners vs the players, oddities, management (general & field), personalities, talent evaluation - just name it and he probably covered it.

On top of that, it was from the viewpoint of the Milwaukee Brewers team of 1982 - one that will always be one that I'll never forget!

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's unfortunate to see one of the book's in SI's Top 100 Sports Book be such a disappointment. But this was 'Death by a Thousand Tangents.' There's no coherent narrative, there's no grand goal or message, it's just a series of dull vignettes. The highest praise I can give it is that I almost know what the players' strike in 1981 was about.

[Ashley Strukel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Around 0 people who follow me on Goodreads will be interested in this book. It’s very niche. But I’m really glad I read it! It was super interesting and well-researched. I struggled for most of it to follow the “characters” even after I made myself a list. It was a slog at times but overall a fascinating look at baseball, both the game and business.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the one hand, this is a very dated book. While it ages pretty well, and especially in retrospect, those were very interesting seasons in the game. I think the Afterward, updating to only 23 years ago (!) hit a lot of what’s wrong with the game today. All in all, a good read, but posts were very slow.

[Matthew Bizer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is for sure a bit dated — and the added epilogue written in 2000, lamenting increasing hitting without at all figuring out the reason why, now reads as unintentionally hilarious — but this is the ultimate love letter to the best game ever devised. Every baseball fan should read it. Okrent has absolutely changed how I watch and think about baseball.

[Harry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb breakdown of how a baseball game works, out by out, inning by inning. SUPER detailed, but if you ever wanted to have an idea about what is really going on down on the field, this is a fine book for it.

[Cassandra]

I wanted to read a book about a baseball game. Instead, I skimmed a book about the personal histories of people involved in a baseball game. Is this what other people enjoy about baseball? I had also expected photographs for some reason...