The Cup of Coffee Club: 11 Players and Their Brush with Baseball History

by Jacob Kornhauser

“This is one of the very best baseball books in years.” Booklist, Starred Review
Reaching the major leagues is a pipe dream for most young baseball players in America. Very few ever get to live it out. A select number of those players face the elation and frustration of getting to play in just one major league game.

The Cup of Coffee 11 Players and Their Brush with Baseball History tells the unique stories of eleven of these players. It details their struggles to reach the major leagues, their one moment in the limelight, and their struggles to get back. They include a former Major League Baseball manager, the son of a Baseball Hall of Famer, and two different brothers of Hall of Famers. Exclusive interviews with each of the players provide insight into what that single seminal moment meant and how they dealt with the blow of never making another major league appearance again.

Spanning half a century of baseball, each player’s journey to Major League Baseball is distinct, as is each of their responses to having played in just a single game. The Cup of Coffee Club shares their unique perspectives, providing a better understanding of just how special each major league game can be.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, Adult

213 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 11, 2020

Reviews

[High Plains Library District · Rating 4 out of 5]

After dedicating a lifetime to baseball, the Cup of Coffee Club players all played a single game of Major League Baseball.

This book tells the stories of 11 of those players. Maybe their career was cut short due to injury, or bad timing. Maybe they were the unfortunate backup player for a future Hall of Famer, or were affected by league strikes or war.

Kornhauser talks to the players, hearing their background, and talks to them about what happened since. Some feel relieved to have just one game to taste the spotlight, and are happy with their current situation, some spent years trying to get back to the big leagues.

This book is great for any baseball enthusiasts who love to hear more personal and lesser-known stories of baseball history.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this book. Not just because of the fascinating and personal stories of the players, but also because of the message.

The Cup of Coffee Club refers to the collection of Major League Baseball players who had only one big league appearance. The book profiles 11 such club members. Each chapter is dedicated to one player, starting with their childhood, then chronicling their budding appreciation of the sport, and outlining their grind to “The Show.” Some of them were mediocre, and others were complete baseball rockstars. Whatever the circumstances leading up to their major league debut, frequently it was politics, timing, bad luck, or unexpected circumstances that resulted in their eventual big league departure.

At it’s core this is a book about failure. I felt inspired by the way these men were able to move on from something they dedicated their entire lives to. All of them had successful and admirable careers following their big league appearance. Regardless of how devastating it was for them to only play one game, they still managed to find personal and professional success. Most look back with appreciation.

[David Finer · Rating 5 out of 5]

11 players with one moment in the sun, 11 mini biographies

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

This book is about a dozen major leaguers in the past fifty years who only got an inning to play in the major leagues. Typically the circumstances were that a veteran player returned from the injury list and the coffee cup guys were sent packing to the minors and they never made it back up to the big leagues due to injury, the yips or poor play.

I did enjoy the chapter on Robin Yount's older brother because it has some context and an interesting backstory. Larry Yount is the only pitcher in history to be credited with an appearance without throwing to a batter. In fact it was his only appearance of his career as he injured his arm warming up on the mound and was sent to the minors where he was never the same.

The biggest problem I had with the book is that because there was so little contemporaneous coverage on these players, there is not much of a dramatic or even interesting story in most cases. Just dry facts and injuries. In the place of the drama, the author relies on baseball statistics to a heavy degree and so the read was quite tedious. Few readers are going to care that random guy's OPS at Lakeland A Ball was .813, BA was .283, Slugging %. was .496 with 7 HRs in 1983. Would be much better to say that he led the team in hitting or use only one number. Although this is a hypothetical player, this is representative of the frustration of the read.

I would have liked to have heard more testimonials that were interesting and far fewer stats. I understand that - like farmers - baseball players are rarely the most interesting of subjects. Maybe discuss more about the experience of being on the field. There are going to be winners and losers in the baseball lottery as to who makes it so I don't know that it makes for a great subject. There are a lot of great baseball books out there.

[Zach Koenig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remember Moonlight Graham from the film "Field of Dreams"? He played in one major league game and never another. Now, imagine a book filled with such stories, and that is exactly what author Jacob Kornhauser constructs with "The Cup of Coffee Club".

The pages here contain the stories of 11 players who appeared in exactly one Major League Baseball contest. Each chapter details their entrances into professional baseball (often featuring long minor league tenures), their one shining moment, and what ultimately become of their life after that short taste of baseball glory.

The concept here is both fascinating and inspirational. While obviously on the fringes of "the bigs", each of these players has a unique story to tell. While a few are slightly bitter, the overwhelming majority have come to terms with the smallest of possible MLB stints. For many, their one (and only) big moment was all they needed to justify years of commitment to the cause.

Thus, strictly in terms of "idea" this is probably more of a 4-star read. However, much of each chapter feels a bit rote or mechanical, featuring names/places that make the eyes glaze over. Inevitably, I'd find myself drawn to the MLB moment and post-script of each player and filtering out some of the rest as considerably less compelling.

Overall, though, "The Cup of Coffee Club" is a solid read just for the unique topic alone. So often we read about the stars of the sport, but here we are given a peek behind the curtain at the other side of the spectrum.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

What if your ultimate professional goal was one you fought for, worked for, strived for, and then reached... for one day. That's the basic premise behind Kornhauser's interesting book, which chronicles the lives of 11 MLB players, or at least, players for one day. The ultimate question is often how does one deal with that kind of situation? The answer, mostly, seems to be pretty well. Baseball does not create character, but it certainly seems to reveal it in most of the subjects of this book. Whether it's becoming an MLB manager or a religious conversion or just the realization that failing at baseball opened some professional doors, these players have embraced their secondary realities when they didn't become the next Ruth or Spahn or Bonds, much as well all do. I would have liked a few more chapters-- at just under 170 pages of actual content, the book does feel a little thin. But mostly, it's a joy, well worth reading for any baseball fan. Recommended.

[Mark Suleymanov · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasant surprise to find this while randomly scrolling Amazon.

In baseball, and sports in general, stars are the ones that get the focus. The so-called journeymen might get some shine after their journey gets to a whirlwind stage of playing for countless teams.

But this book takes a niche subset of players who lived the dream young kids aspire to: playing Major League Baseball. But only for 1 game. That’s it.

That’s what makes baseball so special and unique, it might feel like there an endless supply of players any given season, but many go under the radar, and for this book, the ones who made the briefest of blips get their shine.

Each chapter focuses on a different player and their unique circumstances that led them to the highest level of baseball, and ended before they knew it. Some are sad, some are inspirational, some are tragic. But they all, even if it was just a cup of coffee, brewed themselves into MLB history.

[Matthew w · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. Reading about the what if’s, what could have beens, and the players thoughts about their experience is so interesting. The book also explains what it’s really like in the minor leagues and how fate really has a part if a player makes it to the big leagues- one injury could ruin a career or allow a minor leaguer step into the big leagues. There are life lessons abound in this book, if you’re a fan of the sport, check out the preview on amazon and buy it if you love what you read.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book profiled 11 men who appeared in exactly one major league game between 1958 and 2008 including the son of one Hall of Famer and brothers of two other HOFers. The book was interesting in that looked and the mental toughness required to pursue one’s dream only to see that dream end quickly. It seemed that, as they looked back on their one appearance, the players were at different stages of the grieving process. Or maybe I’m overthinking. Anyway, this is a great book and a wonderful accompaniment to The Wax Pack, another outstanding baseball book released this year.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read for anyone who wants to delve further into the human aspect of the game. It is also a great study on the history of the game and the time periods that these individuals played the game. The love of baseball is evident in Kornhauser’s writing and in his subjects. I especially liked the theme of how it is often the events we don’t control that can often form our lives. I look forward to more work from Mr. Kornhauser.

[Luke V · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concept is cool, and I liked learning about the variety of backgrounds for these players, who made only one MLB appearance -- whether because of injury, coaches decisions, lack of available PT, etc. And how they look back on the experience was also fascinating - many are still involved in the game. Writing is rather hokey, unfortunately... every subject is made out to be a hero of some sort. And the player by player chapters makes it tough for any cohesion in the book.

[David Blankenship · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating stories of ballplayers good enough to play one major league game but not good enough or lucky enough or connected enough to play. This could have been much longer (the author reports that hundreds met the same fate), and I would have been interested in a cautionary story in which playing only one game caused more harm than good...yet this was well done.

[John Deardurff · Rating 5 out of 5]

There have been 19,000 baseball players who have played in the Major Leagues. Around 150 of those only played one game. This is the story of eleven of those players who "only" spent one day in "The Show".

Each player has a different story, but all seemed to have the same defining spirit of never giving up... either before, during, or after their time playing baseball.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun and interesting read about a very odd "club" if you will with in MLB. Thought it was really cool that the book lead off with the story of "Moonlight" Graham before moving on to the 11 featured players. The post script was good too with the story about cup of coffee players who served in the military.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cool book, breezy read (170 pages). Kornhauser did an excellent job reporting and finding these stories. I was pleasantly surprised at how introspective and forthright the ballplayers were.

It could've been a better book with fewer irrelevant scene-setting details. Also, it was a little too heavy on direct quotes.

[Thom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though I only gave this three stars, it was a fascinating premise for a book - one that should intrigue any avid baseball fan like myself. The writing, unfortunately, was only so so and there was a lot of unnecessary repetition that could have been tightened up. Still I’d recommend it for baseball enthusiasts.

[Paul]

Great read. Shows struggles of players trying to make it to "THE SHOW". Finally reaching their goal, if only for one game. They got to live out their dream of standing in" The Cathedral". These players accomplished what few of us will ever experience,if only for one day. Liven out our dream!

[Tim Timberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the premise but didn't like the writing. This book, like Wax Pack, showed the range of men who get the chance to play professionally, and how they each look back on their experiences in different ways.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one The better baseball books that I've read in years.

Stories of men who played one game in baseball... their struggles before and after the game and often their successes.

If you love baseball I highly recommend this book.

[Traci Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the book was a little heavy with stats, the stories themselves were very interesting. All the work these guys put in, the ups and downs in the minor leagues and independent leagues, the personal sacrifices— and they got just one shot in the bigs.

[Catherine Mustread · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author interviewed on Baseball by the Book podcast. 03/26/20

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be a quick fun read that is at times funny, sad, and inspiring. Learning about how the players got to the show and what they did after was as fun as learning about their one game.

[Jim Blessing · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few of the players discussed were interesting, others were not.

[Pj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read and a great premise, but a lot of the stories are fairly similar. Still, fun book with stories of guys you never knew.

[Ellie Bodington]

Savannah’s pick

[BRIAN MILLER · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read. Good concept. Got to be repetitive and ran out of steam a little bit.

[Patrick Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the stories of 11 baseball players who get a taste of the major leagues, a taste of only one game. Some succeed, some fail. None play again in the majors. It is a story of their dreams and their successes, their wounds, sometinmes self inflcted, and their lives after their brush with glory. This is a good story for baseball players and fans who fell one game short of these player's careers.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well put together look at the whole player. From their early dreams to the big moment and how they are doing afterwards. Very enjoyable.