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The Heart of the Order
Baseball's Most Valuable Writer, Thomas Boswell of The Washington Post, hits a grand slam with this classic collection of heartfelt and humorous pieces on our national's pastime. The lineup includes "Heroes," "Managing (Life)," and "The Flame of Fame," which capture some of the outstanding players in baseball, from DiMaggio, Weaver, and Ozzie Smith to Rose, Sutton, and Gooden; "Five Octobers," which shows that baseball is a dynamic game in which any team can rise to the top; and the hilarious and memorable "99 Reasons Why Baseball Is Better Than Football" (Reason 20: Eighty degrees, a cold and a short-sleeve shirt are better than 30 degrees, a hip flask, and six layers of clothes under a blanket). And in "The Heart of the Order," Boswell showcases those players, past and present, who deserve a spot on the All-Star team for their talent and their "governing passion for excellence."
Funny, insightful, and moving, The Heart of the Order confirms that when it comes to baseball, Boswell is in a league by himself.
"Boswell is the best all-around writer in America--the literary equivalent of the player who can do it all: run, field, throw, hit, and hit with power."--The San Diego Union
"A wise old catcher once said of baseball, 'It's like a church. Many attend, but few understand.' Boswell's readers understand. Start with his essay '99 Reasons Why Baseball Is Better Than Football.' Boswell is the 100th reason."--George Will
Funny, insightful, and moving, The Heart of the Order confirms that when it comes to baseball, Boswell is in a league by himself.
"Boswell is the best all-around writer in America--the literary equivalent of the player who can do it all: run, field, throw, hit, and hit with power."--The San Diego Union
"A wise old catcher once said of baseball, 'It's like a church. Many attend, but few understand.' Boswell's readers understand. Start with his essay '99 Reasons Why Baseball Is Better Than Football.' Boswell is the 100th reason."--George Will
385 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 10, 2019
Pick my favorite column? How? Jim Palmer's weeping farewell? The rejuvenated Sparky Anderson? Fred Lynn's refusal to play when not at his best? The lump-in-the throat tribute to Roger Maris? Brooks Robinson at Cooperstown? A. Bartlett Giamatti? Jim Abbott? Jeff Wickstrom? No, you pick!
This is a TOP TEN book in my baseball library.
Availability. Paperback, hardcover.
Type. PLAYERS/ERA
Use. READ/BROWSE; EH maybe
_explanation_
the reviewer whines …
How does one review a book of short stories? It always seems to be difficult. Now in a case like Lydia Davis, it’s easy, because so many of her stories are so short they can be quoted in full. For normal stories, there are different approaches, ranging from simply quoting a bit and featuring two or three stories, to listing every story and writing a very brief description/note/comment on it.
But how about if the “stories” are (a) too long to quote, but (b) so short that there are scores of them, and (c) not fiction anyway? Neither are they essays. They’re journalism, and sports journalism at that. In other words, they’re from a sports column that is written two or three times a week.
Hence my difficulty in reviewing this book.
The author
The author, Thomas Boswell, is the best baseball columnist in the U.S. That likely means best in the world. Of course that’s an opinion I have, but it’s an opinion shared by many whose opinion in this area is worth more than average.
the recent Boswell
Boswell was born in Washington D.C. in 1947. He attended one of the country’s best liberal arts colleges, Amherst, graduating in 1969 with a B.A. in English literature. He began his career at the Washington Post that fall, as a copy aide. After a couple years he became a “general assignment reporter” covering many facets of the sports field. In 1984 he became a sports columnist. That’s what he still is, nownearing his 46th past his 50th year at the Post.
Boswell is primarily known for his baseball writing. He also writes occasional columns on the Washington Redskins. One of the facts that some out of town people are unfamiliar with is that, even though he is on the pinnacle of the baseball journalism world, his writing and insights on the game of professional golf are darn near as good.
The book
What’s in the book, published in 1989, are several dozen of Boswell’s baseball columns from the period 1984-1988. Two similar books were published earlier: How Life Imitates the World Series (1982) and Why Time Begins on Opening Day (1984). The evocative titles of these three books are indicative of the style of writing within them.
The phrase “heart of the order” in baseball refers to the positions 3-5 in the nine-man batting order. These are the positions that the best hitters occupy. However, Boswell does not here concentrate on columns about only stars, or only the most successful players. What interests him, and the reason why his writing so interests us, is the baseball player as human being, as a non-fictional character in the game (or story) of baseball - and of life.
Thus, as we read through these 1000 word essays (mostly) we come to pieces like the longer essay he wrote for The Baseball Hall of Fame 50th Anniversary Book, “The Hoover: Called Up to Cooperstown”, about the baseball player, and man, Brooks Robinson. In it, he tells of Robinson’s financial difficulties when he retired, of how he refused both to declare bankruptcy and to accept money from friends and fans, resolving that he would somehow pay off the debts. (Turned out he had a knack for color broadcasting, and by the time he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in the first year he was eligible, he was debt-free.)
This piece is one of three in the opening section, HEROES. The others are on Ozzie Smith and Joe DiMaggio. Following HUBRIS, two humorous pieces on Boswell’s views of baseball (99 reasons why baseball is better than football, 40 things he would do to tweak the game), comes the section which gives its name to the book.
THE HEART OF THE ORDER contains eighteen columns: nine for the hitting positions on a team, including DH (“Catcher: Gary Carter – Hero’s Heart”, “Third Base: Wade Boggs – Heartburn”, “Right Field: Fred Lynn – Heartbreaker”, and so forth), three for pitchers (“Right-handed pitcher: Doyle Alexander – Heartless”, “Left-handed pitcher: Tommy John – Heart Transplant” and “One-handed pitcher: Jim Abbott – Heart of Gold”), winding up with columns for Coach, Manager, Owner, President, Commissioner, and finally “Fan: Jeff Wickstrom - Song from the Heart”.
FIVE OCTOBERS contains multiple columns for each of the 1984-1988 world series. The five columns on the 1986 series, “Ultimate Red Sox” are worth the price of the book, even if you’ve overpaid.
Three columns on MANAGING (LIFE) (Earl Weaver, Dick Howser, Sparky Anderson); five columns on INSIDE THE INSIDE, including one of my favorites, “It’s Cricket”, about Boswell’s introduction to cricket.
THE FLAME OF FAME contains two multiple column pieces on Dwight Gooden and Pete Rose, and single columns on Reggie Jackson, Steve Carlton/Don Sutton, and a heartbreaking column on Roger Maris which appeared the day after Maris died in 1985. This column, in which Boswell writes that “No baseball player in history ever has had his accomplishments so denigrated or received such criticism for the sin of having performed too well”, and admits that as a thirteen year old in 1961, he hated Maris, ends thus: “With a quarter century of perspective, it’s easy to see the injustices – the small-minded asterisks – of another generation. Perhaps – human nature having so many dark unswept corners – it’s more difficult to see our own.” Yes, I think that’s a mea culpa.
rounding third, heading for home now …
CHANGING TIMES: 5 columns on changes in baseball in this era, and a multi-column piece titled “The Worst Damn Team in Baseball” – on the once proud, top-of-the-heap Baltimore Orioles (who at this time was basically Boswell’s home team, D.C. not having a team).
THE END. Two columns on the difficulty of leaving the game. The first about Jim Palmer’s hastily arranged press conference May 16, 1984, when he was told by the Orioles that he was being released, a press conference in which the suave, debonair Palmer broke down after answering a single question, literally jogged away from the room in tears, and was gone from the ballpark, “leaving a charged and sorrowful silence behind him.”
AFTERWARD. April 15, 1987. “The Grip of the Game”. Now having a son, inundated with baseball-related presents for the young one, Boswell reflects on the game, relating that Jim Bouton (in Ball Four) “said he’d spent his life gripping a baseball and only after he retired did he come to realize that it’d been the other way around.” And offers this personal observation about the way he feels the grip of the game.
Well, there’s a feckless, reckless review if I’ve ever seen one. But I’m done with it. I haven’t conveyed much of the style, humor, and wisdom which permeate these columns. I could just say take my word for it. But instead I’ll rewind to Boswell’s Introduction (not a column) and give an extended quote, letting the man speak for himself.
_next TOP TEN_
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Previous review: First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy
Next review: Wild. From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Older review: ---
Previous library review: The Ballplayers
Next library review: The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract
This is a TOP TEN book in my baseball library.
Availability. Paperback, hardcover.
Type. PLAYERS/ERA
Use. READ/BROWSE; EH maybe
_explanation_
the reviewer whines …
How does one review a book of short stories? It always seems to be difficult. Now in a case like Lydia Davis, it’s easy, because so many of her stories are so short they can be quoted in full. For normal stories, there are different approaches, ranging from simply quoting a bit and featuring two or three stories, to listing every story and writing a very brief description/note/comment on it.
But how about if the “stories” are (a) too long to quote, but (b) so short that there are scores of them, and (c) not fiction anyway? Neither are they essays. They’re journalism, and sports journalism at that. In other words, they’re from a sports column that is written two or three times a week.
Hence my difficulty in reviewing this book.
The author
The author, Thomas Boswell, is the best baseball columnist in the U.S. That likely means best in the world. Of course that’s an opinion I have, but it’s an opinion shared by many whose opinion in this area is worth more than average.
the recent Boswell
Boswell was born in Washington D.C. in 1947. He attended one of the country’s best liberal arts colleges, Amherst, graduating in 1969 with a B.A. in English literature. He began his career at the Washington Post that fall, as a copy aide. After a couple years he became a “general assignment reporter” covering many facets of the sports field. In 1984 he became a sports columnist. That’s what he still is, now
Boswell is primarily known for his baseball writing. He also writes occasional columns on the Washington Redskins. One of the facts that some out of town people are unfamiliar with is that, even though he is on the pinnacle of the baseball journalism world, his writing and insights on the game of professional golf are darn near as good.
The book
What’s in the book, published in 1989, are several dozen of Boswell’s baseball columns from the period 1984-1988. Two similar books were published earlier: How Life Imitates the World Series (1982) and Why Time Begins on Opening Day (1984). The evocative titles of these three books are indicative of the style of writing within them.
The phrase “heart of the order” in baseball refers to the positions 3-5 in the nine-man batting order. These are the positions that the best hitters occupy. However, Boswell does not here concentrate on columns about only stars, or only the most successful players. What interests him, and the reason why his writing so interests us, is the baseball player as human being, as a non-fictional character in the game (or story) of baseball - and of life.
Thus, as we read through these 1000 word essays (mostly) we come to pieces like the longer essay he wrote for The Baseball Hall of Fame 50th Anniversary Book, “The Hoover: Called Up to Cooperstown”, about the baseball player, and man, Brooks Robinson. In it, he tells of Robinson’s financial difficulties when he retired, of how he refused both to declare bankruptcy and to accept money from friends and fans, resolving that he would somehow pay off the debts. (Turned out he had a knack for color broadcasting, and by the time he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in the first year he was eligible, he was debt-free.)
This piece is one of three in the opening section, HEROES. The others are on Ozzie Smith and Joe DiMaggio. Following HUBRIS, two humorous pieces on Boswell’s views of baseball (99 reasons why baseball is better than football, 40 things he would do to tweak the game), comes the section which gives its name to the book.
THE HEART OF THE ORDER contains eighteen columns: nine for the hitting positions on a team, including DH (“Catcher: Gary Carter – Hero’s Heart”, “Third Base: Wade Boggs – Heartburn”, “Right Field: Fred Lynn – Heartbreaker”, and so forth), three for pitchers (“Right-handed pitcher: Doyle Alexander – Heartless”, “Left-handed pitcher: Tommy John – Heart Transplant” and “One-handed pitcher: Jim Abbott – Heart of Gold”), winding up with columns for Coach, Manager, Owner, President, Commissioner, and finally “Fan: Jeff Wickstrom - Song from the Heart”.
FIVE OCTOBERS contains multiple columns for each of the 1984-1988 world series. The five columns on the 1986 series, “Ultimate Red Sox” are worth the price of the book, even if you’ve overpaid.
Three columns on MANAGING (LIFE) (Earl Weaver, Dick Howser, Sparky Anderson); five columns on INSIDE THE INSIDE, including one of my favorites, “It’s Cricket”, about Boswell’s introduction to cricket.
Dateline July 3, 1984:
England took a 342-run lead into the final inning today at Lord’s Cricket Ground.
And lost.
Talk about a bad bullpen.
…
[and ending]
There’s one tricky question about cricket – a sticky wicket, as it were. With time, would the English game come to seem like a more subtle, more leisurely, more elegant game than baseball?
Or would cricket simply seem to have the same virtues as baseball but in such an exaggerated form that they almost became vices?
After one day at Lord’s it just wouldn’t be cricket to say.
THE FLAME OF FAME contains two multiple column pieces on Dwight Gooden and Pete Rose, and single columns on Reggie Jackson, Steve Carlton/Don Sutton, and a heartbreaking column on Roger Maris which appeared the day after Maris died in 1985. This column, in which Boswell writes that “No baseball player in history ever has had his accomplishments so denigrated or received such criticism for the sin of having performed too well”, and admits that as a thirteen year old in 1961, he hated Maris, ends thus: “With a quarter century of perspective, it’s easy to see the injustices – the small-minded asterisks – of another generation. Perhaps – human nature having so many dark unswept corners – it’s more difficult to see our own.” Yes, I think that’s a mea culpa.
rounding third, heading for home now …
CHANGING TIMES: 5 columns on changes in baseball in this era, and a multi-column piece titled “The Worst Damn Team in Baseball” – on the once proud, top-of-the-heap Baltimore Orioles (who at this time was basically Boswell’s home team, D.C. not having a team).
THE END. Two columns on the difficulty of leaving the game. The first about Jim Palmer’s hastily arranged press conference May 16, 1984, when he was told by the Orioles that he was being released, a press conference in which the suave, debonair Palmer broke down after answering a single question, literally jogged away from the room in tears, and was gone from the ballpark, “leaving a charged and sorrowful silence behind him.”
AFTERWARD. April 15, 1987. “The Grip of the Game”. Now having a son, inundated with baseball-related presents for the young one, Boswell reflects on the game, relating that Jim Bouton (in Ball Four) “said he’d spent his life gripping a baseball and only after he retired did he come to realize that it’d been the other way around.” And offers this personal observation about the way he feels the grip of the game.
One promise of Opening Day is that every day for the next seven months the possibility of reckless, feckless escape is as close as the TV button, the radio switch, the morning newspaper, the weekly Sporting News or a trip to the park. There’s baseball, waiting to burn our time as though we’d never age and tempt us to care deeply about a thing so obviously trivial that, minutes after the last pitch, we’re laughing in our beer and knocking the manager.
Well, there’s a feckless, reckless review if I’ve ever seen one. But I’m done with it. I haven’t conveyed much of the style, humor, and wisdom which permeate these columns. I could just say take my word for it. But instead I’ll rewind to Boswell’s Introduction (not a column) and give an extended quote, letting the man speak for himself.
If baseball in the eighties … has taught us one thing, it’s the difference between success and excellence. Many in sports think they’re the same. They’re not. There’s no substitute for excellence – not even success.Thus Thomas Boswell – on baseball and on life.
Success is tricky, perishable and often outside our control; the pursuit of success makes a poor cornerstone, especially for a whole personality. Excellence is dependable, lasting and largely an issue with our own control: pursuit of excellence, in and for itself, is the best of foundations …
…
In sports, poise often is nothing more than the ability to row backward toward a goal, focusing on each stroke so intently that we ignore the finish line until we are past it …
…
Sports reaffirms that, amid the pale pleasure of watching many good losers and bad winners, it is still possible to find good winners who …
as a group, tend to be inordinately patient because they believe that, in the long run, they won’t lose. If they are a bit uncomfortable and testy in the spotlight, it may be because they wish to hide how little our opinions of them matter in their eyes …
Of whom do they remind us?
Perhaps the best and most rigorous teacher we ever had.
The math professor who taught us that it wasn’t the answer to a specific problem that was important but, rather, learning to appreciate the interlocking coherence of the whole scientific view of the world. The English teacher who showed us the agonies of patience that went into crafting a poem so precise in its choice of words that we could read it a hundred times over fifty years and always find it powerfully true. The teachers, in other words, who taught us that love of learning – for itself – not love of grades, was the beating, enduring heart of education.
So too in games, the guiding principle that most often keeps people oriented through all their passages and changes is a governing passion for excellence. In baseball, that’s what you discover at the heart of the order.
_next TOP TEN_
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Previous review: First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy
Next review: Wild. From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Older review: ---
Previous library review: The Ballplayers
Next library review: The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract
May 7, 2019
I'm kind of compromising on this review. I read this book when I was about ten years old (around 1990 or 1991) and I loved it. I thought Boswell was insightful, funny, and a superb writer. Well, nearly 40 year old me isn't as impressed. He's a great writer-- there's no question about that. Many of these columns, circa mid-to-late 1980s, don't age very well. The praise of Pete Rose and Doc Gooden, the ruminating about how baseball is superior to football, the talk about how the good old days were better and how those gosh darn greedy ballplayers will ruin the game... well, it feels kind of misdirected and "Get off my lawn"ish now. Kid me says five stars, middle-aged me says three, so I split the difference .
February 19, 2020
Thomas Boswell was a baseball writer for the Washington Post whose columns were compiled and released as a number of books in the 1980s and 1990s. The Heart of the Order covers the mid to late 1980s. Boswell's style is engaging, covering both the technical and human side of baseball. (his books were some of the first ones I read when I began my baseball book journey 30 years ago). Being a writer based in DC, his articles are a little heavy on the Baltimore Orioles, but he does also cover baseball and its many fascinating characters as a whole. What is interesting reading these columns 35 years later is to see what actually came true. Did the player who Boswell said was destined for stardom succeed? (Dwight Gooden and Eric Davis are two he covered) Did a sure thing in 1987 flop? The columns in this book more or less transcend the Peter Ueberroth era as baseball commissioner. As such two things stood out to me as interesting time capsules. One was Boswell's very positive impression of Pete Rose and his impact on baseball, a couple of years before Rose's betting scandal became public. The other interesting thing is the ever so subtle mention in a couple of areas about the collusion of major league owners to hold down salaries by not signing free agents. Though alluded to, Boswell did not foresee the problems it would create for owners down the road. An excellent book for the baseball historian, even though some of the chapters may not stand up as well with the passage of time.
August 16, 2023
There are no larger-than-life characters in this book. Boswell teases out the nuances of ambition, leadership, managership, mental toughness, fame, fortune, team chemistry, and more through the examination of such names as Weaver, Sutton, Gooden, Boggs, Howser, and more. Baseball is perhaps the game that is most like life, and Boswell does an excellent job of illuminating that insight through a masterful blend of humor, melancholy, and narrative. If you're a baseball fan, it doesn't get better than Chairman Boz.
August 19, 2020
Boswell's third collection of profiles and pontifications (reworked from his Washington Post column) may not be in the exemplary category of his first two but that's no reason to remove the "non" before the "pareil." If a few too many of the pieces demonstrate the weight of the daily grind, Boswell rises above it often enough, creating what reads today as an electric, elegiac account of twentieth-century baseball's climactic era - the Eighties - before the tarnish of steroids and the strategic makeover of statistical helmsmanship.
June 28, 2019
This book is a collection of articles which Boswell wrote over the course of several years and in many ways is a time capsule which as you read it takes you back into the mid 1980s in the world of Major League Baseball. It is a good read!
April 12, 2020
I think what made this more interesting was reading these opinions 30 years after publication. Pete Rose must have really let one of his biggest fans down because this writer sure loves(d) Rose.
March 2, 2021
hahahahahahaha.
This did not age well.
This did not age well.
April 26, 2023
this book made me care about baseball
February 25, 2017
On most occasions, I am wary of "story collections" like this one. Too many times, they are just a hodge-podge of writing with no coherent underlying theme. However, this book is an exception due to the enthralling prose from author Thomas Boswell.
In "The Heart of the Order", Boswell (a noted baseball columnist for the Washington Post) brings together a selection of baseball columns from the 1980s. From the early-80s Tigers/Orioles, the '86 Mets/Red Sox, to the '87 Twins, many key teams/moments are covered. Also, individual profiles of such players as Pete Rose, Carl Yazstremski, and Bill Buckner (among others) are given.
Being born in 1985, this tome is more "history" than "nostalgia" for me, but it can easily be enjoyed as either. The true key is the magical writing of Boswell. I've been reading baseball books for over a decade now, and the writing in this one is not surpassed. It takes a true gift with words to make us care about one man's opinion about the game of baseball, and Boswell is blessed with that gift.
Basically, this is the perfect baseball read for those long, lazy days of summer. Get out on the swing overlooking the lake, grab a cold beverage, and immerse yourself in Boswell's interpretation of the Great American Pastime in the 1980s.
In "The Heart of the Order", Boswell (a noted baseball columnist for the Washington Post) brings together a selection of baseball columns from the 1980s. From the early-80s Tigers/Orioles, the '86 Mets/Red Sox, to the '87 Twins, many key teams/moments are covered. Also, individual profiles of such players as Pete Rose, Carl Yazstremski, and Bill Buckner (among others) are given.
Being born in 1985, this tome is more "history" than "nostalgia" for me, but it can easily be enjoyed as either. The true key is the magical writing of Boswell. I've been reading baseball books for over a decade now, and the writing in this one is not surpassed. It takes a true gift with words to make us care about one man's opinion about the game of baseball, and Boswell is blessed with that gift.
Basically, this is the perfect baseball read for those long, lazy days of summer. Get out on the swing overlooking the lake, grab a cold beverage, and immerse yourself in Boswell's interpretation of the Great American Pastime in the 1980s.
October 4, 2010
It has been a very long time since I read a Thomas Boswell book, probably a good 20 years. I went to the SF library sale this past weekend, however, and decided to read this recently purchased book after watching Ken Burn's 10th inning. Boswell is featured in th Ken Burns documentary, along with the older baseball nine-part series from 18 years ago. And I learned from this book, that there is a reason why he was featured in both--he is a great baseball writer. This book, Heart of the Order, really took me back to my first years watching baseball from 1985-1988. This book also talks about the 1984 season, which I don't really remember since I was six at the time. My favorite parts of this book is when Boswell talks about the 1988 Dodgers, still my favorite sports team of all time. It was nice reliving stories told by Mickey Hatcher, Tom Lasorda and Kirk Gibson. Another great story was the one done on Dwight Gooden, my first favorite baseball player. When I was nine, my mom told me that Gooden could no longer be my favorite player of all time because he was suspended for drugs. I'm glad that Gooden got his life back together, and this story makes me understand why he did drugs. At age 19 he was being called the greatest pitcher of the last twenty years and he was living in NY city. I guess it was only a matter of time before the demons got to him. I hadn't thought about Gooden for a while, and this story really took me back. Also included in this book are great stories on the 84 Cubs, 87 Twins and the Baltimore Orioles of the mid to late 80s. The only reason this book didn't get five stars is that some of Boswell's arguments are not valid anymore and are outdated. He loathes the wild card in baseball and hopes it never happens, but it actually came into play over 15 years ago. His column on 99 reason why baseball is better than football also has some reasons that I actually don't think are real good reasons. Still, anyone who loves baseball should not miss out on reading them gem, especially if they remember baseball in the mid to late 80s.
August 1, 2013
In ‘t kort: Boswell is (of was) journalist en columnist voor The Washington Post en volgde vooral het baseball. Dit boek omvat een verzameling portretten en columns uit de jaren 1984-1988, en werd uitgebracht in 1989. We starten met heel wat portretten (sommige oppervlakkig, andere diepgravender), en kijken vervolgens terug op de Word Series (de finale van het baseball-kampioenschap) uit die jaren.
Mijn oordeel: ik kocht dit boek een hele tijd geleden, omdat Mart Smeets (alweer hij) er in één van zijn boeken erg lovend over sprak. Ik begon het boek eind jaren ’90 (ik vond in het boek als bladwijzer zelfs een factuurtje terug van een weekendje uit naar de Floraliën in Nederland), maar raakte toen niet erg ver. Deze vakantie leek me het ideale moment om het nogmaals te proberen. En ik heb het me eigenlijk niet beklaagd…
Uiteraard is het boek wel gedateerd. Boswell windt zich nogal dikwijls op over de miljoenencontracten die de toenmalige sterspelers uit de brand konden slepen, maar die stellen eigenlijk niks voor in vergelijking met wat baseballers vandaag verdienen. Ook zijn uitgebreide portret over Pete Rose en zijn record-breaking quest for 4.192 hits is, achteraf gezien, een beetje pijnlijk. Rose werd later gepakt voor het wedden op wedstrijden waaraan hij zelf deelnam, en door de baseball-gemeenschap met het vuilnis buiten gezet.
Ondanks deze ‘problemen’ blijft het toch een leuk, zij het soms langdradig, boek. Sommige columns heb ik toch aan mij laten voorbijgaan, andere daarentegen heb ik verslonden. “99 Reasons Why Baseball is Better than Football” is hilarisch (Reason 20: Eighty degrees, a cold beer and a short-sleeve shirt are better than thirty degrees, a hip flask and six layers of clothes under a lap blanket) !!
Boswell is een heel goed schrijver en portretmaker, maar het boek is soms heel gedateerd. En z’n kleine kantjes en frustraties komen soms heel erg tot uiting, wat irriterend kan werken.
Eindoordeel: ***1/2
Mijn oordeel: ik kocht dit boek een hele tijd geleden, omdat Mart Smeets (alweer hij) er in één van zijn boeken erg lovend over sprak. Ik begon het boek eind jaren ’90 (ik vond in het boek als bladwijzer zelfs een factuurtje terug van een weekendje uit naar de Floraliën in Nederland), maar raakte toen niet erg ver. Deze vakantie leek me het ideale moment om het nogmaals te proberen. En ik heb het me eigenlijk niet beklaagd…
Uiteraard is het boek wel gedateerd. Boswell windt zich nogal dikwijls op over de miljoenencontracten die de toenmalige sterspelers uit de brand konden slepen, maar die stellen eigenlijk niks voor in vergelijking met wat baseballers vandaag verdienen. Ook zijn uitgebreide portret over Pete Rose en zijn record-breaking quest for 4.192 hits is, achteraf gezien, een beetje pijnlijk. Rose werd later gepakt voor het wedden op wedstrijden waaraan hij zelf deelnam, en door de baseball-gemeenschap met het vuilnis buiten gezet.
Ondanks deze ‘problemen’ blijft het toch een leuk, zij het soms langdradig, boek. Sommige columns heb ik toch aan mij laten voorbijgaan, andere daarentegen heb ik verslonden. “99 Reasons Why Baseball is Better than Football” is hilarisch (Reason 20: Eighty degrees, a cold beer and a short-sleeve shirt are better than thirty degrees, a hip flask and six layers of clothes under a lap blanket) !!
Boswell is een heel goed schrijver en portretmaker, maar het boek is soms heel gedateerd. En z’n kleine kantjes en frustraties komen soms heel erg tot uiting, wat irriterend kan werken.
Eindoordeel: ***1/2
November 6, 2014
I read and finished Boswell’s “Why Time Begins On Opening Day” the first three days at the beginning of September, an even 100 pages per day. While it was a quick read, I was slightly less than overwhelmed, which led me to giving a three star review.
“The Heart Of The Order” is much in the same vein, as various aspects of the great game of baseball are touched upon, with an understandable bias towards the Orioles. This effort focuses on the 1984-1988 seasons, and is highlighted by a passage entitled “99 reasons Baseball is better than Football” (Frankly, I don’t think he was critical enough of the NFL, but that’s for another time). On the subject of analytics, while Boswell isn’t as bad as some in pooh-poohing new efforts, he isn’t exactly enthusiastic either, clinging to the traditional stats of Wins, Batting Average and RBIs to make an argument. I’ll give him a cross-era credit for that one.
Generally, this flows along well, and leaves the casual (and not-so-casual) reader wanting more.
“The Heart Of The Order” is much in the same vein, as various aspects of the great game of baseball are touched upon, with an understandable bias towards the Orioles. This effort focuses on the 1984-1988 seasons, and is highlighted by a passage entitled “99 reasons Baseball is better than Football” (Frankly, I don’t think he was critical enough of the NFL, but that’s for another time). On the subject of analytics, while Boswell isn’t as bad as some in pooh-poohing new efforts, he isn’t exactly enthusiastic either, clinging to the traditional stats of Wins, Batting Average and RBIs to make an argument. I’ll give him a cross-era credit for that one.
Generally, this flows along well, and leaves the casual (and not-so-casual) reader wanting more.
December 18, 2014
Thomas Boswell is a very good baseball writer, almost on a par with Roger Angell; where Angell comes out ahead is in his lightness, in his never letting us forget that baseball, however important, is still just a game. Boswell can fall into stridency from time to time. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting the game during its much ignored decade of the '80's, the waning of the Free Agent Era and the dawning of the Steroid Era. And I particularly liked his piece on A. Bartlett Giamatti.
February 20, 2016
Boswell ranks among the best of the baseball writers, and not just of this era. This volume of his work covers mainly the mid-eighties. If you're a fan of excellent baseball writing, you can't do much better than any of this man's books.
May 21, 2007
The only reason it doesn't get 4 is because it is by now way out of date, but my favorite piece of sportswriting might be "99 Reasons Why Baseball is Better Than Football"
June 23, 2010
Baseball columnists,baseball essays
April 1, 2016
A collection of detailed baseball pieces written about the 60's, 70's, and 80's with a heavy emphasis on the Baltimore Orioles.
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