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Welcome to the Circus of Baseball: A Story of the Perfect Summer at the Perfect Ballpark at the Perfect Time
A gloriously funny, nostalgic memoir of a popular ESPN reporter who, in the summer of 1994, was a fresh-out-of-college intern for a minor league baseball team. Madness and charm ensue as Ryan McGee spends the season steeped in sweat, fertilizer, nacho cheese sauce, and pure, unadulterated joy in North Carolina with the Asheville Tourists.
In the spring of 1994, Ryan McGee (new college graduate) bombed his coveted interview with ESPN--the only place he ever wanted to work. But he did receive one job offer: to work for $100 a week for the Asheville Tourists, a proud minor league baseball team in the heart of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. McCormick Field, home to the Tourists, had once been graced by Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and Jackie Robinson. What could go wrong?
Welcome to the Circus of Baseball is McGee’s hilarious, charming memoir of his first summer working in the sporting world. He has since risen the ESPN ranks to national TV, radio, and Internet host, but his time in Asheville still looms large. Among the many jewels of his experience. . . McGee recounts one of the most entertaining on-field brawls you’ll ever witness (between the fourteen league mascots who had assembled for the all-star game--an eight-foot-tall foam-costumed crustacean, a pudgy red fox, a giant skunk . . . and they were really fighting), as well as the nervous moment he oversaw the game-day entertainer known as "Captain Dynamite and His Exploding Coffin of Death." Most important, McGee details a magical summer of baseball, of learning the ropes, of the ins-and-outs of running a minor league team, and of coming to understand how the pulse of a community can beat gloriously through a minor league ball club.
Welcome to the Circus of Baseball is a baseball classic in the making.
In the spring of 1994, Ryan McGee (new college graduate) bombed his coveted interview with ESPN--the only place he ever wanted to work. But he did receive one job offer: to work for $100 a week for the Asheville Tourists, a proud minor league baseball team in the heart of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. McCormick Field, home to the Tourists, had once been graced by Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and Jackie Robinson. What could go wrong?
Welcome to the Circus of Baseball is McGee’s hilarious, charming memoir of his first summer working in the sporting world. He has since risen the ESPN ranks to national TV, radio, and Internet host, but his time in Asheville still looms large. Among the many jewels of his experience. . . McGee recounts one of the most entertaining on-field brawls you’ll ever witness (between the fourteen league mascots who had assembled for the all-star game--an eight-foot-tall foam-costumed crustacean, a pudgy red fox, a giant skunk . . . and they were really fighting), as well as the nervous moment he oversaw the game-day entertainer known as "Captain Dynamite and His Exploding Coffin of Death." Most important, McGee details a magical summer of baseball, of learning the ropes, of the ins-and-outs of running a minor league team, and of coming to understand how the pulse of a community can beat gloriously through a minor league ball club.
Welcome to the Circus of Baseball is a baseball classic in the making.
264 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 4, 2023
69 people are currently reading
846 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 155 reviews
April 30, 2023
School is winding down, and for me that can only mean one thing: a summer of baseball and books, usually intertwined. The last baseball book I read left a bad taste in my mouth so I was eager for another. I found it in the form of a memoir by longtime ESPN radio voice Ryan McGee. Like me, McGee’s dream job was to be a baseball radio commentator. Following college he attended a baseball job fair at the 1993 winter meetings, the winter before the lockout. What followed was a summer internship for the single A Asheville Tourists, a team McGee grew up watching. His mentors told him to have fun, and McGee’s summer working for the Tourists was indeed just that.
Asheville, North Carolina has been home to minor league baseball since 1904. The team had a revolving door of nicknames until they settled on the Tourists, named for the rich and famous who summered next door at Cornelius Vanderbilt’s Biltmore Estate. By 1924, the team had a ballpark, McCormick Field, built into the side of a mountain, and home to scintillating sunsets. With its proximity to north-south train routes, Asheville became a prime barnstorming stop for teams on their way home from spring training. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, and Roberto Clemente, among others all roamed the field at one point. So did Kevin Costner while filming Bull Durham. All these ghosts of history add to the ballpark’s legacy and lore.
Ryan McGee grew up in North Carolina and attended games at over thirty minor league stadiums with his family. At the time the only team in close proximity to the McGees was Atlanta so the minors was all they add. It seemed that every city in the Carolinas had a minor league team, and the McGees attempted to go to all of them. Although he wanted to follow in the footsteps of other southerners turned national baseball broadcasters, at heart Ryan McGee is a minor league baseball fan. When the summer working for the Tourists became available, he jumped at the opportunity. Paying $100 per week it might not have paid well, but, boy did the employees have fun.
McGee thrills readers with tails of gimmicky performers, crazy mascots like Ted E. Tourist, the quirky characters who hang around the ballpark, Thirsty Thursdays, and everything in between. Only three players who played for the Tourists ever made it to the big leagues, and most, like McGee, were there because they loved the game and wanted their few seasons in the sun. While Bush League, Big City detailed the business of baseball and missed the boat about the games and players themselves, McGee does just that in describing his ultimate summer. Whether it was manning the tarp or the beer taps on those Thirsty Thursdays, or taking an employee’s daughter to prom, McGee saw it all and enjoyed baseball for what it was: a fun game played by men and enjoyed by all involved.
To date McGee has attended games at over 130 minor league stadiums and collects the caps from each one. He has never attained the dream job of baseball play by play man, but he has his own radio show on ESPN and has rubbed shoulders with famous athletes in a multitude of sports. His dream is to attend a game at every minor league park before the old ones become obsolete. They all harken back to his summer with the Asheville Tourists, a team of young professionals in their first experience in the minors, playing in a stadium built into the side of a mountain, graced by the baseball g-ds.
4 stars
Asheville, North Carolina has been home to minor league baseball since 1904. The team had a revolving door of nicknames until they settled on the Tourists, named for the rich and famous who summered next door at Cornelius Vanderbilt’s Biltmore Estate. By 1924, the team had a ballpark, McCormick Field, built into the side of a mountain, and home to scintillating sunsets. With its proximity to north-south train routes, Asheville became a prime barnstorming stop for teams on their way home from spring training. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, and Roberto Clemente, among others all roamed the field at one point. So did Kevin Costner while filming Bull Durham. All these ghosts of history add to the ballpark’s legacy and lore.
Ryan McGee grew up in North Carolina and attended games at over thirty minor league stadiums with his family. At the time the only team in close proximity to the McGees was Atlanta so the minors was all they add. It seemed that every city in the Carolinas had a minor league team, and the McGees attempted to go to all of them. Although he wanted to follow in the footsteps of other southerners turned national baseball broadcasters, at heart Ryan McGee is a minor league baseball fan. When the summer working for the Tourists became available, he jumped at the opportunity. Paying $100 per week it might not have paid well, but, boy did the employees have fun.
McGee thrills readers with tails of gimmicky performers, crazy mascots like Ted E. Tourist, the quirky characters who hang around the ballpark, Thirsty Thursdays, and everything in between. Only three players who played for the Tourists ever made it to the big leagues, and most, like McGee, were there because they loved the game and wanted their few seasons in the sun. While Bush League, Big City detailed the business of baseball and missed the boat about the games and players themselves, McGee does just that in describing his ultimate summer. Whether it was manning the tarp or the beer taps on those Thirsty Thursdays, or taking an employee’s daughter to prom, McGee saw it all and enjoyed baseball for what it was: a fun game played by men and enjoyed by all involved.
To date McGee has attended games at over 130 minor league stadiums and collects the caps from each one. He has never attained the dream job of baseball play by play man, but he has his own radio show on ESPN and has rubbed shoulders with famous athletes in a multitude of sports. His dream is to attend a game at every minor league park before the old ones become obsolete. They all harken back to his summer with the Asheville Tourists, a team of young professionals in their first experience in the minors, playing in a stadium built into the side of a mountain, graced by the baseball g-ds.
4 stars
February 22, 2023
I’ve always thought of Ryan McGee as a College Football guy. I had no idea that he started out his career in professional sports as an intern in the minor leagues. Mr. McGee spent the Summer of 1994 as an intern for the Ashville Tourists of the South Atlantic League. The Tourists were an affiliate of one of the newest teams in baseball at the time, The Colorado Rockies. Mr. McGee regales us with stories of his memorable summer from
his time changing kegs in the cooler all night long during Thirsty Thursday promotions to his ritual feeding on Julio the Cat (a stray who roamed the stadium).
I have a soft spot for any book that details life in minor league baseball, but I especially like Welcome to the Circus of Baseball. I’ve read a number of books on the minors from player accounts to outsiders chronicling a team, but I have never read one from the prospective of an intern with the team. I found the book to be fascinating and insightful. Mr. McGee is an excellent storyteller who know exactly how to make you feel like you are a part of the story. The stories themselves are great running the gambit from funny to heartwarming. My only criticism was that the book was too short. I wanted more stories! I also found the ending with a short follow up to where are the major characters are now to be the perfect way to end the book.
This is a must read for all fans of minor league baseball. Even if you aren’t a fan, I would recommend picking it up. It tells the story of a young man spending a summer doing what he loves. The characters are likable and fun, and I know you will get sucked into the book just like I did.
his time changing kegs in the cooler all night long during Thirsty Thursday promotions to his ritual feeding on Julio the Cat (a stray who roamed the stadium).
I have a soft spot for any book that details life in minor league baseball, but I especially like Welcome to the Circus of Baseball. I’ve read a number of books on the minors from player accounts to outsiders chronicling a team, but I have never read one from the prospective of an intern with the team. I found the book to be fascinating and insightful. Mr. McGee is an excellent storyteller who know exactly how to make you feel like you are a part of the story. The stories themselves are great running the gambit from funny to heartwarming. My only criticism was that the book was too short. I wanted more stories! I also found the ending with a short follow up to where are the major characters are now to be the perfect way to end the book.
This is a must read for all fans of minor league baseball. Even if you aren’t a fan, I would recommend picking it up. It tells the story of a young man spending a summer doing what he loves. The characters are likable and fun, and I know you will get sucked into the book just like I did.
Read
November 25, 2023ESPN reporter Ryan McGee spent the summer of 1994 as an intern for the Asheville Tourists, a minor league team in North Carolina. Welcome to the Circus of Baseball is his fond, nostalgic, and often hilarious remembrance of that glorious summer twenty-five years ago. The minor league baseball business requires all kinds of antics to draw fans, and McGee perfectly captures the absurdities and rituals involving mascots, concessions, entertainment oddities, ticketing, guest relations, and of course, the rain delay tarp. In-game play is the least important aspect of Welcome to the Circus of Baseball, but McGee includes a number of insightful incidents involving players, coaches, and upper management. 1994 was the season that Michael Jordan played for the Birmingham Barons, and McGee’s experiences surrounding that episode are especially interesting. I know it’s cliché, but I didn’t want this book to end. It is perfect for reading in the winter while longing for summer nights in the stands watching an aerosol can race while eating popcorn from a batting helmet bowl and petting a huge friendly mutt at a Bark in the Park game.
June 11, 2024
Loved. Devoured. Recommend.
August 4, 2023
Reading Ryan McGee’s Welcome to the Circus of Baseball: A Story of the Perfect Summer at the Perfect Ball Park at the Perfect Time was pure joy. The book has instantly become one of my all-time favorite baseball related books. Ryan writes about his 1994 summer internship with the Ashville Tourists, a Single A farm club of the expansion Colorado Rockies. As an intern, he was involved in almost every aspect of club operations, most of which he describes in often humorous detail. Whether it was driving one town over to pick up an oversized Hawaiian shirt for the team’s bear mascot to navigating the rain delay tarp, the book does a great job of capturing the life of a minor league intern.
I loved this book for several reasons. First, this book made me laugh out loud several times. Ryan’s descriptive writing style captured many hilarious moments. All you have to do is read the first few pages describing Captain Dynamite to understand. Second, I have read a few books on how minor league baseball teams operate, and this is among the best. Ryan is a good writer and you feel you are at the stadium taking in the sites and sounds. You will meet the management, his fellow interns/employees, various residents, and the stadium cat, all of whom he comes to regard as family. Lastly, this book evoked quite a bit of nostalgia for me. Ryan’s internship took place during the 1994 season. I am about the same age as Ryan and while I continue to love baseball to this day, the early to mid 90s were the height of my own fandom. I constantly attended Albuquerque Duke games every chance I could. In the book, he writes about some of the aspects of minor league baseball I used to love such as Birdzerk!, the Blues Brothers, baseball helmet sundaes, low prices, and family atmosphere. The 1994 season also saw Michael Jordan’s attempt at a baseball career and one of baseball’s darkest moments, which was the 1994 labor strife that led to the cancelation of the season in August.
At the end of the book, he also takes on Major League Baseball and its gutting of the minor leagues, which started in 2019 when it decided to shutter several teams that were the lifeblood of their small towns across the country. He bemoans sports conglomerates buying out local minor league owners, which were often run by entire families. For the author, minor league baseball is ultimately about family and the relationships it created with his fellow employees and management, and McCormick Field itself.
I can’t recommend this book more to anyone who loves the romantic side of minor league baseball.
I loved this book for several reasons. First, this book made me laugh out loud several times. Ryan’s descriptive writing style captured many hilarious moments. All you have to do is read the first few pages describing Captain Dynamite to understand. Second, I have read a few books on how minor league baseball teams operate, and this is among the best. Ryan is a good writer and you feel you are at the stadium taking in the sites and sounds. You will meet the management, his fellow interns/employees, various residents, and the stadium cat, all of whom he comes to regard as family. Lastly, this book evoked quite a bit of nostalgia for me. Ryan’s internship took place during the 1994 season. I am about the same age as Ryan and while I continue to love baseball to this day, the early to mid 90s were the height of my own fandom. I constantly attended Albuquerque Duke games every chance I could. In the book, he writes about some of the aspects of minor league baseball I used to love such as Birdzerk!, the Blues Brothers, baseball helmet sundaes, low prices, and family atmosphere. The 1994 season also saw Michael Jordan’s attempt at a baseball career and one of baseball’s darkest moments, which was the 1994 labor strife that led to the cancelation of the season in August.
At the end of the book, he also takes on Major League Baseball and its gutting of the minor leagues, which started in 2019 when it decided to shutter several teams that were the lifeblood of their small towns across the country. He bemoans sports conglomerates buying out local minor league owners, which were often run by entire families. For the author, minor league baseball is ultimately about family and the relationships it created with his fellow employees and management, and McCormick Field itself.
I can’t recommend this book more to anyone who loves the romantic side of minor league baseball.
July 20, 2023
A great read. Felt like I was there, almost like watching a movie set a few decades ago. Very vivid storytelling!
June 11, 2023
Such a great book, especially if you love Minor League Baseball like I do. Ryan McGee does a wonderful job giving us a glimpse into what life was like as an intern for the Asheville Tourists during the 1994 season. A fun read I highly recommend!
June 28, 2024
Now, I am not an avid baseball fan, but I was delighted to read Ryan’s quirky, funny, and nostalgic account about how he started his career as an intern for a minor league baseball team, The Ashville Tourists, in Asheville, North Carolina. In the beginning, it seemed as if it wasn’t for bad luck Ryan would have no luck at all.
Ryan was hoping to land a job in professional baseball, so he was on his way to the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, host of the 1993 edition of the Baseball Winter Meetings, which was the bunkhouse stampede of sports job fairs, for babyface college graduates like himself. What Ron wasn’t expecting was crashing his brand-new Pontiac Grand Am on the way to this meeting, into the trunk of a much older car backing out of a parking space in the apartment complex of a girl he spent the night with. This accident made him run late to the fair, but he finally arrived albeit a bit frazzled and overwhelmed.
He applied for so many jobs but with no interviews. That was until the second day of meetings when he ran into a former neighbor from Raleigh, North Carolina named Steve Bryant. He tagged along with Steve and ate with him and some other dignitaries through a luncheon he probably was not supposed to be at, but he was. After the lunch, Bryant said to him that he was catching their business at a helluva time. It was fun and will always be. But, it was still a business so Bryant told him to go get himself a job. And by God, that’s what Ryan did.
The people Ryan worked with, no matter how dysfunctional they appeared to be were all one big family. One of the funniest incidences he mentions (and there were many) was the Battle of Hickory. As he led up to what happened, he said, “So many of the greatest battles ever fought is that no one truly knows who fired the first shot, the subtle pulled trigger, or secretly thrown stone that ignited a much larger conflict.” The Battle of Hickory was a “mascot” fight. You gotta read the book to see how the fight got started!
Ryan used many movie references that made his narrative feel like comedic Improv material. It was bittersweet leaving his family with the Asheville Tourists to take his job with ESPN, but it was an opportunity he would have regretted not taking. Ryan’s cast of characters, and trust me you couldn’t make this stuff up included Julio the Cat, a stray cat that became a fixture around the baseball compound. Long live Julio the Cat! Thanks Ryan, for a very entertaining memoir, whether you’re a baseball fan or not.
Ryan was hoping to land a job in professional baseball, so he was on his way to the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, host of the 1993 edition of the Baseball Winter Meetings, which was the bunkhouse stampede of sports job fairs, for babyface college graduates like himself. What Ron wasn’t expecting was crashing his brand-new Pontiac Grand Am on the way to this meeting, into the trunk of a much older car backing out of a parking space in the apartment complex of a girl he spent the night with. This accident made him run late to the fair, but he finally arrived albeit a bit frazzled and overwhelmed.
He applied for so many jobs but with no interviews. That was until the second day of meetings when he ran into a former neighbor from Raleigh, North Carolina named Steve Bryant. He tagged along with Steve and ate with him and some other dignitaries through a luncheon he probably was not supposed to be at, but he was. After the lunch, Bryant said to him that he was catching their business at a helluva time. It was fun and will always be. But, it was still a business so Bryant told him to go get himself a job. And by God, that’s what Ryan did.
The people Ryan worked with, no matter how dysfunctional they appeared to be were all one big family. One of the funniest incidences he mentions (and there were many) was the Battle of Hickory. As he led up to what happened, he said, “So many of the greatest battles ever fought is that no one truly knows who fired the first shot, the subtle pulled trigger, or secretly thrown stone that ignited a much larger conflict.” The Battle of Hickory was a “mascot” fight. You gotta read the book to see how the fight got started!
Ryan used many movie references that made his narrative feel like comedic Improv material. It was bittersweet leaving his family with the Asheville Tourists to take his job with ESPN, but it was an opportunity he would have regretted not taking. Ryan’s cast of characters, and trust me you couldn’t make this stuff up included Julio the Cat, a stray cat that became a fixture around the baseball compound. Long live Julio the Cat! Thanks Ryan, for a very entertaining memoir, whether you’re a baseball fan or not.
October 22, 2025
This book will make you look at minor league stadiums, and the people that run them, in a whole new light. It was so great I listened to it twice.
July 4, 2023
Ryan McGee delights with his memoir of working behind the scenes in the bush leagues with his Welcome to the Circus of Baseball.
McGee, half of ESPN's Marty and McGee duo, writes of a time before his ESPN fame, the summer of 1994 when he worked as an intern for the Asheville Tourists, the class A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.
The book follows McGee's path to get a job in the baseball world, and it is about baseball, but it's also about more than that. It's about a young man trying to find his way in the world alongside his friends. It's about the people that he encounters along the way, and how they help him along his journey. And it's about the stories and experiences that stay with us for years after they actually happen.
Given that this was minor league baseball and the summer of 1994, the book includes strong portions of Michael Jordan playing baseball and a guest providing a unique perspective on the OJ Simpson Bronco chase. It also includes the stunts and suprises that are the hallmark of minor league baseball, tales from the merchandise and concession stands, and a very unfortunate encounter with a soft serve ice cream machine.
McGee's experiences - long hours, low pay, carefree hijinks - will resonate with all of us who have ever worked for a minor league franchise or college athletic department. McGee is a worthy and skilled narrator to the story, both the sports related elements as well as the coming of age challenges and lessons.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
McGee, half of ESPN's Marty and McGee duo, writes of a time before his ESPN fame, the summer of 1994 when he worked as an intern for the Asheville Tourists, the class A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.
The book follows McGee's path to get a job in the baseball world, and it is about baseball, but it's also about more than that. It's about a young man trying to find his way in the world alongside his friends. It's about the people that he encounters along the way, and how they help him along his journey. And it's about the stories and experiences that stay with us for years after they actually happen.
Given that this was minor league baseball and the summer of 1994, the book includes strong portions of Michael Jordan playing baseball and a guest providing a unique perspective on the OJ Simpson Bronco chase. It also includes the stunts and suprises that are the hallmark of minor league baseball, tales from the merchandise and concession stands, and a very unfortunate encounter with a soft serve ice cream machine.
McGee's experiences - long hours, low pay, carefree hijinks - will resonate with all of us who have ever worked for a minor league franchise or college athletic department. McGee is a worthy and skilled narrator to the story, both the sports related elements as well as the coming of age challenges and lessons.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
April 5, 2023
A delightful love letter to minor league baseball and a must-read for fans.
ESPN’s Ryan McGee was once a lowly $100 a week intern for a minor league baseball team, and he’s got the sweet and silly stories to prove it.
That’s essentially what McGee is doing here—just telling stories—but they’re good ones, and that’s what many fans will tell you baseball is about: Telling stories. It is indeed the most narrative of sports, and McGee delivers an homage to that perspective, as well as a great reminder that those working hard to fulfill their dream of working in sports aren’t just the guys on the field.
There’s plenty of tribute and love for baseball, and especially for the minor leagues here, but there’s also loads of terrific humor. From a mascot battle royale to the hilarious horror of operating a concession ice cream machine, I laughed out loud a LOT while reading this.
Come for the behind the scenes look at how a minor league ballpark runs, stay for the feral cats.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
ESPN’s Ryan McGee was once a lowly $100 a week intern for a minor league baseball team, and he’s got the sweet and silly stories to prove it.
That’s essentially what McGee is doing here—just telling stories—but they’re good ones, and that’s what many fans will tell you baseball is about: Telling stories. It is indeed the most narrative of sports, and McGee delivers an homage to that perspective, as well as a great reminder that those working hard to fulfill their dream of working in sports aren’t just the guys on the field.
There’s plenty of tribute and love for baseball, and especially for the minor leagues here, but there’s also loads of terrific humor. From a mascot battle royale to the hilarious horror of operating a concession ice cream machine, I laughed out loud a LOT while reading this.
Come for the behind the scenes look at how a minor league ballpark runs, stay for the feral cats.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
July 17, 2023
Really liked it and kept thinking how fun it would've been to have the internship Ryan had that summer! (Fun at 22, not fun in middle age!) Ryan is a good storyteller and brings some lowkey funny moments, like randomly using the word "himselvis" chapters after a story involving an Elvis impersonator named Elvis Himselvis or referring to joining Julio the Cat in heaven. It wouldn't appeal to everyone because it's mainly focused on baseball, but if you like America's pastime, you might enjoy this glimpse behind the scenes.
June 17, 2023
Heartfelt humorous tribute to his summer as an intern with the Asheville Tourists, the A ball team of Asheville, NC. Set in 1994 the book is structured around the innings of baseball and each story fits perfectly together to tell not just Ryan’s history but the history of baseball using Asheville as the lens. Asheville saw Ty Cobb, Babe Roth, and Jackie Robinson among others barnstorm their way north from Spring training. It was the site for Bull Durham and the hometown of Thomas Wolfe who was a batboy at McCormick field. Mostly, the book is an engaging story of the family that made up the staff that ran the ballpark and leaves you with greater respect for those hardworking, underpaid, and mostly unsung heroes of the sport.
May 29, 2023
An incredible book about an incredible experience for the author as an intern for a minor league baseball team.
The writing is superb. The descriptions jump off the page, and I found myself laughing out loud many times.
A great book even if you are not a diehard baseball fan. I think anyone can find value within the pages.
The writing is superb. The descriptions jump off the page, and I found myself laughing out loud many times.
A great book even if you are not a diehard baseball fan. I think anyone can find value within the pages.
July 8, 2023
I loved this book. McGee really makes the reader feel what it's like to work for a minor league baseball team, from all the hard and varied work, to the outrageous characters that populate a minor league ballpark. A lot of funny stories, and also the writing overall is humorous. I read this on vacation, and it was the perfect summer read.
December 25, 2024
Giving this one “the favorite read of 2024” award. It delighted me with familiar sights from my hometown and hometown baseball team. Captain Dynamite and his coffin of death plus the epic battle of hickory (a real live throw down between furry mascots) made me guffaw with wheezing laughter. Ryan is such a talented story teller. It seems like you got seated next to the funniest guy at the dinner party and the stories just don’t stop.
February 5, 2025
What an awesome book! I laughed so hard, especially at the Battle of Hickory story. It remind me of all the great things I love about baseball. Incredibly well written. Easily one of my new favorite books.
May 17, 2023
Like...it's a fun read, an easy read, a relatively minus read, but it's Fun, and now that I'm done literally all I want to do is go to a minor league game (and then another, and another, etc) so Job Done I guess, McGee.
July 8, 2023
my little sport management heart loved this book 🥰
November 1, 2023
What a fun summer he had in 1994! And a fun book to read about it. Always have liked minor league baseball, so sad so many teams have been eliminated. We’ll told story of one summer season in Asheville!
January 7, 2024
If you like reading about sports generally, you will enjoy. If you love baseball particularly, you will love. Well written. He masterfully managed to weave his myriad experiences into a fun, at times laugh-out -loud funny, at times poignant, often enlightening recounting of his season as a MiLB intern.
January 12, 2025
This was recommended to me quite a few years ago and I found it quite nice. Some of the facts mentioned fit well into my next reads too.
March 6, 2025
This was such a fun way to get ready for baseball season. I loved the peek behind the curtain of a minor league team, especially set in a city I love so much.
April 22, 2025
I love this book, love Ryan McGee. As a baseball fan and a Ryan McGee fan, this book was excellent! I also love minor league baseball and all the goofiness that goes with it! Must read!
March 20, 2024
What a delightful book to read in the weeks preceding baseball season! Ryan McGee chronicles his time as a summer intern with the Minor League Asheville Tourists in 1994.
He paints a vivid picture of the people and experiences of this memorable time in his life.
I was reading on a flight and had to stifle my laughter as Ryan described “The Battle of Hickory.”
I sure hope to enjoy a minor league baseball game or two in addition to cheering on my beloved Baltimore Orioles!
He paints a vivid picture of the people and experiences of this memorable time in his life.
I was reading on a flight and had to stifle my laughter as Ryan described “The Battle of Hickory.”
I sure hope to enjoy a minor league baseball game or two in addition to cheering on my beloved Baltimore Orioles!
November 26, 2025
Surprisingly charming and funny.
May 31, 2024
A perfect encapsulation of life in a ballpark and truly what makes minor leagues special and
Important
Important
July 9, 2024
A good book detailing the author's time as an intern for a Class A minor league team. He had some funny stories about his time as an intern.
February 19, 2025
This was such a joyous (and a little
a little bit heartbreaking) book, written with such verve and humor that I think you’d enjoy the hell out of it even if you knew nothing about baseball or, ahem, weren’t alive for the entirety of the period it covers.
a little bit heartbreaking) book, written with such verve and humor that I think you’d enjoy the hell out of it even if you knew nothing about baseball or, ahem, weren’t alive for the entirety of the period it covers.
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