A Damn Near Perfect Game: Reclaiming America's Pastime

by Rob Bradford

Baseball's most outspoken fireballer brings the high heat in a book that calls out the hacks, cheats, ridiculous rules, and more that have tarnished the game--from the field of play to the clubhouse, front office, broadcast booth, and beyond--and serves up A-plus stuff on how to make baseball pure, fun, and damn near perfect.


Baseball has an image problem, the chorus of nonbelievers gets louder every year, and the Major Leagues have made an art of tuning them out. It wasn't always this way, and it doesn't have to be anymore. Enter Joe Kelly: a walking, talking, fastball-throwing embodiment of why baseball matters and why we should love it. He's got some things to say about what's gone wrong with baseball, what makes it great, and what needs to happen to make it damn near f*cking perfect.




A Damn Near Perfect Game is the loudest insider's expos� of the laws and culture of Major League Baseball since Jim Bouton's classic Ball Four. From his perspective as a two-time World Series Champion, baseball's most meme-able player according to ESPN, Big League firebrand, and current pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, Kelly takes readers on a house-cleaning tour of the clubhouse, the field of play, the bullpen, the front office, the commissioner's office, and a ballplayer's restricted life off-the-field. Kelly goes off on rule changes that matter and sticking to them (pitch clocks, no designated hitter, and more); baseball hacks (overused analytics, shifts, sign-stealing, and more); the promotion of baseball to a new generation of fans (letting players get edgy on social media, merchandising in truly trend-setting ways, and more); encouraging actual emotion (let the players fight, let them bat-flip, let them talk sh*t); and fixing all that's wrong with the front office and the Commissioner's Office.





And to show what happens when baseball has some piss and vinegar, he gives the inside scoop on his legendary exploits--starting a bench-clearing brawl with the Yankees' Tyler Austin, his famous "pouty face" scene when calling out the notorious sign-stealing Houston Astros, and wearing a Mariachi jacket to the White House visit with his World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, Memoir, Audiobook

288 pages, Hardcover

Published February 28, 2023

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

" . . . baseball is a book, not a sentence. [It] is different from any other sport . . . It's a bit more complicated and that's okay. Baseball makes you think. It makes you talk. Questions are being asked and answered . . . If you're patient enough, you can see that baseball is a combination of chess, ballet, a classroom, and cannon fire." -- pitcher Joe Kelly, extolling the virtues of America's pastime, on page 18

The sometimes outspoken but often humorous relief pitcher - currently with the Chicago White Sox, though he spent time over the last decade with the St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, and most notably the Los Angeles Dodgers (woot-woot!), sporting his notably meme-worthy Astros-mocking frowny face - pens a part memoir / part op-ed piece with his A Damn Near Perfect Game. For the D's fans still smarting over that 2017 World Series loss Kelly blasts the Astros and their dubious conduct repeatedly in the opening chapter, which was certainly a good enough start for me. But then he settles into a nicer yet still-opinionated groove, describing what led to his fulfilling and exciting life in the MLB while also offering constructive criticism on how some facets of the profession could be changed / improved for a 21st century audience (in an era where the NFL and NBA garner more attention) without diluting what makes it special. Although the closing section - featuring various fellow athletes and/or celebrities speaking about their love of the game - seems a little superfluous to the main narrative, it was difficult to argue with TV host (and lifelong Cardinals fan) Andy Cohen's sincere take on the joys of baseball fandom - "It's all very life-affirming and positive. It's just beautiful, and so American. There is just no feeling like it when you have a team and they're doing well. There's a romance about it." As a Dodgers fan who was very happy for the 2020 World Series win (especially on the heels of those 2017 and 2018 losses), I know exactly what Mr. Cohen means.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure statement: I am a baseball fan, Red Sox devotee, underground member of the Joe Kelly Fight Club (no t-shirt but big fan), and I received a Kindle ARC of this book through the Goodreads giveaway program.

First of all, if you like brash, honest voices and have any fondness at all for the game of baseball, you're really going to enjoy this book. There were several times I closed it in a fluff because I disagreed with Joe's take, but after a cup of coffee and a good eye roll, I couldn't help returning to see what he had to say about the clubhouse. Oh! And the owners! And the Astros...wow, don't hold back, man. *wink*

If you don't dig baseball, you'll still be intrigued by the action and psychology, and will be Googling things like "Joe Kelly Fight Club" and "Astros Cheating Scandal" and "World Series 2013".

Either way, it's a fantastic read by a passionate man who loves baseball to the core and I'm grateful to have had a chance to read and review it!

[George McDonald · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. Don't bother.

I like Joe Kelly as a pitcher, and as a public character, but 'author' isn't going to go on his tombstone.

Pretty sure this was mostly written by the ghost writer, Bradford, and he is no Jim Bouton or Roger Kahn. Feels like he was getting paid by the word.

Not much here at all, although I did appreciate two of the ten chapters. The bit on the bullpen I think did a fair job of relating what it is like to experience a game from there, and apparently hasn't changed alll that much since I was a kid and used to hang out over the bullpen at Dodger Stadium.

The chapter on dealing with the commissioner's office provided some actual inside scoop. I'm still bitter about Kelly getting an 8 game suspension for the pouty face episode, while the cheating Astros just got fingers wagged at them. I did deeply appreciate how he consistently referred to that team from Houston as 'the cheating Astros".

[David Hallstrom · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book begins with promise but dies of pretty quickly.

Problem 1: Kelly blames Major League Baseball for not penalizing players on the 2017 Astros team for the cheating scandal, but the Major League Baseball Players Assocation insisted on no penalties in agreement for the players' cooperation. Kelly's beef is with his union.

Problem 2: There was a second team penalized for sign stealing at the same time as the 2017 Astros, Kelly's own 2018 World Champion Boston Red Sox. The cheating was not as rampant, but it did exist and that he chooses not to acknowledge this is telling.

Problem 3: Kelly's plan to make baseball more relatable to the fans is to let people know the game is fun and show the unique personalities of players. He could have accomplished the mission by writing what I just wrote. Or he could yammer on about if for 150 pages offering few examples of how this would be achieved.

Problem 4: Kelly cannot tell =enough stories to fill a 225-page book. The final third of the book is comprised of thoughts on baseball from other people, baseball players, a hockey player, a musician and Rob Lowe. Rob Lowe claims in his testimony that Pete Rose made a pitching change at Dodger Stadium solely so he could find Lowe in his seat and signal to him he (Rose) would call him (Lowe) later. Seeing both Rose and Lowe have documented histories of sexual relations with minors, this may not be telling the story the authors and editor intended.

Problem 5: At least half of this book is mind-numbingly boring.

[Ken Bonfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn Near Perfect Baseball Book

The perfect book to read before the season gets underway. Heartwarming and engaging from.beginning to end.

And I'd sure love to spend time with Joe in the bullpen when the White Sox come to Fenway this year.

[Brian Parker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Joe just capitalized on his Astros moment and somehow tried to drag it out into an entire book. His “inside looks” in the game were nothing already out there and bro acted like he was spilling the beans. This should have been a 2 paragraph article in sports illustrated. To be clear this is coming from a dodgers and Joe Kelly fan. I can’t tell if this was completely written in 20 minutes from a ghost writer or Joe wrote this at his 8th grade writing level, but man this was a tough read.

[Brina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tonight I am going to Wrigley Field for the first time in two years. I broke my streak last year but still listened to every game I could on the radio. If Lake Michigan is my North Star, Wrigley Field is my polar north. I first attended a game back in 1984 right before my fifth birthday. The Cubs were actually good that year and I had to earn my tickets through a library read with me program. Challenge complete. Baseball, the Cubs and Wrigley Field specifically, became the love of my life pretty much from the time I was born during the 1979 World Series. Even though I have made this trip to the ballpark countless times, I am giddy with excitement, and, better yet, I am going with my dad and no kids for the first time in years. We are both celebrating round year anniversaries of attending games at this institution so it just felt right. Today’s kids need instant gratification, and I am not sure how many of the current generation will develop into lifelong fans of the game the way I did. As I watch the little league World Series, I could be proven wrong, but the average kid is not going to become a fan the way I did in this day and age of shorter attention spans. Enter one Joe Kelly who has been a major league pitcher for over ten years. He comes from the unique vantage point of growing up both a player and fan and has had the privilege of playing in the majors. Baseball is a damn near perfect game; ok, in my eyes, it is perfect. This book is Kelly’s plea to fix the game to make is accessible to kids so the game will endure for generations to come. I was intrigued from the get go.

Born on June 8, 1988, Joe Kelly is a good ten years younger than me and has the unique perspective of a millennial who enjoyed his formative years with no internet or gadgets and coming of age right when the internet took off. He has seen both sides of life, with and without the need for instant news and stats, and even though he has played his entire career in the age of analytics, he prefers the old school. Kelly played baseball from a young age, but growing up in California he grew to love the developing skateboard culture. At age eleven, even though he was clearly the best pitcher on his travel team, Kelly wanted out. This, he notes, is important for any kid playing sports today. They should not play because they are pressured by parents but rather because they love what they are doing. Yes, his parents knew that wanting to become the next Tony Hawk was not the best life path, but they trusted their son enough to let him see that for himself. By high school, it was back to baseball. Kelly always loved the camaraderie of being on a team and life in the club house and dugout. He could not replicate that by playing video games or skateboarding as much as he also loved these other activities. Baseball grew into a passion, and by the end of high school, he knew he was good enough to play in college and maybe even professionally. The day after Kelly’s twenty first birthday, he was drafted by the Cardinals and his adult life was set. Joe Kelly set out to be a major league ball player.

This year is Joe Kelly’s thirteenth year in the major leagues. He has played for the Cardinals (boo), Red Sox, Dodgers, White Sox, and now back on the Dodgers. At this point with over ten years of service time, he has seen everything that goes on in Major League Baseball, for better or worse. From the outside looking in, Kelly is one of baseball’s bad guys who happens to throw one hundred mile an hour heat; however, he gets it. I have been a moderator for the baseball book club on goodreads for years now, and my friends there keep telling me to read Ball Four, a baseball exposé. A Damn Near Perfect Game, in a sense, is Ball Four for the twenty first century. It is not raunchy other than Kelly’s exclamations after getting a key strikeout of Carlos Correa, but it does expose baseball for what it is, an antiquated game run by old men that is losing younger fans to video games and football. Kelly even as a pitcher believes that ball players need to play with personal flair. Players weekend, where guys get to wear personalized cleats and use individualized bats should become commonplace. Interacting with fans that happened all the time back in the 1950s creating a generation of fans in the baby boom era should be happening now. If a ten year old wants to tell Jackson Merrill that his Star Wars bat is lit, there should be a way to do that. Yes, some players sign autographs, but that should become the new norm. That one autograph could make a kid’s day and a fan for life.

While Kelly offers ways to fix baseball so the game always endures, he is not on the commissioner’s dean’s list. Because he pitched for the Dodgers following the Astros’ cheating scandal ruling, Kelly had been vocal in his opinion that baseball was too soft on the cheaters. His strikeout of Correa as well as the pouty face afterward made its rounds on social media, leading fans to be polarized in their opinion of Kelly. As one who says “if you use, you lose”, I believe that the commissioner has been harsh on Kelly, just because he threw inside to one of the Astros. You protect your teammates, that is part of baseball, but today there are few fights, and not enough flair. Kelly wore a mariachi jacket to the White House and talked trash to the vice President, ha. In light of his suspension, he gained an audience with the commissioner to speak at length about just how he would fix baseball. After this talk, Kelly gained new appreciation for the commissioner and came away believing that the game is still in good hands, sabermetrics not withstanding. Kelly would start by allowing for more fan interactions both live and on social media. The commissioner countered with rules that should provide for more action on the field. Little by little, the old game is becoming more modern without becoming unrecognizable. Kelly the fan of the game is ok with that.

Kelly ends his plea by asking both current and former players as well as celebrities why they love baseball. The consensus is that there is something inherent in baseball that one just has to love it after going to that first game and seeing a freshly mown field with their own eyes. No sport can replicate that. Kelly tells his own children that he will support them if they choose to play sports, but if they don’t, that’s ok too. He’s not going to push them to play baseball just because it is his own life’s passion. I wish he would have asked me to state why I love baseball. I just do. I am a third generation fan giving way to fourth generation fans of the same team at the same ballpark. I might have just as short of an attention span as today’s kids and need as much action, but with baseball, time slows down. It’s the smells of the field and the crack of the bat and beauty as time moves from spring to summer to autumn. It’s the anticipation of opening day and the seasons starting anew as pennants are won and kids go back to school. It’s hearing an announcer who sounds like an old friend or favorite uncle, providing me with solace. That’s why I love baseball. If the game develops more players like Joe Kelly who truly care about being caretakers of this game that I love, then I think that baseball is in good hands going forward. I am as giddy as a kid to renew my acquaintance with that game tonight. He gets it, and this testimony has brought a smile to this fan’s face.

4 stars

[Liam Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Major League Baseball relief pitcher Joe Kelly is primarily known for two things: 1. with the Red Sox, starting a fight with the Yankees after one of their player's dirty takeout slide, and 2. with the Dodgers, making a pouty face at Carlos Correa soon after the revelations of the Astros' sign-stealing scandal.  Kelly covers both of these incidents and their aftermaths in full detail early on in this memoir.  But the better part of the book follows.

Coming from a troubled background, Kelly found an escape in baseball.  As a professional player, he's part of a younger generation who have spurned the "unspoken rules" of baseball's elders and recognized that baseball is a game and it's supposed to be fun.  In Kelly's analysis, baseball can better engage fans by embracing the fun and allowing the players to show their personality.  Through stories of the game as a player and a spectator, Kelly demonstrates that "baseball isn't boring."  In the final chapter, other players, Hall of Famers, as well as actors, musicians, and athletes from other sports express their love for baseball.

Favorite Passages:

Baseball is different from any other sport, where often you can watch the last few minutes of a game and get the gist. The NBA? The NFL? The NHL? What you see is what you get. Nothing wrong with any of it. The fast pace, the tight focus on a moving object, the made-for-TV rhythms of the season—they’re all tailor-made for today’s fans. Baseball? It’s a bit more complicated and that’s okay. Baseball makes you think. It makes you talk. Questions are being asked and answered. Why is that player doing this or that? And when the answers do arrive, the world somehow always seems to be a little bit better of a place. If you’re patient enough, you can see that baseball is a combination of chess, ballet, a classroom, and cannon fire. When you’re watching bat flips, punchouts, home-run-robbing catches, and laser throws from the warning track, it’s easy to remember all the feels.

Baseball is built on emotion. That’s a fact. The feeling of wanting to explode in just the right way at just the right time is what the whole experience is about. Swinging a bat. Throwing a ball. Bursting down a base path. Springing toward the perfect fielding position. The heart rate shoots up and the body follows in lockstep. And in between all those actions, there’s the other side: controlling your emotions in order for your mind and body to ultimately take over. The battle between nerves, muscle memory, memories, and excitement is an every-game, every-inning, every-batter, every-pitch thing. That is what this sport demands.

For years, the invisible book of unwritten rules suggested batters pimping homers should be frowned on. Respect the pitcher. Respect the game. News flash: If you really want to respect baseball, understand that we need more of that personality. Pimp away. Take a minute rounding the bases. Pitchers, throw your hats up in the air. Pump your fists. Whatever you want. If somebody hits a home run off me, I’m already fucking pissed. The hitter doing whatever he’s going to do won’t make me any angrier.

For instance, Major League Baseball has access to all of these Wall Street executives, so why in the world can’t it set up a committee for players who are retired or about to be retired that can help them with investment information? The unfortunate fact is that 60 percent of MLB players who retire have financial problems. Or how about this? Set up an independent committee involving mental health professionals who can really help a problem that is lingering among players these days. There needs to be somebody for these guys to talk to if they don’t trust who the clubs are offering up, or if there is an issue that crops up in the middle of the night. Right now everything has to be done through the club, and that doesn’t always work for a player.

What teams and Major League Baseball were trying to do was treat their players like they were in the Army. That works in the Army, because discipline and consistency are essential to the work it does. There’s no messing around, and everybody better be on the same page. Understood. But we’re playing a game. It’s not the same.

Fun and encouragement have to stay at the top of our lists. We have to remember that while we are obsessing over having this game take root, these kids are fending off the pitfalls of bullying, puberty, and those first girlfriends or boyfriends. Everything leading to high school is end-of-the-world stuff. Baseball should be part of the solution, not another part of the problem.

Kids are being asked to define themselves at such a young age, being pushed into sports specialization by parents and coaches who fear falling behind. That’s insane to me.

I will never forget one of my favorite moments when Stephen Drew hit a home run in Game 6 of the 2013 World Series and I was on-deck and something just clicked in my brain when he hit it. I knew it was gone so I immediately turned around and watched the fans. That’s the greatest thing you can do as an athlete. Our success is really cool, but to see all the fans rise up together, high-fiving and watching strangers hug. Shit, I get chills just thinking about it. - David Ross

[RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN · Rating 4 out of 5]

RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: I’M A PROUD MEMBER OF THE JOE KELLY FIGHT CLUB! #1 ENEMY CORREA
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The author Joe Kelly has pitched in the Big Leagues for ten years… and won a World Championship with two all-time iconic teams… the Red Sox and the Dodgers. “Fight Club” Joe has many fans… but he has become an almost mystical favorite of old-school… don’t back down… let your playing and fighting do your talking club members. A big fight that he spear-headed as a member of the Red Sox… against the near universally hated Yankees… was not only like taking a time machine back to the baseball glory days of the 1940’s – 1960’s… but it also led to an enormously tighter bonding of the Red Sox entire 2018 championship team. Then fast forward to 2020 and the now INFAMOUS JOE KELLY “POUT” IN A GAME AGAINST THE LOWLIFE… CHEATING… SCUMBAG… ASTROS! Of course a couple of Kelly’s pitches (ahem… ahem..) slipped out of his hand in route to the plate… that led to an unscheduled team meeting on the field at the height of the Covid epidemic.

And from that space in time… the author then goes back to the early days of his life. The author’s main goal seems to be an attempt to make a global pitch/statement on how great baseball is… how much he loves it… and decides he needs to get on a soap box… and lecture on the changes that need to be made… to not only continue to be great… but to… if not outshine basketball, football and hockey… at least… to not fall further behind in fan popularity.

Unfortunately in “the- road- taken”… by the author… an extremely high percentage of this short book (more on that later)… much of the presentation seems to be designed as a hand out presentation consultation… geared to the Commissioner of Baseball… all the staff… down from the Commissioner… the hierarchy of the organization chart… with additional distribution to all team owners and their underlings.

While Joe obviously sheds some light on his biographical data… such as some of the main things that shaped him into the “old-school” competitor that he is… including the rough edges. He talks of his parents’ divorce… his Father being an alcoholic… his brother… a heroin addict… who had gotten out of prison. But despite these boiling sign-posts of his life… by the end of the book… it’s impossible for the reader to miss… that only a very skeletal part of his personal life story was unveiled for the reader. There was also a limited amount of real day by day… behind the scenes… multiple… game by game… action divulged.

There are some clear cut declarations that act like chum to fish… for hard core Kelly fans… such as this self-declared description… that would make any *JOE-KELLY-FIGHT-CLUB-MEMBER* smile and stand up and cheer… (And personally… that description… is like looking in a mirror!)

“PEOPLE THINK I’M CRAZY. I DON’T FEEL THAT WAY. I JUST DO THINGS OTHERS WON’T. I GUESS I’M WIRED DIFFERENTLY. I THINK THE SAME THING OTHER BALLPLAYERS DO. I JUST MIGHT ACT ON THOSE THOUGHTS A BIT MORE.”

And Joe… that’s why I love you!!

A very strong mantra that Joe presents throughout the book… aside from his “consultant-like-proposal” to the Commissioner… owners… etc. is to never force upon your children to play baseball or any sport… and to not exert pressure on them in any way. As long as they hustle and go all out… if they do play! One of the few detailed childhood… behind the curtain revelations is the fact that Joe never wanted to become a Big League ballplayer… what he yearned for… (Potential readers… take a deep breath… clear your mind… and I’ll tell you!)

Joe always wanted to be…***AN UNDERCOVER NARCOTICS AGENT***!

And there you have… proof that… those unknown… uniquely Joe comments… facial expressions…. And actions… in the Big Leagues… start to make a little more sense. Yes the mariachi jacket at the White House… the pitches that ”slipped” out of his hand… the street fighting… love of the first deserved punches… Joe… you’re playing… and living a life… for your loyal fight-club-members!

The book for some reason is falsely marketed as a 288 page book… but is actually 228 pages… and since the last chapter entitled “DON’T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT”… is not really written by Joe… it’s made up of comments from 37 famous or not famous… ballplayers… coaches… managers… and actors and race car drivers… ranging from Terry Francona to Rob Lowe… to Ken Griffey Jr. ... to Jon Hamm… to Dennis Eckersley… and everyone in between… taking up 65 of the 228 pages… telling why they love baseball… and some pros and cons… some comments are one paragraph… some multiple pages. If you subtract 65 from 228… and see how much is written for the benefit of the aforementioned Commissioner-owners-etc. … you can easily determine why there is limited biographical and game detail.

[Lance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes the best view of a topic, be it sports, occupations or anything else, comes from someone who has actually experienced it and has done so in many different ways and levels. This short book by Joe Kelly, a relief pitcher who has been with 4 teams, most recently the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024, tells readers and listeners why baseball is such a great game and also the ways it can fix itself.

This isn’t a complete criticism of those today who feel the game is boring , too slow for today’s younger generations or similar well-worn reasons published on why baseball is not as popular as other sports. Instead, Kelly approaches this two sided. Yes, he does give suggestions on how the game can improve its appeal to younger people. The best part of this approach (and of the entire book for me) was his very productive interview with current MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. That was very enlightening and not at all what I expected.

The other way that Kelly approaches the task is what one would expect from the title. He extols all the aspects of the game that he believes makes it so good. There are far too many individual points made about this to list them all, but we’ll just say that any reason that fans have said why they like the game is covered in some way in the book. This can come from Kelly or from one of the many famous and not-so-famous people who share their stories on the game.

Speaking of stories, Kelly shares many of his own. There is a little bit of autobiographical material when he tells his rise to the major leagues. But the best is early in the book when he made his famous “pouty face” At Carlos Correa in a 2020 game between the Dodgers and the Houston Astros. Strange as it may seem, he uses this story to tell of his love for the game and why it is so good.

Listening to the audio version of this book, I not only enjoyed L.J. Ganser’s narration, but I felt I was able to connect with the stories told. While I am not one this book seemed to be trying to reach, it is one that any level of baseball fan should enjoy and who knows, it just might convince some that baseball truly is a damn near perfect game.

[Nick Crisanti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love baseball. I played multiple sports when I was young but I probably put more effort into playing basketball. It was fun to play baseball, but it just wasn't basketball. It wasn't until I was older that I came to appreciate the game of baseball and how awesome it is. Now it's my favorite sport. I'm a New York Mets fan who was born in 1983, so I don't remember the 1986 season, and it's been disappointment ever since. But I still watch every game.

Now as I started reading this book I became a little discouraged. First of all, I didn't really know who Joe Kelly was, I don't recall every hearing about his pouty face incident, or really anything else he claims every baseball fan would know about him. I definitely don't agree with him condoning fighting with other players. This isn't hockey.

As I kept reading his take on the game became more thoughtful and insightful. I still disagree with him on some things: robot umps - please, God, no; seven inning games - you're kidding, right? But I also agree with him on banning shifts, pitch clocks, and doing away with some of the unwritten rules of the game. His account of how awful the minor leagues are was eye-opening, and his take on not putting so much pressure on our kids to play sports all of the time and how we can share our joy for the game with them but compassionately support their choices was very percipient and sensible.

At the end of the book there are insights from other baseball players and fans that convey their love for the game and what appeals to them. It's very good to hear that there are others in this world that don't rely on instant gratification in their sports and can take pleasure in a nine-inning game, where every pitch is important and every ball in play is a chance for something to happen that has never happened before.

Baseball fans should definitely enjoy this one.

[Charlie Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a perfect reminder to the reader of everything that is awesome about baseball. Joe Kelly lets you know that it was the goal of writing this book to do that very thing, and he succeeded and then some. In fact, by the end of this book, Kelly managed to do something that I thought was impossible. This book gave me an ounce of respect for Rob Manfred, painting the commissioner as an efforting man looking to do what is best for all. Reading a player's perspective on our ever-changing game was very interesting. Kelly peeled the curtain back to share great stories that often don't make it out of the confines of the clubhouse or in his case, the bullpen. While he presented an inside look, outsiders of the sport are still welcome to enjoy his storytelling with definitions and explanations to keep even the most beginner baseball fans in the loop. It was a blistering quick read and quite a page-turner for a baseball fan like myself. The book starts off hot with one of the most iconic moments of Kelly's career and cools down at the end with a very interesting compilation of baseball players, coaches, fans, celebrities, and internet personalities sharing their love for baseball. I may be the target audience for this book, but it sure delivered exactly what I was hoping for and helped remind me why baseball is so awesome.

[Brian Shott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this one up at the library when I saw it featured in the “New Books” section. While Joe Kelly has never played for my favorite team, I’ve always appreciated his personality, and it felt like a good read with summer and baseball season winding down.

I wanted to like this, but it was ultimately disappointing. Much of my problem with it isn’t even the content itself. It’s the organization, or lack thereof. The book feels disjointed, a series of essays in need of a more thorough editing process.

Kelly seems to bill this as a sort of treatise on the game’s current status in our society, and its future. At times, it fulfills that promise. Yet at others, it feels like it was mailed in. I appreciated hearing others’ takes on the game in the final chapter, but it felt like a different book entirely.

Other promising moments include when he’s addressing his children, and how they will approach the game, and life in general.

This could have been so much more than it ended up. I’m still glad I picked it up, and I’m still a fan of Joe Kelly, but this wasn’t the summer baseball book that I’d hoped it would be.

[Jennifer Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baseball is back, and I could not be happier. Joe Kelly, MLB pitcher and author of “A Damn Near Perfect Game”, said it best when he wrote ‘Baseball is a gift; now it’s time to unwrap it.’

“A Damn Near Perfect Game” is part memoir, part love letter to baseball, and part plea to make baseball more enjoyable to the fans. I loved learning more about Joe Kelly, because he’s always been one of my favorites (even though he only spent a couple years in the Cardinals’ organization). I especially loved knowing what was going through his mind during ‘the pout’ and the subsequent fallout with Major League Baseball. I won’t even get started on Rob Manfred or some of his new rules…I could write a whole book. The last chapter was especially enjoyable, as it was testimonials from fans, players, and managers.

If you are a fan of baseball, or just want to learn more about why people love this amazing sport, pick up a copy. I was smiling ear to ear while reading it. You don’t even have to know who Joe Kelly is to enjoy it.

[James Maskell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine Tanner from The Bad News Bears was a real person who grew up to pitch in MLB. That’s how much of this book reads. Kelly is an entertaining character who is equally loved and hated in the game for the same reasons: he isn’t shy about doing what he wants and saying what he thinks. A Damn Near Perfect Game is a great balance of Kelly’s tales about fistfights and why he threw at this guy or that guy, as well as why baseball is the beautiful game that it is. My only beef is the final chapter, a collection of what others have to say about the game. While it’s filled with words of wisdom from some significant figures, you lose the Kelly voice that makes the rest of this volume as entertaining as watching him pitch in a game.

[norma baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baseball memoir

This seems to be an era of memoirs. It is interesting that people shared the minutae of their lives in the early days of social media and now there are a lot of memoirs.
Baseball fans should enjoy this one. Joe Kelly tells about his unhappy childhood with divorced parents and an alcoholic father. He found comfort in his young baseball team. That was the beginning, followed by baseball in school, baseball in college and the minor leagues. He tells about his maturation, everything in the context of his baseball family. He also offers his opinion of the changes in the game in the 2023 season. A good companion to the new season.

[Girard Bowe · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Baseball is life. Life is baseball. Ain't baseball great?!" All true, but it makes for a mighty thin read. There were some good stories and observations, but not near enough for me to recommend it. I kept flashing back to Jim Bouton's Ball Four: My Life and Hard Times Throwing the Knuckleball in the Big Leagues which was better written, much more insightful, and had loads more interesting stories, many of which I never forget from reading it back in 1970.

[Michael Huntone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baseball is fun! MLB should put all its chips into showing fans, showing kids, just how fun it is! That’s the heart beat of this book and one I 100% agree with.

Overall the book is entertaining w lots of great anecdotes and insights, but it feels at times a little disorganized and there are more than a few glaring editing errors. I’m not a super grammar nerd, but there were enough that it got to be distracting for me. Made me kind of mad at the publisher that they let this go to print like that. Whoever was the editor on this book did Joe a big disservice.

Still, worth reading and remembering why baseball is America’s Pastime!

[JediMind1207 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joe Kelly broke my heart in 2013 when he hit Hanley Ramirez in the ribs. For years after, Joe was someone that I viewed as an antagonist of baseball. Years later, in 2020, Joe would be a member of the Dodgers and win my heart and forgiveness for a memorable strikeout of Houston cheater Carlos Correa.

This book has it all and is such a wonderful insight of not only baseball greatness but Joe’s perspective and personal stories surrounding the game I love. I’m very grateful to have been able to read this book. I enjoyed every word, page and story. Thank you Joe for sharing this. Fingers crossed I can meet you someday to have my copy signed. “Tough nuts, kick butts.”

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

My initial impression of this book was that it was going to be pretty meh. The reader (I listened to the audio book) is a little overly animated and the opening chapters were a little repetitive. But once he gets into his interactions with Rob Manfred and getting suspended during Covid, it gets pretty interesting. Joe Kelly is a character and he’s a likable one. The last chapter (also the longest) is a bit of a tack-on, with other players and celebrities talking about why they love the game. The book loses a step during these brief essays. But, on balance, this is a quick and enjoyable read for anyone who loves the game.

[Tommy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read. Good thoughts on growing the game, and I enjoyed the interviews with other players, managers and fans about why they love the game.

Kinda twisted though, how kelly sets himself in opposition to the Commissioner's office, but actually marches in lockstep in the belief that the 11 to 12 figure industry is in any sort of trouble. Are there problems with accessibility? Yes.... completely created by baseball's refusal to dump archaic territorial media rights, and its boneheaded marketing....

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like/love baseball- this should be read.
As a Joe Kelly fan and Dodger fan, this made it better.
The perspective from a player currently playing rather than an “after the fact” makes fans take a step back and look at the over all picture. Baseball has changed but yet it hasn’t changed. Going to live games- strikeouts and home runs are still there but personalities are seen as well as the Team dynamics off and on the field.
Loved who he interviewed and the last chapter- Don’t take my word for it.

[Sue Ellen Melo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best way to describe this book is that is part love letter to the game itself and the fans, and part critique of what MLB has done to the game that is wrong and suggestions on how to fix it. I didn’t entirely agree with all of MR. Kelly’s suggestions but the one I did agree with was his admition we need to put fun back into the game. Anyone who has become jaded by the sport should read this book as it does a great job of reminding you why those of us who are baseball obsessed, fell in love with the game in the first place.

[Ryan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry Joe but it's not great. I've always enjoyed watching you as a personality player, but this book was clearly written in chunks, as the same story is told twice in two different chapters. The desired takeaway from the book is also that baseball is a wonderful game on the whole, and although there are some tweaks that could be made, more people should love and appreciate it for the beautiful game it is. I don't disagree, but I think anyone who picks up this book already knows that. It's some preaching to the choir.

[Chris Beach · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s hard for a sports book to get greater than a 3 with me. However, if you are a sports fan as I am this is a sensational book. “Crazy” Joe Kelly is one of my favorite players of all time. Like a lot of jocks Joe is a lot smarter and sensitive than he makes out to be. I loved the part of the book that describes his conversations with the Baseball Commissioner. Rob Bradford is a great sportswriter and a class act. They have teamed up to write a great book. I highly recommend it!

[Dan S · Rating 4 out of 5]

***won this book in a Goodreads giveaway**

Really enjoyed getting the perspective of the ins and outs of becoming a MLB player. Kelly certainly didn't hold back in some of his opinions and had some colorful language throughout the book. Love his quote that was told to him growing up "Tough nuts, kick butts"

[Rick R · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love baseball. This book put me to sleep. Stories that go no where. Ideas about improving the game that could be summed up in one sentence but instead go on and on.

Example: An early chapter about what an interesting place the clubhouse is...and then we get absolutely nothing about that topic.

[Peter Sprigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book did not make me think that Major League pitcher Joe Kelly was necessarily the kind of guy I would want to hang out with. And I actually found the later chapters, where Commissioner Rob Manfred and a variety of other players and fans were give their say to be more rewarding than Kelly's own contribution. But I love baseball, and the Red Sox, so it was hard not to like this book.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid.
Good re-telling of the other side of what players/teams thought of the Astros and their cheating scandal. Always interesting to read the different paths that led players to a career in MLB. I liked the perspective he gave about what he loves about the game and why he plays it, and the mental thought processes that he uses when on the mound or preparing as an athlete.

[Ash · Rating 2 out of 5]

Joe Kelly spends 30% of the book boasting about fighting and being such a tough guy. Ok, sure Joe. Then he talks about how baseball needs more personalities; baseball does not need more of his personality. His good points about the game are overshadowed by being kind of a douche.

Bonus star awarded for including Mark Hoppus.