You can learn a lot about a book, and about yourself, by measuring your reading increments. Kraig Applecherry loaned us “The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America” last month, right before we went to Paris. We brought it on the plane but didn’t touch it. Finally, about a week ago, we opened it. Twenty pages one night became 30 the next. Soon, even in a busy life, it became a necessity to finish instead of a great distraction. The book, which came out last year and was written by the ultra-talented Joe Posnanski, follows a year in the life of O’Neil, a former Negro Leagues player and manager who could perhaps best be summarized as an ambassador for baseball, though even that seems understated. We’d heard plenty about O’Neil before, and had been outraged just like everyone else when he failed to gain election into the Hall of Fame during a special election honoring other Negro League greats. A great sports book, though, takes you beyond sports. And this book, while great for its baseball tales, is (appropriately) more about the beautiful soul of one man. You will laugh, you might cry, but most importantly you will feel. We won’t spoil it if you have not read it, but we do want to toss in one excerpt from the afterword:

“Son,” Buck had said in New York, “in this life, you never walk by a red dress.” I think Buck meant we should never pass up the opportunity to live life. We should not rush by the red dresses, the baseball games, the street musicians, or the sweet smell of the desert. We should not stifle or smother our craziest dreams.

Amen to that. In any event, we believe Marthaler had an idea a long time ago to have a RandBall reading series. We’re not sure it would ever get off the ground, but this is the perfect first selection. We would also like to open the floor to a discussion of other classic sports books — not just titles, but what makes them great.

Fasola-link! Ubuntu.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at 8:53 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.