Odd Man Out: A Year On The Mound With A Minor League Misfit (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
I love the idea of baseball more than I love actually watching or playing the game myself. I can't remember the last time I actually sat through a full 9 inning game. My average seems to be about 4-6 if I go to see my HS team or local summer league team play. But I really do enjoy reading about baseball, and there were a few angle of interests here. We had actually considered being a host family one summer, and I'm also Mormon, so I was interested in hearing the players take on playing in Provo. The book itself is Matt McCarthy's story from his one season in the minors. Like many other players of his type, he was great in HS, good in college, but struggled to find his place in the pro's. Unlike many of his collegues, he had an Ivy League education, and plenty to do if baseball didn't work out. We are told that most Single A and Double A players have jsut as much talent as those above them, they just don't use it as much, and don't have the desire and professionalism to make the most of it. This seems to be at least partially the case. Many of these players are this close to making a living playing baseball, and they don't have a lot to fall back on, but they also aren't giving it their all. And they certainly aren't team players. They have an interest in their own stats, but not so much if the team wins or loses. The Spanish speakers even stick together to the point of helping out the other team. The schedule they follow doesn't help. They play just about every day over a 3 month stretch, and the days they aren't playing they are travelling. They are away from their families, and often see their teammates as competitors, rather than friends. So they don't help each other too much. It doesn't sound like they get too much actual help from the coaches either. There are a lot of funny stories about how the coach reacts to a win or loss, but not too much on actually teaching them how to play better. Overall, it came across like the episode of South Park where the boys are so bored of playing baseball that by the end of the season they are more interested in the season being over than winning. I enjoy the fact that I was able to read a book like this. It's a very easy, very quick read that I looked foward to picking up, and didn't want to put down. The stories were very interesting, and helped me understand baseball better. Both the actual game itself, and how it works on a organizational level. He does break the law of the clubhouse though. He names names, and tells embarrassing stories about people who had no clue that a book was being written about them. So I do feel bad for them there. I don't expect people to be perfect, but to try and act decently. Having these stories out there is a violation of privacy. Not sure the book would have worked if he had gone annonomous though. Like I said, I am LDS, but don't live in Utah and haven't been there in over 10 years. So it was interesting to see what an outsider thought of living in Mormon central. At one point he tried going into the Temple. He also got a Mormon host family, and seemed to appreciate their hospitality. There's a funny scene where he accidently walks into a Young Womens meeting taking place in the home. Other than that, he doesn't ask the questions that are on his mind, and probally would have happily been answered. I was surprised at how unMormon Ogden seems to be, where their arch rivals play. I gave the book 5 stars and put it on my favories list due to it's easy to read and enjoy writing style. It was informative to me on many levels, and interesting the whole way though. This book was an honest, insightful look at life in the minors. I want to share a quote from the book about my favorite baseball player: "David Eckstein, the Angels' diminutive shortstop, was always being held up as the type of player that we, as minor leaguers, should strive to be. In every sense of the word, Eckstein was an average major leaguer. He was was a solid hitter who didn't hit for power, didn't run well, and had a bum arm. But at five feet six he was so small, had so little natural talent, and played the game so hard that coaches couldn't resist telling their large, physically gifted minor leaguers to be more like him."
What do You think about Odd Man Out: A Year On The Mound With A Minor League Misfit (2009)?
Easy read....really makes me wonder what the allure of minor league baseball is!!
—Chysa
Not a bad look at the minors. A little repetitive.
—mfriedline55
Can't believe I finished this, boring as bat-shit.
—davidetr
