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Three Nights in August: Strategy, Heartbreak, and Joy Inside the Mind of a Manager by Buzz Bissinger
austiwesty's review
3.0
It was really weird reading this after reading Moneyball and Big Data Baseball. I love the analytics and sabermetric approaches to baseball, so it was strange to read a book focused on the old-school techniques. La Russa openly trashes sabermetrics repeatedly, which seems pretty foolish 10+ years later. This was an interesting concept for a book, but it came across fairly boring. I did enjoy the different anecdotes and stories about the players, especially the section on Darryl Kile.
melanierae's review against another edition
much better this time around with the book to follow along with. idk if I have a position on larussa vs beane
aml519's review against another edition
4.0
As a Cardinals fan, I loved hearing the inside story on a series that means so much to fans. Bissinger is a beautiful writer, and it was a great angle to take on a baseball story.
ejdecoster's review
3.0
Thought on this for 24 hours and decided to add a review. This book was a great perspective into the mind of a manager, as promised. But for all that, the prose was pretty overwrought, which made it a bit of a slog at times. I think the author was often guilty of romanticizing baseball the way it "used to be," when played by "real baseball men," etc. For somebody really into baseball as a game (rather than, say, fans of just one team), this book would probably be interesting and informative. If you're not pretty passionate about the game, though, or don't already have a pretty good working knowledge of major players in the baseball world, I can't imagine you'd get much out of it.
katgriff's review
3.0
i miss baseball and love the cardinals. so i wanted to love this book. however, i couldn’t get over the problematic descriptions buzz bissinger uses throughout, including bi-polar pitcher or a pitcher with “multiple personalities” (and many variations) to describe inconsistent performance, calling someone “profoundly crazy” for attending the university of west virginia, a batter who catalogues every pitch ever thrown to him “like an anal-compulsive librarian.” i liked the structure of this: profiling a team through the lens of a high stakes 3 game series with a rival. and i liked learning about this era of the cardinals. but really couldn’t get past the authorial voice. which is honestly a shame because i’ve been meaning to read friday night lights forever. but i don’t know if i will now.
blue_has_no_value's review
3.0
Buzz Bissinger is a tremendously unlikable author, and Tony La Russa is an equally unlikable baseball manager. But somehow, Bissinger's book about La Russa is likable -- or, at least, entertaining enough to fill the afternoons of a chilly offseason.
The buzz upon its release pegged "Three Nights" as a fawning tribute to La Russa's tactical and philosophical genius, but this is not a hagiography. Bissinger clearly admires La Russa and agrees with most of his old-school baseball principles, but he also devotes space to La Russa's troubled family life. The manager's borderline-obsessive behavior during the season is not glorified, but reported dispassionately.
The book aims to deconstruct a crucial three-game series between the Cubs and Cardinals in 2003, but Bissinger seems caught in the middle a little bit. He offers some good insight into the unorthodox strategy and in-game maneuvering that made La Russa famous, but he also works hard to explain the game to readers who may be unfamiliar with it. As such, "Three Nights" may be more compelling for the novice than for the studied fan, despite its clear ambition to be an in-depth look at the game.
Unfortunately, the narrative grinds to a halt whenever Bissinger chooses to interject the sanctimonious twaddle for which his writing is best known. He is an able reporter, but reading his analysis of what ails the game (You guessed it: greed!) is like listening to a child discuss "Othello." Bissinger doesn't waste a lot of space railing against high salaries and selfish players, but it is noticeable when he does. He's simply out of his depth.
The buzz upon its release pegged "Three Nights" as a fawning tribute to La Russa's tactical and philosophical genius, but this is not a hagiography. Bissinger clearly admires La Russa and agrees with most of his old-school baseball principles, but he also devotes space to La Russa's troubled family life. The manager's borderline-obsessive behavior during the season is not glorified, but reported dispassionately.
The book aims to deconstruct a crucial three-game series between the Cubs and Cardinals in 2003, but Bissinger seems caught in the middle a little bit. He offers some good insight into the unorthodox strategy and in-game maneuvering that made La Russa famous, but he also works hard to explain the game to readers who may be unfamiliar with it. As such, "Three Nights" may be more compelling for the novice than for the studied fan, despite its clear ambition to be an in-depth look at the game.
Unfortunately, the narrative grinds to a halt whenever Bissinger chooses to interject the sanctimonious twaddle for which his writing is best known. He is an able reporter, but reading his analysis of what ails the game (You guessed it: greed!) is like listening to a child discuss "Othello." Bissinger doesn't waste a lot of space railing against high salaries and selfish players, but it is noticeable when he does. He's simply out of his depth.
thehlb's review
4.0
This is a great book for anyone who is interested in baseball. As a Cardinals fan I loved it. I really understand much better what the role of a manager is. I don't think that someone who doesn't care for baseball would enjoy it, but I think that even a casual fan would get a lot out of it. Buzz Bissinger's style is easy to follow and entertaining to read.
steelwagstaff's review against another edition
2.0
So I read this last winter while working days land surveying. It was average. The book is essentially an indepth look into the psyche and life of Tony LaRussa, the former White Sox and A's manager who now manages the Cardinals. It was an interesting baseball book with occasional patches of good sportswriting, but nothing spectacular. It follow La Russa through a three game stand against the Chicago Cubs (then managed by Dusty Baker, I think). La Russa comes off as an intense, super focused baseball geek, and is almost completely joyless, which I suppose is a fairly honest portrayal of him. Buzz Bissinger wrote Friday Night Lights, too, which he never lets you forget, writing a fairly long self-congratulatory preface/intro to the book. Only for hard-core baseball nerds or fans of Rickey Henderson and the Bash Brothers.
aseleener's review
4.0
My #nonficpick for August. I had been meaning to read this for a while now, and was excited to find it on Hoopla. You have to *really* like baseball to enjoy this book. I learned a lot! Baseball is so incredibly intricate and complicated. I am fascinated by it. This took place in '03 and I became a Cardinals fan in '04, so it was like visiting old friends. ❤ ⚾️
#hoopla #baseball #cardinals #nonfiction #gocards
#hoopla #baseball #cardinals #nonfiction #gocards