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Reviews
Three Nights in August: Strategy, Heartbreak, and Joy Inside the Mind of a Manager by Buzz Bissinger
iceberg0's review against another edition
4.0
Beautifully written baseball book that uses a unique approach to telling the story of a baseball manager's job.
bkoser's review against another edition
5.0
I love American football: the athletic feats, the players, the storylines, all in a short 16-game season. It might be my favorite sport.
But I would never read a football book. My interest stops at the sidelines. Even fantasy football is an excuse to track the games closer, not wider.
Baseball is different. I don't have time to follow my team's 162 games every year. (Also the Phillies haven't been worth following for the past ten years). I don't know most of the players anymore, and I haven't kept up with the new statistics (are they still called "sabremetrics"?) The Astros cheating scandal has cast a pall over the sport (the commissioner should have erased their World Series win from the record books along with Altuve's MVP). (Never liked Altuve or Springer. I doubt I subconsciously knew they were cheaters, but maybe I picked up that they were slimy.)
So it's refreshing to go back to a time when I knew all the players, the managers watched film on VHS and kept their notes in filing cabinets, OPS was the most advanced metric, and the Black Sox still held the distinction of "most scandalous baseball scandal", 85 years later. Yes, the halcyon days of 2003.
Bissinger captures the appeal of baseball: the liturgical repetition of the three-game series, the strategic back-and-forth, the paradox of working so hard to play a game.
But the real draw is the characters and their stories: La Russa, the coach who sacrificed his family to become baseball's closest equivalent to Bill Belichick. Mark Prior and Rick Ankiel, apparently destined to be all-time greats but betrayed by body and mind, respectively. Cal Eldred, who was out of baseball for years due to arm trouble, but defied the odds to return and pitch in the World Series. The tragedy of Darryl Kile.
Baseball has the best stories. And so I look forward to retirement, and to the summer afternoons where I will settle down into my easy chair, peer through my bifocals at the daily newspaper, and take in a game.
But I would never read a football book. My interest stops at the sidelines. Even fantasy football is an excuse to track the games closer, not wider.
Baseball is different. I don't have time to follow my team's 162 games every year. (Also the Phillies haven't been worth following for the past ten years). I don't know most of the players anymore, and I haven't kept up with the new statistics (are they still called "sabremetrics"?) The Astros cheating scandal has cast a pall over the sport (the commissioner should have erased their World Series win from the record books along with Altuve's MVP). (Never liked Altuve or Springer. I doubt I subconsciously knew they were cheaters, but maybe I picked up that they were slimy.)
So it's refreshing to go back to a time when I knew all the players, the managers watched film on VHS and kept their notes in filing cabinets, OPS was the most advanced metric, and the Black Sox still held the distinction of "most scandalous baseball scandal", 85 years later. Yes, the halcyon days of 2003.
Bissinger captures the appeal of baseball: the liturgical repetition of the three-game series, the strategic back-and-forth, the paradox of working so hard to play a game.
But the real draw is the characters and their stories: La Russa, the coach who sacrificed his family to become baseball's closest equivalent to Bill Belichick. Mark Prior and Rick Ankiel, apparently destined to be all-time greats but betrayed by body and mind, respectively. Cal Eldred, who was out of baseball for years due to arm trouble, but defied the odds to return and pitch in the World Series. The tragedy of Darryl Kile.
Baseball has the best stories. And so I look forward to retirement, and to the summer afternoons where I will settle down into my easy chair, peer through my bifocals at the daily newspaper, and take in a game.
postitsandpens's review against another edition
5.0
As a hardcore St. Louis Cardinals fan, I found this book to be extremely fascinating, as Tony La Russa was always extremely reticent when speaking publicly about his team and his players while he was managing. It was fun to get a glimpse inside his head, and hear his thoughts on players I vividly remember playing for the team, especially those that fans - and apparently the manager - were forever frustrated by. There were some poignant memories included - Rick Ankiel's doomed pitching career and Darryl Kile's death to name two - and I just honestly loved every second of this book. If you're a Cardinals fan - or even just a baseball fan - do yourself a favor and pick up this book!
akessle2's review against another edition
3.0
Good, quick read. A great set of insights into the game behind the game.
kintha's review against another edition
1.0
The worst book about baseball I've read, both in content and style.
kecb12's review against another edition
5.0
I loooooooved this book. I picked it up on a whim from the library and listened to it on CD. I found it to be so interesting to learn about how managers approach the game and all the strategy that goes into it. Plus, I just appreciate that Tony LaRussa sees baseball as a game that cannot be separated from emotion and tradition. What a fantastic read. :)
luttrelll's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
jensaperstein's review against another edition
5.0
In the words of a fellow reviewier: this book is beautiful baseball.