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These early scenes have a vigor and pictorial sharpness that mark Boyd's best writing. After reading the description of the Todds' house, the reader feels he could find his way around it in the dark. The chapter on the school is as effective in miniature as any number of public school classics. Todd's closest friend is an acne-ridden chap named Hamish who happens to be a mathematical wizard. Hamish is the goat of some brutish schoolboy pranks, but he is too intoxicated by his own theories to care very much. His presence gives rise to some authorial...
...Angell can see the less tangible but more meaningful, subtle, and lasting aspects of the game. Instead of grilling Bob Boone or Jim Sundberg on why they called a certain pitch at a certain point in the game, Angell asks them about their craft. What ensues is a wonderful chapter, a round-table conversation with some of the game's best catchers, including Boone, Carlton Fisk, Terry Kennedy, and Ted Simmons, on how they go about their job. You find out how catchers call a game, settle down high-strung pitchers, seize up-and-in, rising 95-m.p.h. fastballs...
...fascinating observation Angell gleans from Joe Garagiola, a former catcher himself, in this chapter is that Johnny Bench, without a doubt the greatest catcher of his time, probably set back the art of catching, on account of his own great skills. Only Bench, with his extraordinarily quick release and balance, Angell's argument goes, could get away with catching the pitch one-handed, which normally catchers are taught not to do so that their throwing hand is on the ball if a Rickey Henderson or Vince Coleman tries for second base...
THERE are many other similar great moments captured by Angell in this book. Although Red Sox fans like myself cringe at the thought of reading about the 1986 World Series, Angell, a fellow Red Sox supporter, makes his "Not So, Boston" chapter bearable with a detailed recall of Dave Henderson's clutch homer in the American League Championship Series against the Angels and "Rocket" Roger Clemens' glorious summer...
...Another chapter gives a refreshing insight into Roy Eisenhardt, the progressive president of the Oakland A's--one of the few baseball executives who cares more about their players and the state of the game than about making money from it. Angell shows that Eisenhardt considers baseball not as merely another tidy, profitable investment, but rather as an activity that can bring joy to thousands and provide a badly needed diversion from our daily lives...