Review roundup, Jan. 21

I frequently wonder about the role of book critics: Must they be students of the topics of which they read and report? Fans? That’s certainly not the case in this piece by Mark Dent of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Dent writes – with my annotations in brackets —

The “summer” baseball book could have its own section on Amazon [it kind of does, actually; All one has to do is select “books” in the search box and type in “baseball.”]. You’re probably aware of the type. Summer baseball books are often flowery, [so baseball titles released in other seasons are all right then?] celebratory tomes of a bygone achievement in America’s pastime [ isn’t every non-fiction book about a “bygone” time?], marked by unfamiliar adjectives that require the use of a Thesaurus [“require?” Perhaps, if the educational system has utterly failed you] and proclamations of grandeur that align baseball with American historical trends [as opposed to just about any other serious non-fiction book?].

For people who aren’t obsessed with baseball — and I certainly fit into that category — these books will make you fall asleep atop your pool chair [outrageous blanket statement]. Fortunately a different type of baseball book came out in July: Blood Sport: Alex Rodriguez, Biogenesis and the Quest to End Baseball’s Steroid Era, by Tim Elfrink and Gus Garcia-Roberts. It is the anti-summer baseball book in the best way possible. [Does that mean the book is anti-summer or it’s anti-baseball books that are released in the summer, because most of them come out at the beginning of the baseball season].

To be fair, sometimes having a fresh set of eyes on the topic can open up discussion a bit. But it almost seems as if this assignment was thrust upon someone who had absolutely no interesting in baseball per se.

Matt Snyder posts on CBSSports.com what he claims will be “a new feature that will run on occasion. From time to time, we’ll recommend baseball-themed books to read during these pesky winter months.” His first contribution: Roger Kahn’s latest, Rickey & Robinson: The True, Untold Story of the Integration of Baseball, which received mixed reviews. Snyder’s upshot: “This book is highly recommended to anyone who wants to know the real, behind-the-scenes history surrounding Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier for Branch Rickey’s Dodgers.” I don’t know Snyder, don’t know how old he is, but I would love to see an age-breakdown of the reviewers for this book. Somehow I get the feel that the younger ones — as well as the ones who aren’t necessarily well schooled on this subject, gave the book better marks.

Bob D’Angelo — aka “The Sports Bookie” — reviews The Chalmers Race: Ty Cobb, Napoleon Lajoie, and the Controversial 1910 Batting Title That Became a National Obsession on the Tampa Tribune site. Upshot: “Writing about baseball history, particularly an isolated, controversial event that took place more than a century ago, can be a daunting task. But author/historian Rick Huhn is equal to the challenge…. The Chalmers Race gets into the act and presents an interesting view of an ancient dispute.”

D’Angelo also reviews a novel so I don’t have to. Unfortunately, his critique of Len Joy’s debut project American Past Time contains the phrase “baseball as a metaphor for life…” so I have to deduct some points.

Continuing on the fiction thread, here’s one from BlogCritics on Michael Draper’s Strike Three, You’re Dead. Upshot: “If you enjoy suspense and action this you will find it in Three Strikes and You’re Dead. If you enjoy sleuthing than you will find this team of PI’s fun and energetic with both humor and bravado.”

Here’s a review from MLBReports of another book about attending each ballpark during a specified period of time, in this case it’s Alicia Barnhart’s self-published memoir, My Ballpark Summer: What Taking Myself Out to the Ballgame Taught Me. The reviewer, Douglas “Chuck” Booth, also took on this task and chronicled his adventures in another self-published work, The Fastest Thirty Ballgames: A Ballpark Chasers World Record Story.