- Reviewed in:
Publishers Weekly,
page
.
- Review Date:
2012-01-23
- Reviewer:
Staff
Journeyman pitcher Hayhurst (The Bullpen Gospels) reflects on the eventful year following the end of his Double A season in 2007 in which he meets his future wife, is assigned to a Triple A team, is called up to the big leagues, and marries his girlfriend. It was a “make-or-break year” for him after graduating from college and spending six years in the minor leagues. Hayhurst ponders his life’s direction repeatedly in attempting to merge a family life that he “hadn’t enjoyed . . . for the last several years” with his newfound love, and his passion for baseball. The juxtaposition of his baseball life with his dysfunctional family life offers an unflattering, but perhaps unintentional, comparison of the two. Although initially marred by gushy conversations with his girlfriend, and juvenile locker room antics, his soul-baring narrative reveals baseball as a “lottery ticket job with few winners and lots of losers” that “keeps you hooked through hope, and strung out on chances” in what may be as much catharsis as reflection. (Mar)
