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A review by ellisknox
The Year of the Pitcher: Bob Gibson, Denny McLain, and the End of Baseball's Golden Age by Sridhar Pappu
2.0
This was a disappointing book. The author has done much research and all the information is there. It's the presentation I found distracting.
In chapter after chapter, he starts with an incident or character, only to veer off into something completely different, then circles back at the end of the chapter to that incident. We think we're learning something more about Gibson, most of the chapter is about Jackie Robinson or Lou Brock or Curt Flood, then we circle back. It's like the author was taught a technique and decided to use it without a care about navigating us through the year 1968.
There's also an assumption that the reader knows the story. For example, he builds up to the 1967 Series. He opens the chapter about the Series itself by telling us who won in the 7th!
There's much of interest in this book, but I couldn't help feeling that there were other books that would do a better job. This is baseball. I shouldn't have to *try* to finish a book about baseball.
In chapter after chapter, he starts with an incident or character, only to veer off into something completely different, then circles back at the end of the chapter to that incident. We think we're learning something more about Gibson, most of the chapter is about Jackie Robinson or Lou Brock or Curt Flood, then we circle back. It's like the author was taught a technique and decided to use it without a care about navigating us through the year 1968.
There's also an assumption that the reader knows the story. For example, he builds up to the 1967 Series. He opens the chapter about the Series itself by telling us who won in the 7th!
There's much of interest in this book, but I couldn't help feeling that there were other books that would do a better job. This is baseball. I shouldn't have to *try* to finish a book about baseball.