I was hoping like hell this was going to be a really good limerick

Minnesota, Ray Liota, Racial Quotas...It'll come to me

I once knew a podcaster from Mendota
Whose topics covered every quota;
But his podcasts began to wane
despite his tasteful allegiance to Champaign,
and now he screams at Bernstein in his Toyota.

Sheesh...that town name is a killer.

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Just finished the first seven chapters (most of his growing up in Berkeley) and it's already great.

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I doubt we'll see another manager like him again for the rest of our lifetimes.

Amazing book, even though it is awfully-written (at the sentence level, I mean). But wow--this was fantastic. At this point in my life, I think I understand his personality type well, especially the connection between low self-esteem or past trauma with aggressiveness and his ability to be a huge jag in a few situations and a good-hearted, other-directed person in most other situations. You get a good grasp of "Billy Ball" as well, and you can see why he was really one of the icons of the game in four different decades. In my top five baseball books.

Thanks for the rec, Deacon!

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I do own a Toyota.

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You know me like that.

I wasn't blown away by the writing, but I don't need something that's insanely well written. I just want to not be distracted by bad writing, I thought Pennington delivered on that level.

You have an interesting take on his personality. I just thought he was stubborn as an ox and refused to give in to anyone, even when giving in would be the smart play.

In terms of "Billy Ball," I think it would be fun to see that aggressive style of play set loose once again. Maybe the rule changes will bring it back a little, we'll see.

You've given me so many good baseball book recs over the years, it's nice to return the favor. By the way, I bought my dad One Shot at Forever for Father's Day. He took it down in about a day and a half and enjoyed it.

It's funny, because I agree with what I said, but I also can see the truth in what you are saying here. He was a complex dude. His own worst enemy in many ways (which is something many can relate to).

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The Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball, Corruption, and Murder

Was not particularly interesting. There are a bunch of newspaper articles that can tell you all you need to know. No happy ending, and the convicts only played four games. Was hoping for more from this one. Best part about the book is this photo; it pretty much is the most interesting thing about the story:

(sorry, I tried to make the photo smaller)

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