BOOK REVIEW

Haunted Baseball:
Ghosts, Curses, Legends, and Eerie Events
By Mickey Bradley and Dan Gordon

I'm not much of a ghost-story guy. I scare easily, and frankly, there are other things that interest me more. Like things that don't scare me. So this isn't the type of book that I would have gone out and bought. But that's the neat thing about gifts - you'll get exposed to something you might not have otherwise read.

And this book (a birthday gift) was enjoyable, for the most part. You can read it cover-to-cover in a couple of days, or just leave it out and pick and choose sections that interest you - it's a quick read either way.

As for the content, I'm about 50-50 on whether or not I believe it. I think I believe in ghosts - at least, I find some of these stories about hauntings at ballparks and hotels pretty believable. But there's some obvious bull in this book, too - so much so that it makes you wonder why the authors bothered giving credence to the storytellers (like the guy who claims Buck Weaver, of the 1919 Chicago White Sox scandal, speaks to him asking him to "clear my name". I liked your story better when it was called Field of Dreams.).

Some of the very believable stuff centers on old ballplayers haunting fields they used to call home. Like groundskeepers in St. Petersburg (at Huggins-Stengel Field, specifically) claiming that on the day Joe DiMaggio died, they painted a 5 on the field where DiMaggio used to play in spring training. That day, the lawnmower died each time it hit center, and it wouldn't mow the 5. Same thing with the number 7 when Mickey Mantle died. That's weird, and I believe it. Not sure why, but I do. And countless ballplayers talking about haunted hotels.

One cool story in the book centered on a plaque the New York Giants made to memorialize a player named Eddie Grant, who died a hero in World War I. The plaque was in play in deep center at the Polo Grounds, but became lost when the Giants moved to San Francisco. I don't believe the Giants became cursed because of the lost plaque (they haven't won a World Series since the plaque was lost), but I did enjoy learning something new about baseball history.

The question I wonder when I hear these ghost stories, though, is why are these ghosts so benign? Johnny Damon claims he had a ghost in his house once and it just pinned him to the ground for 15 minutes (strangely, another ballplayer claimed he had a similar ghost experience once. Why have I never heard of these types of ghost "attacks" before?). How come the ghosts don't do something terrible? Why are they so playful? Just walking past, being spotted? Why don't they do something? That's the question I'm left with.

There are a few mentions of the Mets (they, too, trained at the alleged haunted Huggins-Stengel Field), and it's a fairly new book, so a lot of current ballplayers are mentioned. A nice summer, casual read.

A NEW ADDITION: I've been working on this for a while now, and finally figured out how to do it - please note the addition of the standings on the right-hand side of the page. If possible, I'll add NFL standings when that season starts as well. Hopefully the NL East standings have the Mets on top from this day forward...

BOOK REVIEW

STILL A KID AT HEART: MY LIFE IN BASEBALL AND BEYOND
By Gary Carter with Phil Pepe

You may remember, more than two months ago now, when I said I was dropping everything to read the new book by Gary Carter, which I just happened upon in Barnes & Noble while walking down the sports section aisle.

Well, I've only just finished the book (in case you thought I was holding back on the review I promised). It's not that it was a 550-page tome that had me slogging through it every day. It's partly because when I get books like this that have to do with baseball or something I'm really interested in, I savor them, and read them slowly, trying to drag them out for a while. The other part of taking my time with this book had to do with the fact that it wasn't really setting my world on fire.

The good news about the book is that it wasn't the same ol', same ol'. I have two other books by Gary Carter (I think they're the only other two, but I can't say that for sure) - A Dream Season, which is all about the 1986 season, and The Gamer, written right after his retirement, which summarizes his career. There's a little overlap in those books.

This one, while I was expecting that, doesn't really dwell on 1986, which I thought it would, nor does it focus on his family. While I find both of those things interesting (the 1986 part more than the family part, though for an embarrassingly long time I daydreamed that I would marry one of Carter's daughters and become part of his family, so I can't say I'm totally uninterested in his family), it was nice to hear Carter voice his opinion on other things.

And voice he did. Carter writes about coaching, his impressions of the business side of baseball, steroids, the game of baseball in general and his love of the game, the Hall of Fame, who might end up in the Hall of Fame, who should be in the Hall of Fame, and how he felt becoming a Hall of Famer.

Some of this stuff is interesting, some of it is pages-long examples of what it would be like if you gave Gary Carter a job interview, and none of it is ground-breaking. There's not one thing in there that makes you think, "Wow. That's an original idea - no one has thought of that before."

I want to give you an example of what I mean when I say parts of the book read like a job interview. At times Carter comes off as desperate, or rather eager - as in this excerpt:

"Having been a minor league manager, I think I now know what it takes to be a good big-league manager, but do I really know? I've never done it, and until I have, I really can't know. I know a lot of responsibility is put on a big-league manager that minor league managers don't have to face. It takes working with the media, being fan friendly, and caring for your players. I have the greatest appreciation and respect for those who have done it and have been successful. I think I can be successful, too. I believe my qualifications are there. I'm confident I can handle it, but I won't know until I've done it. I would love the opportunity to try. I accept the fact that it might not happen. If it does, it would be a blessing."

So, I'm thinking he'd like a shot at managing in the bigs. Just a guess.

That's a taste of what the book is about. Though it's fading fast (see next section below), I have a high tolerance of Gary Carter because he's my favorite. I don't think this book would be for everyone...but if you want a heaping helping of Carter, this is where to get it.

FOOT-IN-MOUTH DISEASE, AGAIN: I'm not sure I understand why Carter keeps opening his mouth these days. The Wife sent me this article the other day from the New York Post in which Carter goes off on Joe Girardi and the Steinbrenners. I don't know why he does this. If he's trying to get publicity for himself for his book, someone should tell him he's going about it in totally the wrong way. (The Post took the quote from an interview with T.J. Simers in the LA Times - I can't figure out if Simers is in Carter's corner or not. But that's worth a read too.)

Here's the kicker - the guy can manage. The Orange County Flyers are 21-6, best in the Golden Baseball League. We might have to start another edition of "The Kid's Kids".

So three minor league stops, and all Carter has done at each of those stops is lead his teams to winning seasons (very winning seasons).

With the kind of characters involved in professional sports, it's amazing to me that no one will give Carter the time of day...whether or not he can keep his mouth shut.

YOU'RE NOT EVEN GOING TO BELIEVE THIS

First of all, I can't believe how little publicity this has gotten...or maybe I'm just out of the loop (it is a busy time of the school year). But I had a Barnes & Noble gift card with about $30 left on it, so The Wife and I went to the bookstore tonight. I figured I'd get some kind of sports book that I had meant to get for a while, but hadn't. So I'm walking down the aisle with The Baby (one-and-a-half-year-old, actually), mostly just keeping her from ripping all kinds of books from the shelves, and I come across "Still A Kid At Heart: My Life in Baseball and Beyond", by Hall of Famer Gary Carter and Phil Pepe!

I'm psyched. I've been reading "John Adams", but I'm obviously going to have to put that book aside temporarily while I tear through the Carter book. And this book must be brand-new - it mentions his new managing job, and is copyrighted 2008...and I can't find a clean image of it on the computer to show you.

I hesitated a half-a-second before buying the book, thinking maybe this was just the same book I already have about Carter ("The Gamer", his second book), with an extra chapter...but the blurb talks about the book being about Carter's playing career and beyond.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Carter has done a lot since leaving his playing career behind. He started off as a broadcaster with the Florida Marlins, then was a coach, and a minor league manager. Of course, there was also the election to the Hall of Fame.

I can't wait to start the book - I'll have a full review when I'm done - with school vacation week next week, I'm sure it won't be long.

BOOK REVIEW

QUIET STRENGTH: THE PRINCIPLES, PRACTICES, & PRIORITIES OF A WINNING LIFE
By Tony Dungy, with Nathan Whitaker

I just got around to reading this book last week, and I really blew through it...and I really enjoyed it. I have to thank Dave in Brighton, and Mrs. Dave in Brighton, because it is through them that I got this book. They were nice enough to get me a gift on my big 29th birthday party this year (7/7/07!), but unfortunately, I already had the book they got me. (I guess they didn't read the blog carefully enough.) But I exchanged that book for this one over the summer, and now I've finally read it. So everything worked out.

This book started out rocky (the italics are direct quotes):

"...before we begin, I want to make sure we're starting at the same place. The point of this book is not the Super Bowl. In fact, it's not football."

What?

"This book is not only about me, either."

Well, then what is this book about? Football and Tony Dungy were the reasons I bought it!

"It's about the things I've learned, the mistakes I've made, and the heartaches that have made me lean into the Father's presence. I hope that when it's all said and done, you'll see that it's really all about Him."

Oh no! I've been tricked into a book about religion!

But not totally, and really, it was a good book.

Now, I have a pretty high tolerance for the religion piece, so I don't know that I can be a fair judge of whether or not Dungy beats the reader over the head with religion throughout the book. I will say he mentions it a lot, but not overwhelmingly so. The man's religious, and that comes across loud and clear. But he's also a good guy, who treats people the right way, and that makes anything he says more tolerable.

The best parts of the book were some of the inner workings of the NFL. There's a really good part when Dungy talks about the 1996 draft with Tampa Bay, when they end up 'settling' for Mike Alstott. The Jets were actually involved, screwing up the Bucs pick by taking receiver Alex Van Dyke when they had previously agreed to trade the pick so the Buccaneers could get Texas A&M running back Leeland McElroy. He went to the Cardinals, and Tampa ended up with Alstott. I'd say that non-trade worked out OK for Tampa, not so well for the other teams involved.

The connections between all of the coaches was pretty interesting too. Dungy worked with a number of people on different levels of different staffs. He didn't have the kindest words for the type of workhorse Marty Schottenheimer is, and of course, Dungy and Herman Edwards are close friends, so the former Jets coach features prominently in the book. If you can stand the religious talk, or at least be able to scan through the football portions of the book while skipping the religious parts, I'd really recommend the book.

HOW BAD ARE THE JETS RIGHT NOW?: Here's how bad the Jets are right now - the Jets, 2-9, are 1-and-a-half point underdogs at the 0-11 Miami Dolphins. Ouch.

COMMENT ON THE COMMENTS: Southern Bureau is not alone thinking that Shea is a dump...and he's entitled to his opinion, but for me, it will always be a special place. I can never categorize it as a dump, and that's not me being 'politically correct', it's just the way I feel.

HOW I SPENT PART OF THANKSGIVING WEEKEND: Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, Boston University took on Cornell in what was billed as "Red Hot Hockey: A Rivalry Renewed". My brother came through big time, using a connection to get me and Justin From NYC two tickets in a luxury box. For a while we thought we'd have the box to ourselves, but then other people showed up. Wildly - not only were they BU fans...they were also people Justin knew from BU - one was a guy who he and the Southern Bureau took under their wings and helped grow from radio intern to someone who now does something for a Redskins radio network. BU, having a terrible season so far, won the game, 6-3. This was our view from the suite:

BOOK REVIEW

Heat
By Mike Lupica

I've been a casual Mike Lupica fan for a bunch of years. As a teen, I was a big fan - even though I prefer the Daily News sports, my 1994 Rangers Stanley Cup Championship saved newspapers are Newsday, because I asked my parents to switch so that I could continue to read Mike Lupica. (He has since come back to the Daily News.)

Anyway, as he became more of a talking head, as so many writers do, he started to wear on me a little...and also as the Yankees won more and more, his Yankee fandom shone through, and that started to wear thin on me.

Regardless, I still read his columns occasionally...I'm by no means a diehard fan, but I think he's a fine writer.

Now, onto the book. I was taken by surprise when I saw a Mike Lupica book on the Scholastic book order I had at school. I had worked up some classroom points (you earn points as a teacher by the books the kids order), so I decided to get the book to see how it was. (Little did I know he had already written a book about basketball.) This was about a year and a half ago. I finally read the book last week...and I really liked it.

It's a story about a little leaguer from the Bronx who gets caught in a Danny Almonte situation...but he's the correct age. It takes place in the shadows of Yankee Stadium, and it's a feel-good little league story. I've been meaning to read it for a long time just because I wanted to put it in my classroom library, and I wanted to read it before I did, just so I knew what the content was. I never expected it would be good enough that I would write a review, but here we are.

The book was good throughout, but the ending was what I thought made it great. A really nice story. I know only adults are reading this, but if you're looking for a quick, enjoyable baseball read, I recommend you pick this up from the library. (I've spent most of the past three or four years reading children's books - there are a ton of good ones out there...so it's not as embarrassing as you might think.)

ROCKIES, DIAMONDBACKS, RED SOX ADVANCE: I expect the Indians will beat the Yankees Monday night as well. That would clinch for me a new matchup in the World Series.

Also, the segment that AIG sponsors is called 'Then and Now'. Waiting for it to pop up in the National League games was torture. It never showed up. Then Sunday, switching back and forth between football and the American League games, I saw both the one in the Angels-Red Sox game and the Yankees-Indians game (by the way - how about a sense of urgency, Angels? If I had just landed on planet Earth and watched that game, I would have thought it was a regular season game that meant nothing. The Angels did not look like a team facing elimination. I know you don't want to be too tense...but come on.). Rod Carew was featured, and I forget who they highlighted in the other game. But I'm thinking that maybe it was only sponsored for the ALDS, not the NLDS. Either way, the ones on Sunday were a little more dressed up than the previous ones. Thanks for reading the blog, TBS!

BOOK REVIEW

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE BRONX IS BURNING
By Jonathan Mahler

I've been doing a lot of reading this summer, mostly non-fiction, and mostly non-sports. So most of what I've been reading is irrelevant when it comes to the blog. And Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning was not even originally in my stack of summer reading books...but the last time I saw Steve in Queens, he said I should read it, gave it to me off his shelf, and so I read it.

The book's been out for a couple of years - maybe you've already read it. Or maybe you're watching the miniseries on ESPN. I was going to watch the miniseries, but I set the TiVo for 10pm, when it was supposed to air last Monday night. It didn't end up airing until about 5 after 11pm, and I never saw a rerun. The Home Run Derby is ridiculously long. So I'm not going to watch the miniseries, even though that's the reason I tore through the book like I was on a deadline. The benefit - you get a review quicker than you would have.

It's OK. It's a great idea for a book, actually. There was a lot going on in New York in 1977. You can't really beat the Yankees angle - Reggie Jackson's first season in pinstripes, under Billy Martin, who doesn't want him, and then there's George Steinbrenner, who paid an exorbitant amount to get Jackson, and dictates where he should hit and how he should be played. There's the Thurman Munson-Reggie Jackson dynamic. And there's info on a young Willie Randolph, and how he handles the Jackson situation (he allegedly froze out Reggie, like the rest of the team...except for Fran Healy. The same Fran Healy who Mets fans had to suffer through for years announcing Mets games. It's comical where Healy appears in these books about the late '70's Yankees - I need to see if someone did a biography on him - it would be hilarious.).

Then there's the New York aspect...the social scene in the city...the financial problems...a mayoral primary (featuring Ed Koch and Mario Cuomo)...the blackout...and the Son of Sam murders. All of these get equal - if not more - time with the Yankees march to the World Series. And they're all spread out - interspersed with game notes. The difference is the Son of Sam story - it's played out only over 25 pages towards the end of the book - and it's probably the most gripping part of the story.

I actually think this book is better if you're looking for a book about New York City history, with some baseball sprinkled in...rather than a baseball book with some New York City history sprinkled in. It'll be less likely to disappoint that way. Then you can go read some of the books that are actually sources for this book - like the Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, and Billy Martin biographies that the author relied heavily on when writing this book - and you can get your baseball fix that way. (And while you're at it - read The Bronx Zoo - that'll cover the late '70's Yankees better than this one.)

MARLINS REELING: The Marlins suspended pitcher Scott Olsen two games for insubordination. The Marlins won't go into detail, but Olsen reportedly had an altercation with another player - Sergio Mitre. Scott Olsen is a hothead - he's always yelling at someone in the dugout...I think he and Miguel Cabrera got into it during a game against the Mets last year. I like seeing other teams in the division going through some sort of turmoil. Don't worry about Olsen though - his suspension is for Tuesday and Wednesday...he's not scheduled to pitch again until Friday. So he loses two days of pay...but no playing time.

METS ON THE WEST COAST: Jorge Sosa comes off the DL to pitch in San Diego Monday night. To make room for Sosa, Mike Pelfrey, who had been relegated to bullpen work, was sent down. Big stretch for the Mets here.

METS BOOK REVIEW

I'm going to spend a bit of time today writing about how I spent part of my off-season:

Last year at about this time, New York Daily News Mets beat writer Adam Rubin put out a book (seen at the right) called "Pedro, Carlos, and Omar". The book is about the Mets' pursuit of, and free agent signings of, Pedro Martinez* and Carlos Beltran*. It also recapped the 2005 season. I did not read this book last year. But I was in Barnes & Noble about a month ago, and saw an updated version of the book, and bought it. And read it. It was OK.

The version of the book I have is called, "Pedro, Carlos & Carlos! and Omar", and it adds the addition of Carlos Delgado in 2006, after the Mets' failed negotiations with him the previous year. It also recaps some of the 2006 season, mainly the highlights.

I'm going to try not to be too critical, because I have never written a book like this, so I don't know how one goes about doing this. But I found this book to be awfully repetitive. Events were repeated over and over from chapter to chapter. Part of me wonders if it is because parts of the book were excerpted and printed in the Daily News, so Rubin repeated himself at times so the excerpts would make sense, but that strikes me as an odd way to approach a book. Another problem I had with the book was that there was a factual error in it, and anytime I see one factual error, it leads me to believe there are others which I may not have caught. In this case, it wasn't a baseball error, but it was in reference to the Patriots winning the Super Bowl against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I can't find the error as I do my fact-checking, but it was supposed to be Philadelphia Eagles, not the Steelers. I can't remember the context even...but that's carelessness. I have plenty of mistakes on my blog...but a blog isn't a book. Maybe I'm critical because I'm jealous that this guy put out a book on something I could have put out a book on. But if I put out the book, I know I wouldn't have two AFC teams facing each other in the Super Bowl.

The last complaint I have is that too many times Rubin refers to himself. "I asked him after the game...", "He told me.....". That bothers me. Don't throw yourself into a story. I don't care that you were talking to him, I just care what he said.

Other than those errors, the book let me re-visit what was a pretty entertaining 2005 season. The pain of Braden Looper, though, was a constant in the book. That was not fun. Pedro* got robbed so many times that year because of Looper - right from the very start - Opening Day. And my ill-fated VCR plan. (Not in the book.)

The final thing I will say about the book is that I remember it being billed as the pursuit of free agents Martinez* and Beltran*. One or two chapters talk about that...then it's a recap of the season.

Bottom line - save yourself some money, go through the Daily News archives, and you'll be getting the same information. (Or better yet, go through the 2005 johnnymets.blogspot.com entries!)

E-MAIL: Our first e-mail of the 2007 season comes from a true-blue (though mostly negative) Mets fan, Steve from Queens:

"Johnnymets -

I am glad that you are back to writing about the Mets. Hopefully this will be a fun filled season from start, but more importantly, to FINISH.

Just wondering your thoughts on the other team in NY. What do you make of the A-Rod and Jeter, no longer best friends, thing? I personally think A-Rod is crazy for saying the things he said to the media. "That he and Jeter don't go out to eat 4 or 5 times a week anymore". or that he doens't sleep over Jeter's home anymore. What is going on here. A-Rod has 25 million new friends a year and he is waisting people's time talking about how he and Jeter aren't what they used to be? I just don't get it. Please share your thoughts with us.

By the way, I love that the press on the Yankees is about those two, while the press on the Mets is about how players on the team thinks they can win the World Series this year and on Beltran trying to steal more bases.

See ya

Steve from Queens."

Yeah, good stuff from the Mets on Monday - Beltran* spoke about how he wants to try to run more, and Willie Randolph said he thinks Beltran* could give THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED, Jose Reyes, a run for his money in the steals department. The Mets are talking baseball, the Yankees are talking "Best Friends Forever".

It is just strange that this is what A-Rod talks about to the media -the relationship between him and Jeter. There must have been some kind of fight over a girl or something somewhere along the line that caused these two to have some sort of rift, and A-Rod is still sore about it, and felt the need to take a dig by mentioning this to the media on Monday. Weird. I no longer live in New York, but I follow the sports pages there pretty closely, and I didn't think the Jeter/A-Rod friendship was on many people's minds this week. I could be wrong.

And then why would you mention sleeping over each other's houses? That's an unnecessary part of the whole equation that we could do without knowing. What are you, 11-year-old girls? Or professional ballplayers?

RESPONSE TO COMMENT FROM THE SOUTHERN BUREAU: I think the Southern Bureau mis-read my NASCAR bit...or I mis-wrote it. I wrote that before the scoring was out, so I anticipated being in the middle of the pack, based on my Daytona 500 drivers versus everyone else's. I think the Southern Bureau thought I meant I was comparing my drivers over the course of the season. This is because I am actually in last place after the Daytona 500...a shocking and unexpected development. Thanks for your concern, Southern Bureau, but I am well aware of the rules. And I will make my move next week.

The Mets are 23-23, 3.5 GB of the Marlins, with whom they begin a three-game series tonight in Florida. The Marlins won yesterday, the Mets were off.

As I wrote a few weeks back, I read "The Bad Guys Won!", by Jeff Pearlman, over my honeymoon. The book is about the 1986 Mets, and as promised, here are my thoughts.

The book was a quick read, but I have to say, it was a little disappointing. I've read many, many books and stories about the 1986 Mets season and the players involved. This book didn't do much more than bring all of those stories together under the same cover. In some cases, direct quotes were used out of Darryl Strawberry's, Dwight Gooden's, and Lenny Dykstra's autobiographies.

That said, the book did have its redeeming qualities. Pearlman spent a lot of time on the hallmarks of the season; including the bar fight in Houston, the on-field fights during the season, the party on the plane following the NLCS, and Game 6 of the World Series. There's been a lot written about Game 6, and to his credit, Pearlman dug up some nuggets that usually get overlooked. He interviewed clubhouse guys, who presented a behind-the-scenes look at the Mets' clubhouse. You've heard how the Sox clubhouse at Shea Stadium had the lockers all covered up in anticipation of a celebration after taking a 5-3 lead in the top of the tenth inning. Pearlman talks to the clubhouse guys who had to rip all that stuff down in a matter of seconds, and the locker room tension in the moments following the game. There was also one passage that was cool, talking about how WHDH-TV's John Dennis was preparing to go live from outside the locker room to report on the Red Sox first World Series win since 1918. It also quotes "The Lowell Sun"'s Gerry Callahan. That's the angle I'm always most curious about, and it's a view that isn't often written about.

"The Bad Guys Won!" wasn't incredibly well-written, but it was a book about a bunch of ballplayers, so I guess you don't expect 'War and Peace' (assuming 'War and Peace'is well-written. I wouldn't know.).
Overall, I enjoyed the book, because I enjoy re-living that glory year, and the memories it brings back. A lot was written about George Foster, and the stories about him always remind me of the day that summer Foster was released. I was out back with my dad and my grandfather (I think we were barbecueing), and my dad was trying to explain to me what happened. I just didn't get it that baseball players could be fired.
So I'd recommend this book to Mets fans who don't mind seeing their heroes knocked down a bit (OK, a lot), or Mets-haters who are looking for a reason to hate the '86 Mets even more. Including Red Sox fans.