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somebodyisfromhere.com
The destination destination.
October.
<<< "It's all jazz," is stated a few times in The Soul of Baseball by ... oh, well,
somebodyisfromhere.com will get to that later...
Somebodyisfromhere.com isn't sure what makes something a travel book (or movie, or whatever). Is
it about movement? Is it about obscure locations? Or is it travel because somebodyisfromhere.com
is there and you're not? (If he were to write about his home town and you aren't there, would that be
travel writing in the internet age?)
...In The Soul of Baseball, Buck O'Neil, a sage former Negro Leaguer, is followed for a
year by sports journalist Joe Posnanski as O'Neil promoted the Negro League and by
extension the museum about the subject.
The book isn't brand spanking new. It was copyrighted in 2007 and the inspiration, Mr.
O'Neil himself, passed away at 94 in 2006. The World Series begins this week, though,
and what better time to discuss a baseball book that every baseball fan should read.
Though "Road Trip" is in the title, the book isn't about traveling. Sure, the locations
change. There's Minnesota and New York and Atlanta and Houston. Meanwhile,
Kansas City serves as the dugout of the story, where the characters wait in between
activity.
somebodyisfromhere.com will get to that later...
Somebodyisfromhere.com isn't sure what makes something a travel book (or movie, or whatever). Is
it about movement? Is it about obscure locations? Or is it travel because somebodyisfromhere.com
is there and you're not? (If he were to write about his home town and you aren't there, would that be
travel writing in the internet age?)
...In The Soul of Baseball, Buck O'Neil, a sage former Negro Leaguer, is followed for a
year by sports journalist Joe Posnanski as O'Neil promoted the Negro League and by
extension the museum about the subject.
The book isn't brand spanking new. It was copyrighted in 2007 and the inspiration, Mr.
O'Neil himself, passed away at 94 in 2006. The World Series begins this week, though,
and what better time to discuss a baseball book that every baseball fan should read.
Though "Road Trip" is in the title, the book isn't about traveling. Sure, the locations
change. There's Minnesota and New York and Atlanta and Houston. Meanwhile,
Kansas City serves as the dugout of the story, where the characters wait in between
activity.
| The Soul Of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America. |
That's not to say, there are no travel observations in the book. Why are there jewelry stores in airports? Buck (you think him
friend enough to call him by his first name after reading the book) thinks it's so traveling husbands can buy themselves out of
trouble.
Though "Baseball" is in the title, the book isn't about sports (though it would be impressive to get a non-sports fan to read it with
that cover). There aren't ponderings on the DH or the double switch. There are passing opinions on steroids and such, but it
doesn't linger.
Posnanski is a talented sports writer. Somebodyisfromhere.com knows this because Posnanski's site told him so. It says the
Associated Press Sports Editors named him best sports writer of the year twice. I'm convinced. You see,
Somebodyisfromhere.com just "discovered" Posnanski recently and wanted to read more. It didn't matter much what it was.
Somebodyisfromhere.com likes baseball and likes traveling so the book seemed to hit the spot. Only, as previously mentioned,
its about much more. Life isn't about traveling. Life is what happens on the way. The relationships built at different spots. The
laughs. The camaraderie. You don't need to be a ballplayer for this to be true. But they always seem to do it better than the rest
of us, don't they?
More than anything The Soul Of Baseball is about perspective. At first, Somebodyisfromhere.com thought it was about growing
old with grace. The more he thinks about it, though he thinks it's about growing. It's about making the most of it.
One anecdote (and this book is essentially a string of anecdotes) stuck with me. It seems people have the tendency to think
ex-Negro Leaguers should be bitter about not playing in the MLB so people would ask things like "How did you put up with it?"
O'Neil didn't look at it that way. Instead, he thinks about the time he was in a Kansas City bar and he just happened to see
Charlie Parker, an influential jazz musician, play live. So when others wanted him to reflect miserably about the era he'd say,
"People feel sorry for me..Man, I saw Charlie Parker."
While on the subject of music, jazz was O'Neil's favorite. He liked people like Parker and Duke Ellington. However, he would also
enjoy whatever was on. The book references him enjoying Johnny Cash and Billy Joel. When asked about it, he said, "It's all
jazz."
So why write about this baseball book that's not about baseball or this travel book that's not about travel? Because,
somebodyisfromhere.com has decided, it's all travel.
friend enough to call him by his first name after reading the book) thinks it's so traveling husbands can buy themselves out of
trouble.
Though "Baseball" is in the title, the book isn't about sports (though it would be impressive to get a non-sports fan to read it with
that cover). There aren't ponderings on the DH or the double switch. There are passing opinions on steroids and such, but it
doesn't linger.
Posnanski is a talented sports writer. Somebodyisfromhere.com knows this because Posnanski's site told him so. It says the
Associated Press Sports Editors named him best sports writer of the year twice. I'm convinced. You see,
Somebodyisfromhere.com just "discovered" Posnanski recently and wanted to read more. It didn't matter much what it was.
Somebodyisfromhere.com likes baseball and likes traveling so the book seemed to hit the spot. Only, as previously mentioned,
its about much more. Life isn't about traveling. Life is what happens on the way. The relationships built at different spots. The
laughs. The camaraderie. You don't need to be a ballplayer for this to be true. But they always seem to do it better than the rest
of us, don't they?
More than anything The Soul Of Baseball is about perspective. At first, Somebodyisfromhere.com thought it was about growing
old with grace. The more he thinks about it, though he thinks it's about growing. It's about making the most of it.
One anecdote (and this book is essentially a string of anecdotes) stuck with me. It seems people have the tendency to think
ex-Negro Leaguers should be bitter about not playing in the MLB so people would ask things like "How did you put up with it?"
O'Neil didn't look at it that way. Instead, he thinks about the time he was in a Kansas City bar and he just happened to see
Charlie Parker, an influential jazz musician, play live. So when others wanted him to reflect miserably about the era he'd say,
"People feel sorry for me..Man, I saw Charlie Parker."
While on the subject of music, jazz was O'Neil's favorite. He liked people like Parker and Duke Ellington. However, he would also
enjoy whatever was on. The book references him enjoying Johnny Cash and Billy Joel. When asked about it, he said, "It's all
jazz."
So why write about this baseball book that's not about baseball or this travel book that's not about travel? Because,
somebodyisfromhere.com has decided, it's all travel.
| With new content weekly, Somebodyisfromhere.com takes a look at travel albeit from the perspective of somebody who probably watched a little too much TV as a kid (or yesterday). The site doubles as a venue in which you can share stories or pictures from your vacations because, let's face it, your friends are sick of hearing about it. |
| What did I forget? Tell me at somebodyisfromhere.com or on my myspace page. |
* * * * * * * *
More Travel Books
The Onion.
The Blind Side.
Smile When You're Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer.
The Onion.
The Blind Side.
Smile When You're Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer.
| Posted by PintofStout on Oct 23, 2008 11:01 PM: That was an awesome review. Nicely done. |