Book Review: Growing Up With Baseball: How we loved and played the game

Growing Up With Baseball: How We Loved and Played the Game
Edited by Gary Land
University of Nebraska Press
p. 194

Growing up with Baseball is not a typical baseball book as it’s really not about baseball players, pennant races, or great moments in the game - at least not directly. Instead what it deals with is baseball fans and their relationship to the game, how their passions started, how they listened, watched, attended games, how they played and emulated their heroes. It’s a book about all of us.

This is a collection of short anecdotes of baseball fans, writers, and unlikely personalities who have become fans over the decades. While most of them are American men there are a handful of women and even an Englishman that tell their stories as well. These stories are only microcosms of the ways that all of us have become fans.

The book is divided into three parts: Loving the Game, Playing the Game and The Game Off The Field. Each section is unique and has its own charm. Loving the game is about discovery of the game, the love of ballparks and great moments that have shaped our devotion to baseball.

Part II, Playing the game is about how we all played the game from full blown little leagues to sandlots, to stoop ball and other modified versions which allowed us to play in the space and with the number of children available to make the game. They have their own versions with their own rules and championships. Astoundingly enough as you read you’ll find common versions of the game were played from coast to coast.

In Part III, The Game Off The Field, we arrive at baseball simulations, many of them far different from Strat-O-Matic or the All-Star Baseball of years gone by. Most of them were home made, and many sound like they were pretty good. They got fans through school, rainy days, wartime and even took the place of major league baseball in places where it was not accessible enough.

All in all this is a very emotional tribute to the game by fans and for fans. That makes it a very hard book to review but it is a book that every baseball fan can relate to. I found myself having a hard time envisioning many of the bygone days before my time. That might make it difficult to follow for a younger reader, particularly those raised on ESPN, the Internet and television.

All in all I enjoyed the book even though it is more about us as fans and our sense of nostalgia for the game than it is about the game itself. It’s a very unique take upon the world of fandom that tugs at your heartstrings but can get a little slow at times. However I enjoyed the book and suspect most fans will too.

Give this book 1.5 out of four balls for the casual fan, but bump it up a full ball for anyone that grew up in a place where baseball was not that accessible or when kids played outside together instead of in front of a video screen

Our Rating System is based on a four ball system as follows:
One Ball: Average. It has something to say but is nothing special.
Two Balls: Something men usually have - also means its a cut above average, and worth reading/owning.
Three balls: Stands out from its peers and is highly recommended.
Four Balls: More than just what two men have when hanging out together, it means it is an exceptional book that truly earns a walk - straight to the local book store to get a copy.