 19
to 21…
No, not that many books have been written about the 2008
World Series.
Volume 7, #11, April 24, 2009
Book Review: “Worth the Wait”
Go into any self-respecting bookstore in the Philadelphia area,
and it’s guaranteed you’ll find a half dozen or so books
devoted to some aspect of the 2008 baseball season, and/or the 2008
World Series. (You might even find my book there…) It’s
a natural. Every year, after the World Series, authors and publishers
rush to produce volumes germane to, and of interest to, the World
Series and the fans of the winning team therein. This year, it’s
Philadelphia’s turn.
As a public service, and to avoid the needlessly expensive task
of buying all of the current works on the Phillies’ triumph,
here’s the scoop on this year’s crop of World Series
Books… if you can buy only one, buy “Worth the Wait”
(Triumph Books; ISBN 978-1-60078-273-2) by Jayson Stark. (Of course,
I won’t mind if you also buy “The Breaks Even Out and
Midnight Comes Quickly for Cinderella.”) Without having read
the rest of the entries in the field, in fact, without having to
read the rest of the entries in the field, I’m here to tell
you that “Worth the Wait” is not only the best of breed,
but it’s also… worth the wait.
Why is that? There are a couple of reasons. First, if you’re
a Phillies fan, or in any way shape or form interested in the Phillies,
then Jayson is your man… even though he’s been writing
for ESPN.com (and appearing on various ESPN shows as well) for the
past nine years. You see, Jayson started out at the Philadelphia
Inquirer, oh, back about 1979, where he covered the Phillies and
served as the Inky’s national baseball writer. To this day,
no one is better connected to the Phillies’ organization,
even to the point of using such ex-Phillie greats as Doug Glanville
and Larry Andersen as virtually exclusive sources.
Second, he’s a native Philadelphian, who still lives in the
Philly suburbs, and who has a better feel for his fellow Brotherly
Lovers and the city than anyone who’s stopped by the Liberty
Bell (which was cast by a relative of former Athletic great Harry
Stovey) since Ben Franklin. Rumor has it that he can recite the
address of every top cheesesteak place (including “Dela’s”
on Henry Avenue) in the metro area. So, he knows Philly and Philly
sports.
Third… during his stint in his hometown he developed his
signature style, his schtick, if you will. His “Notes”
column, better known as Rumblings and Grumblings, and his own unique
look at baseball's numbers, the Useless Information Department.
Now beloved by legions of internet surfers, Rumblings and Grumblings
and Useless Information have been the trademark of as entertaining
a baseball writer as Philly has seen since the days of Charles Dryden.
To recap… he knows Philadelphia and the Philadelphia sports
scene, he’s a superb baseball writer, and he’s got connections.
A winning combination.
And, his book is a winner, too. The title doesn’t refer to
the length of time it took to produce the book -- publisher Triumph
Books (www.triumphbooks.com) is famous for quick turnarounds and
bringing out timely books like this. And, it doesn’t refer
to how long Jayson’s readers had to wait since his last book.
“The Stark Truth” came out to much acclaim last year.
No, showing a true understanding of Philly sports fans, the title
pays homage to the wait since 1983, when the Sixers won the NBA
title. In another sense, of more significance to baseball fans,
it’s been even longer since 1980. Twenty-eight years is a
long time to wait, in that it is a quantifiable time that many,
many individuals can (and have) suffered through. It’s not
the same as the Cubs’ famous 100-year drought… there
are very few Cubs fans left who can expound at length on the glories
of Three Finger Brown and Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance. But there are
legions of Phillies fans who saw Michael Jack Schmidt rip that eighth
inning double off of Dan Quisenberry in game two, saw Pete Rose
grab that pop-up that bounced out of Bob Boone’s glove, and
saw Tug McGraw leap off the mound after throwing a Peggy Lee fastball
past Willie Wilson. Jayson Stark, although he was a working sportswriter
for the Inquirer at the time, was one of them
Thus, “Worth the Wait” delves into the mind, the very
being, of the Philadelphia baseball fan, a persona that Stark knows
well. Perhaps his Introduction says it best, “Free at Last.”
Now, a lot of writers could have written something similar, focusing
on the larger picture of the 2008 World Series win, focusing on
what this win meant to the Phillies, their fans and the city (for
that it what this book is really about), but Stark brings it home
in both the truest and most effective manner, by using as his most
important source, his seminal figure in this story of triumph, all
5-8, 165 pounds of shortstop Jimmy Rollins. Make no mistake about
it, JRoll is/was the heart of this team.
“The Phillies – his Phillies – were heading for
the parade floats… After a quarter-century of waiting for
a team like this to end their torment, that team had finally arrived.
This team. Jimmy Rollins’ team.”
Coming back several times throughout the book to JRoll, Stark uses
him to help tell a story bigger than a single game, or even a single
World Series. It’s the story of Philadelphia baseball fans.
Now, Stark doesn’t go into the fine teams of the ‘90s
(the 1890s, that is) which always seemed to have something different
go wrong. And he doesn’t mention the 1901 Phillies, who would
have won the National League if they’d been able to keep Nap
Lajoie. And he doesn’t go in to Connie Mack breaking up two
of the great dynasties in baseball history due to financial considerations
beyond his control (the Federal League and the Great Depression.)
Nor does he repeat the sad tale of the impoverished ownerships of
William Baker and Gerry Nugent. First of all, that’s not really
Jayson’s style, and secondly, it’s not necessary, it’s
ancient history to current fans (and everyone else, except ancient
historians like your humble scribe). He’s telling a much more
recent history, the last 25 (or 28) years.
“This, for years, had been the team these people had the
least faith in. So how amazing was it that this was the team that
had finally set them free… When something like this happens,
this is not a sports story. This is a life story.”
The life story Stark tells is largely drawn from his 2008 ESPN.com
columns. However, since he wrote enough during the year to fill
several books, it took some very skillful editing to produce a book
that, as the subtitle says tells “Tales of the 2008 Phillies.”
Starting with his Nostradamus imitation written during Spring Training
(on Feb. 29, 2008… a day that only comes up once every four
years), wherein he quotes Rollins at length (including his now-famous
100-win prediction) and refers to him as the Phillies’ MVP/psychology
major, Stark takes the reader through the key moments of the 2008
season, featuring, in Part 2, the “Five Moments That Defined
a Season.” In case you’re wondering, they are; manager
Charlie Manuel benching that same Jimmy Rollins for not running
out a pop up, Brett Myers taking a trip to the minor leagues, the
late August sweep of the Dodgers, the four-game mid-September sweep
of the Brewers that cost Ned Yost his job, and the National League
East clincher, wherein Rollins and Chase Utley turned one of the
great clutch double plays in history. Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance
indeed.
Parts 3, 4 and 5 of “Worth the Wait” give an inside
look of the three tiers of the postseason. Read it for yourself,
it’s worth the wait. But, don’t forget to also stop
and peruse another feature of this book that is so typically Jayson
Stark. At the end of every write-up of every single game of the
NLDS, the NLCS and the World Series, he gives us, that’s right,
an installment of Useless Information (like the famous six-day wait
between games in the 1911 World Series between the A’s and
the Giants.)
We’ll leave the final word on “Worth the Wait”
to Geoff Jenkins, who Stark quotes in the final line of the book.
“When you win, it’s forever. It’s forever, man.
And that’s a great feeling.”
-- John Shiffert
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