Type: fiction
Status: —
Author: Art Thiel
Tags: baseball seattle mariners
Description: I was actually pretty disappointed. I know the first twenty years of the team are bad, andI was actually pretty disappointed. I know the first twenty years of the team are bad, and kind of boring, but I don't remember them being quite that boring. It was a little bit interesting reading about the ownership and how Nintendo bought them, and the influence of Japanese business practices on how they ran the team, but it was mostly a giant yawn.
What really bugged me was the two chapters on the 1995 season really did nothing towards conveying exactly how awesome that season was. There were a few moments, where he quoted players (mostly Buhner and a little Jeff Nelson) about what it was like playing during those series, and when the Kingdome staffer came back into the clubhouse after they lost the last game against the Indians, and told Lou "no one's left the building" but it didn't have the same kick that the playoff run itself did, which was really disappointing.
There were some awesome quotes from Buhner and Piniella though, both on their own, and some truly blue-colored fights they had back in the day.
The last few chapters, which dealt with the star conflicts between Griffey, Johnson and A-Rod were interesting, mostly because I've never seen any of it talked about before (a little with Griffey, not so much with the other two) and of course he covered A-Rod selling out to Texas, and then what the team went through to sign Ichiro. I suppose if you're interested in the business history of the team, and want an overview of the political fights with the team and the stadium, then you'll really like the book. But, as for a history of the baseball-romance side of the team, that book has yet to be written. ...
2006-01-04
