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Overview
Roger Angell has been writing about baseball for more than forty years . . . and for my money he's the best there is at it," says novelist Richard Ford in his introduction to Game Time. Angell's famous explorations of the summer game are built on acute observation and joyful participation, conveyed in a prose style as admired and envied as Ted Williams's swing. Angell on Fenway Park in September, on Bob Gibson brooding in retirement, on Tom Seaver in mid-windup, on the abysmal early and recent Mets, on a scout at work in backcountry Kentucky, on Pete Rose and Willie Mays and Pedro Martinez, on the astounding Barry Bonds at Pac Bell Park, and more, carry us through the arc of the season with refreshed understanding and pleasure. This collection represents Angell's best writings, from spring training in 1962 to the explosive World Series of 2002.
Synopsis
Roger Angell has been writing about baseball for more than forty years . . . and for my money he's the best there is at it," says novelist Richard Ford in his introduction to Game Time. Angell's famous explorations of the summer game are built on acute observation and joyful participation, conveyed in a prose style as admired and envied as Ted Williams's swing. Angell on Fenway Park in September, on Bob Gibson brooding in retirement, on Tom Seaver in mid-windup, on the abysmal early and recent Mets, on a scout at work in backcountry Kentucky, on Pete Rose and Willie Mays and Pedro Martinez, on the astounding Barry Bonds at Pac Bell Park, and more, carry us through the arc of the season with refreshed understanding and pleasure. This collection represents Angell's best writings, from spring training in 1962 to the explosive World Series of 2002.
Time
One of Game Times many virtues is that...Angell never for amoment forces the game to carry a meaning, metaphorical or otherwise, that it doesn't ask for. A deep thinker he may be, even an intellectual, but whatever baseball's true meaning, he has the good grace to write around it: he leaves the unutterable unuttered.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewNew Yorker writer Roger Angell has been penning brilliant pieces about baseball for more than 40 years, and in that time he's established himself as one of the most beloved and respected writers in the business. Now he's collected nearly 30 of his best works in Game Time: A Baseball Companion, which is a must-read for anyone who appreciates the subtleties of the game.
As befitting someone who is free of the time constraints placed upon a newspaper "beat" writer, Angell's essays are carefully worded and richly researched. The results are intimate profiles of Hall of Famers such as Tom Seaver, Don Sutton, and the intensely private Bob Gibson. But Angell also writes from the stands -- as he does in a piece detailing Ron Darling's 11 no-hit innings for Yale in a 1981 NCAA tournament game -- and spends time with the less-celebrated figures who provide the true fabric of the game. Angell goes on a cross-country trip with longtime scout Ray Scarborough, whose love of the game and his job jumps off the page, and broadcaster Tim McCarver, whose erudite and attentive approach to the game mirrors that of Angell's.
In praising McCarver, Angell writes, "What you want for a companion in [baseball's] meanderings is a man who enjoys the slow parts as much as the rapids." After reading Game Time, you'll realize there's no better companion than Angell. Jerry Beach