Barry tells the story of the longest game in baseball history, an eight-hour and 25-minute affair between two Triple-A teams in the spring and early summer of 1981. He explores the lives of the players (many career minor leaguers but also such future stars as Wade Boggs and Cal Ripken Jr.) on the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings, along with others associated with the game, focusing more on the Pawtucket team as the game was held there. He tries, not entirely successfully, to show special spiritual meaning in the game's progression from Holy Saturday to Easter Sunday. Unfortunately, Barry does not write well enough to make the topic of a very long game deserve a long book, additionally because the 33rd inning of victory did not in fact take place until more than two months after the other 32 innings. Still, it may appeal to some baseball fans, notably of the Red Sox or Orioles.—R.L.
“Bottom of the 33rd is chaw-chewing, sunflower-spitting, pine tar proof that too much baseball is never enough.” -Jane Leavy, author of The Last Boy and Sandy Koufax*
From Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Dan Barry comes the beautifully recounted story of the longest game in baseball history-a tale celebrating not only the robust intensity of baseball, but the aspirational ideal epitomized by the hard-fighting players of the minor leagues.
On April 18, 1981, a ball game sprang eternal. For eight hours, the night seemed to suspend a town and two teams between their collective pasts and futures, between their collective sorrows and joys-the shivering fans; their wives at home; the umpires; the batboys approaching manhood; the ejected manager, peering through a hole in the backstop; the sportswriters and broadcasters; and the players themselves-two destined for the Hall of Fame (Cal Ripken and Wade Boggs), the few to play only briefly or forgettably in the big leagues, and the many stuck in minor-league purgatory, duty bound and loyal forever to the game.
With Bottom of the 33rd, Barry delivers a lyrical meditation on small-town lives, minor-league dreams, and the elements of time and community that conspired one fateful night to produce a baseball game seemingly without end. An unforgettable portrait of ambition and endurance, Bottom of the 33rd is the rare sports book that changes the way we perceive America's pastime-and America's past.
A perfect gift for baseball fans and history buffs alike, Bottom of the 33rd is a beautifully written nonfiction account of the longest game in baseball history, featuring the likes of Cal Ripken and Wade Boggs, as well as lesser-known minor league players who were just as dedicated to the game.
HarperCollins 2024
“Bottom of the 33rd is chaw-chewing, sunflower-spitting, pine tar proof that too much baseball is never enough.” -Jane Leavy, author of The Last Boy and Sandy Koufax*
From Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Dan Barry comes the beautifully recounted story of the longest game in baseball history-a tale celebrating not only the robust intensity of baseball, but the aspirational ideal epitomized by the hard-fighting players of the minor leagues.
On April 18, 1981, a ball game sprang eternal. For eight hours, the night seemed to suspend a town and two teams between their collective pasts and futures, between their collective sorrows and joys-the shivering fans; their wives at home; the umpires; the batboys approaching manhood; the ejected manager, peering through a hole in the backstop; the sportswriters and broadcasters; and the players themselves-two destined for the Hall of Fame (Cal Ripken and Wade Boggs), the few to play only briefly or forgettably in the big leagues, and the many stuck in minor-league purgatory, duty bound and loyal forever to the game.
With Bottom of the 33rd, Barry delivers a lyrical meditation on small-town lives, minor-league dreams, and the elements of time and community that conspired one fateful night to produce a baseball game seemingly without end. An unforgettable portrait of ambition and endurance, Bottom of the 33rd is the rare sports book that changes the way we perceive America's pastime-and America's past.
A perfect gift for baseball fans and history buffs alike, Bottom of the 33rd is a beautifully written nonfiction account of the longest game in baseball history, featuring the likes of Cal Ripken and Wade Boggs, as well as lesser-known minor league players who were just as dedicated to the game.
HarperCollins 2024
Bottom of the 33rd: Hope and Redemption in Baseball's Longest Game - The Longest Game in Baseball History
Bottom of the 33rd: Hope and Redemption in Baseball's Longest Game - The Longest Game in Baseball History
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Editorial Reviews
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940170005222 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 04/12/2011 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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