Confessions of a She-Fan: The Course of True Love with the New York Yankees

by Jane Heller

Book Overview

Two months into the 2007 baseball season, novelist Jane Heller, an obsessed Yankee fan heartsick over their poor play, announced her intention to divorce the team, on grounds of mental cruelty, in the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594868980
• ISBN13: 9781594868986
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Rodale Books
• Length: 262 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.8" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Outta the Park

Excerpt of my July 16 review on[...] Despite living in Santa Barbara, novelist Jane Heller is a die-hard Yankees fan. (She has NY roots, of course.) Heller normally focuses on "chick lit" books (Some Nerve, An Ex to Grind), but this is her first non-fiction book. It all started when she wrote an hysterical essay in early summer 2007 in The New York Times, demanding a "divorce" from the Yankees -- that infuriated and delighted fans across the country. That lead to a book contract, and Heller and her husband Michael hit the road, with the goal of attending (almost) every game, talking to players, and writing about the 2007 season from a "she fan's" POV. The result is an funny yet amazingly nuanced non-fiction book that reads like a juicy novel. After hunting for it all over NYC (Hey! Barnes & Noble - get your act together) I finally found a copy at the Wall Street Borders. I started reading it at the beginning of Monday's Home Run Derby, which proved no distraction, and didn't go to sleep until I had finished it. I've always wondered why I care so very very much about games that I absolutely have no control over -- and that's a constant theme in Heller's book. (Yes, part of it is that the Yankees tend to end up in the playoffs despite al odds and I'm the world's most competitive person -- I once had my friends form a tenants' union against me when playing Monopoly). My recessive sports gene did not kick in until I moved to New York in 1998, and became curious about why Joe Torre switched pitchers. Within a year I was drinking the Kool-Aid. My biggest revelation after becoming a beisbol addict was how powerful a baseball game is as "social networking" -- it empowers you to talk to just about anyone in this baseball-crazed city, from cab drivers to top executives. But it ALSO teaches intense lessons about how to succeed in business (a theme explored years ago by Betty Harragan, in Games Your Mother Never Taught You.) But as much as I love the game, I'm so not a "groupie" -- I have zero interest in meeting (most) players, or getting autographs (although one of my favorite possessions is a signed pix of Scooter with Sinatra, that my bro gave me). Think about it -- would you really want to endure a long dinner with 80% of the players? Sure, Moose, Leiter, Mo or Jeter -- but I'd be bored to tears if I had to spend 15 minutes with preening A-Rod, and I don't speak Spanish so that would rule out Melky. I'm much more interested in talking to the managers, administrators, and media -- especially folks like Michael Kay, Joe Girardi, Brian Cashman, and Kevin Dart. I'd happily give up a weekend in Hawaii to have a quiet lunch with any one of them. And that turns out to be the real heart and soul of Heller's book -- her plot line revolves around whether she'll be able to break through the NYY administrative moat (which makes getting a visa to Cuba look easy) and get the coveted press credentials she needs to get access to players for her book. In

Witty, cynical, sometimes crude and irreverent, always funny, and well worth reading

The story behind the book is well-known. Heller, a lifelong fan of the New York Yankees, vowed to divorce the club early in 2007 when it was in last place. Her "divorce" letter, published in the New York Times, led to an outpouring of emotion from Yankee fans across the country, not all of which was good. And as a result, Heller began a personal journey--both literally and figuratively--that led her to ballparks all across the country, following her team, meeting other fans, trying to score at least one interview with an actual player, and searching for answers as to her true feelings about the Yankees, baseball, and life. Confessions of a She-Fan is the story of that journey, one she shared with her husband, who must have been an incredibly good sport throughout this whole process. Although spending two months on the road, going from city to city for the sole purpose of watching baseball games actually sounds like a pretty sweet deal. Heller, who is a novelist with a long list of successful books to her credit, is witty, cynical, sometimes crude and irreverent, always funny, and at times, deeply introspective. To Heller, Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon is "Pap Smear" and Fenway Park is "unusual . . . and puny, like a toy park," while Yankee Stadium is "regal and imposing." Yet, she also meets a Red Sox fan who is at Fenway for the first time ever, calling it "the best night" of his life--which led her to write, "He shames me with his lack of pretense. I am deeply moved by him." As part of her journey, Heller gives a game-by-game accounting of New York's effort to recover from a horrid start and make the postseason, and the closer the calendar gets to October, the more she learns about the true nature of fandom and what it means to be committed to relationships of any type. The story of Heller's journey was so well publicized prior to the release of the book that I was curious about how she would handle the book's ending. After all, everyone already knows how the season ended, about the A-Rod World Series fiasco, and about the departure of Joe Torre--but I have to say when I reached the end of the book it was a very fitting and satisfying conclusion, and not at all what I expected. Go ahead and read The Yankee Years by Joe Torre (well worth it), but do not make the mistake of dismissing She-Fan. If you are a fan of the Yankees, or of the game itself, you will find Heller's journey worth reading.

A Must Read!

This is a must read! Forget the Torre story, She-Fan is told from a female point of view, most often humorous but also quite poignant. The sheer chutzpah and determination of the author, as she follows her favorite team from coast to coast, trying to open doors to an interview, while being thrown one roadblock after another...is absolutely fascinating. What awaits her would sink a lesser person but Heller's trek is written with grace, love, and a bit of the middle finger, too! I thought I knew everything there was to know about the sport but I discovered who made the author's life difficult, who displayed acts of kindness, a touching sidebar about a Yankee reliever and, a prince charming who unexpectedly shows up. Buy this book...it's endorsed enthusiastically -- by me. Two big thumbs up for this slice of America's favorite pasttime!

If you have ever loved a team, this book is for you!

Laugh out loud funny, both in obvious and subtle ways. Reflective, smart, packed with all the emotions that go along with being the thing they call a baseball fan. Jane's journey to prove her worth as a true fan takes her across the country where she and her husband visit ballparks and meet all kinds of fans: angry, crazy, drunk, life-long, first timers, die-hard, tenacious, sweet courageous and hopeful. This book is a great read - a must read for she-fans and he-fans alike.