Late Innings: A Baseball Companion

by Roger Angell

Book Overview

American sports essayist Roger Angell tells of baseball games, players, and seasons from the spring of 1977 to the late summer of 1981 as he takes readers beyond the field into the depth of the game... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671425676
• ISBN13: 9780671425678
• Release Date: January 1982
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 429 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Passionate, Poetic Look at Baseball

When Roger Angell writes a baseball book, readers are treated to a poetic literary experience. Angell embraces the game, and comprehend's the sport's personalities, nuances, and inequalities. LATE INNINGS is drawn from the 1977-1981 seasons - dated but still very much worth reading. Among the issues were the arrival of free agency, the Boston-New York rivalry, and personalities like Carl Yastrzemski, Nolan Ryan, Reggie Jackson, Joe Morgan, Bill Veeck, Bowie Kuhn, Mike Schmidt, etc. The top teams included power-based grass teams (New York, Boston, Baltimore, Los Angeles) and speed and line drive turf squads (Houston, Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh). Many readers will enjoy remembrances of players, games, and the large number of now-gone stadiums (some of which weren't baseball-friendly). Younger readers will learn about the game's fairly recent past. And, of course, all readers should enjoy Angell's passionate and heartfelt writing.

Baseball masterpiece

Angell is without a daoubt the preeminent "literary" baseball writer of the late 20th century. His knowledge of the game and passion shine through, but those qualities are equally matched by his beautiful prose which make his pieces flow and leave readers very satisfied. This is a great book about the 1977-1981 baseball seasons, which leaves it a little dated, but does not detract from its value (one of the best parts of baseball is how little it changes from generation to generation). Angell is insightful, witty and animated throughout and I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of his writing, the New Yorker (for which he has been an editor for decades) or just love baseball. An alternative to purchasing this book, however, would be Game Time which is an anthology of Angell's baseball writing through the years and contains most of his best stuff, but this book is also worth buying on its own because even stories that are less than his best are still very good.

Wonderful Prose, but Dated

Roger Angell is a wonderful writer, perhaps the most gifted writer in recent decades to approach the game of baseball in a serious way. The chapters here fully support his reputation. But, despite the fact that this book is a 1992 reprint, it will be a tough and largely academic read for all but the most hard-core baseball or Angell fans. It chronicles the 1977-1981 seasons: an era of Reggie Jackson, George Brett, and Tom Seaver; an era when newly-won free agency brought gasps with contracts worth half a million dollars. Those days are long gone. Die hard fans might enjoy spending a weekend reliving them, but the more general public might be better served by more recent Angell books.

Brilliant

Without a doubt, the best book on baseball I have ever written - insightful, funny - an all around gem.