Nine Innings

by Daniel Okrent

Book Overview

You'll never watch baseball the same way again. A timeless baseball classic and a must read for any fan worthy of the name, Nine Innings dissects a single baseball game played in June 1982 -- inning... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 089919334X
• ISBN13: 9780899193342
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Book Sales
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Superb book for thinking fans

This is an excellent baseball book for the thinking fan. The book focuses on one seemingly unimportant mid-season 1982 contest between the Baltimore Orioles and the Milwaukee Brewers. As author Daniel Okrent recounts the game, he weaves in such baseball lore as the history of the slider, player behavior in the locker rooms, catcher's signals, scouting, etc. Every chapter covers an inning, and every inning leads to lengthy sidebars on many facets of baseball. The book is a bit dated, but Okrent's prose and subject matter make important reading for any fan wanting to know about the nuts and bolts of baseball. Some may not like that the author focuses more heavily on the Brewers, who won that year's AL pennant (Baltimore took the World Series a year later). Fittingly, these two teams battled each other in the season's final game to decide the division title. Fans will learn a lot about baseball from this engaging and thoughtful book.

A Complete-Game Shutout by Okrent

In this book, as other reviewers and the editorial reviews have stated, Daniel Okrent writes a play-by-play account of a single baseball game which, in its normality and relative unimportance, serves as a good setting. No one remembers this game now, as they would a famous playoff game or All-Star contest. This matchup between the Baltimore Orioles and the Milwaukee Brewers was simply one of the many games played on that late-Spring day and was nothing more or less.But the game's meaninglessness, on the surface, would seem to make this a tediously boring read. To the contrary, it is a fascinating look into the world of baseball in any generation and makes you realize that the sport is made up of much more than the simple, routine actions that take place on the field. Okrent also makes clear the importance of each of these actions - individual pitches, defensive positioning and in-game managerial decisions - by discussing and analyzing the thought processes of making each crucial choice.But the more interesting aspect of the book is the off-the-field components that Okrent deals with in similar depth and interest. He discusses the anatomy of an individual trade, delves into the art of player scouting, and writes much about the baseball media, including Milwaukee's beat writers and the club's radio network. As the book's introduction said, the on-field happenings are really nothing more than the tip of the iceberg and Okrent convincingly backs up this statement.Additionally, his afterword, written in early 2000, is an incredibly insightful closing which will comfort those who have grown discontented with the changing face of baseball and will interest those who still love it for what it is.Okrent did a teriffic job with Nine Innings and the product that he put out on the table is a book that any baseball fan will love and should step up to the plate to.

Great book

This is my favorite baseball book. It's about the game and all the layers that go into it. You can do this with any sport, but I love baseball and Okrent dissects both pitch counts and player histories with care. I remember these players, but I've never rooted for either team and I still think that this book is fascinating. I often think of this book as I go to ballgames and strike up conversations with fellow fans about not only the situations of the game in front of us, but how this game connects to so many other games in the past.

The best inside look at the game between the lines.

Baseball is often called a thinking man's game, and Okrent's book testifies to the truth of that statement. Dissecting a game inning-by-inning, Okrent explores the hundreds of options, possibilities and actions that accompany each pitch and each signal. Read it, and you'll never watch a baseball game in the same way again

Okrent shows just how much history goes into every pitch

Dan Okrent went to the Oriole-Brewer game of June 10, 1982, and here he gives a play-by-play account of the game with enormous background on each team. He shows how a baseball game is like an iceberg -- how what you actually see of it is just one-tenth of what it's all about. If you've spent the last few years wondering about Bud Selig, Okrent offers a comprehensive look at today's acting commissioner. Arnold Hano wrote a similar book about Game One of the 1954 World Series (A DAY IN THE BLEACHERS), but Okrent proves just how compelling a non-descript game in mid-season can be in its own right