Spring Training

by William Zinsser

Book Overview

Spring training, a time when every team is in first place, is an American tradition dating back to the early years of the twentieth century. William Zinsser vividly brings to life the unique,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060160594
• ISBN13: 9780060160593
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 197 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Dreaming and Remembering

After reading "Spring Training," I could not remember the last time I smiled more while reading. Zinsser captures the true essence of baseball's idyllic past, a past rife with the smell of grass and dirt and hot dogs and worn leather. As Zinsser explores the Pirates' spring training, he prophesies about modernity and its effects on the game, especially on the loss of the wonder of baseball and its heroes, and lovingly explains the greatness of baseball without air conditioning. This book calmly and cheerfully reminisces about the height of American joy expressed in the cheers of the spring training crowd waiting with new gloves and full hearts.

A lightweight but charming look at spring training

In 1987, the author made a trip to spring training to find out if all the myths about charming little towns and ballplayers everywhere were true. In Bradenton with the Pittsburgh Pirates, they were. Zinnser interviews players (Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla), coaches, umpires, and Edd Roush, the "oldest living hall of famer" with a fan's enthusiasm for everything about the game. It would be an especially fun book for a Pirate's fan, but any lover of the game can imagine him or herself asking the same questions the author does, as he ambles from scouts to pitching coaches to the boosters who rent the seat cushions in homey old McKechnie Park.By the way, I review this and pretty much all baseball books I read at my enthusiast's web site "Why I Like Baseball" at http://www.ceciliatan.com/baseball.html