The Bullpen Gospels: A Non-Prospect's Pursuit of the Major Leagues and the Meaning of Life

by Dirk Hayhurst

Book Overview

From the humble heights of a Class-A pitcher's mound to the deflating lows of sleeping on his gun-toting grandmother's air mattress, veteran reliever Dirk Hayhurst steps out of the bullpen to deliver... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806531436
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: Citadel
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.9" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Best baseball writer I've ever read

I wish I could say I've read every word Dirk has ever written, but I think I'm close. As a baseball fan I loved reading his story of one year in the minor leagues on the way to the majors. The stories are real and while some touch your heart, others make you laugh out loud. After reading several things Dirk wrote for Baseball America, I emailed him and told him he needed to go after the back page of Sports Illustrated because he wrote every bit as well as Rick Reilly. If you like baseball at all, and/or live in a town with a minor league team, read this book! You won't be sorry. I plan to read anything and everything he ever writes, his talent is worth it. And I wish him well with both his endeavors, writing, and recovering from surgery and getting back on the mound.

Couldn't put it down

I am 32, and haven't read a book for fun since I was a child reading Dr. Seuss. Being a Blue Jays fan, and avid @TheGarfoose follower, I pre-ordered the book. For the weeks before its release, I heard nothing but good things about the book. I couldn't wait to read it - and I don't even like books. The day it arrived (yesterday), I finished half of it and the only reason I put it down was because it was 2am. I finished it today and it was everything I expected. Very few things in life live up to the hype. This book certainly did. It made me laugh (a lot) and feel like a big softie at the ending (which brought tears to my eyes). I loved the insight into the depths of minor league baseball, and learning about the guys behind the uniforms and stat lines. This is a must read for any baseball fan.

Well written and deeply moving

To call this a baseball book does the author a disservice. Hayhurst is a baseball player, but more importantly, he's a real person, and he tells the story through the framework of minor league baseball. The writing in the book is powerful, and I found myself laughing out loud at parts while nearly in tears at others. I couldn't help but walk away from the book with a shift in perspective. Technology has made it easier to follow baseball teams and careers, but it has also made it easy to reduce players down to a stat line and a scouting description. Hayhurst shows us the story of one person behind those numbers, and the places where his story intersects with others. I pre-ordered the book and anxiously awaited for it to appear on my Kindle. Once it did, I picked it up and didn't stop until I had finished the book. Now I can't wait for a follow-up to this outstanding work. The writing is exceptional, with a good sense of pacing and flow.

Brought me to tears

I have a very large collection of baseball books , and this is one of my favorites. I had been waiting for it ever since I heard an interview with the author, Dirk Hayhurst, 6 or 8 weeks ago. What a gem! It is a rare "baseball book" that even nonfans will love, but this is it. I started reading it while getting ready for work the first day after it arrived. When I glanced up at a clock, I noticed it was over an hour later! I have never been that engrossed. I cover a minor league team for a radio station and maybe have a little better feel for some of the things these guys experience, but no one (even in Ball Four) quite captured the emotional roller coaster players experience, especially when they are not always successful. More importantly, Dirk gave us a lot of insight into how easy it is to lose your "humanity" when you put on a jersey. I will never forget the stories he tells about walking in a homeless man's shoes and fulfilling a dying child's greatest wish by bringing him into the bullpen. I cried a bucket of tears not just from the sheer pathos of some of the stories but also because some of the stories are absolutely hilarious. Hayhurst has this incredibly self-effacing honesty that is so refreshing. Thank God, English majors sometimes wind up playing baseball! When his baseball career is over, Dirk Hayhurst could have a great career as a writer or cartoonist (another field in which he dabbles). I am glad that this long reliever (aka "mopup guy") in the bullpen had a lot of time on his hands to take notes that became this book.

Buy this book now!

One of the greatest baseball books of modern times hit North America's books stores this week. Shockingly, it was written by a guy who was more interested in growing up to be Trevor Hoffman, not Peter Gammons. Those aren't my words. They are the opening sentences of ESPN baseball analyst Jayson Stark's review of The Bullpen Gospels by Dirk Hayhurst. The book is receiving rave reviews not only for its baseball-related content, but also for Hayhurst's pained, personal story. But don't be confused. This story is neither an over-the-top expose on today's players, nor a "aw shucks" feel-good tale. In fact, it is not easy to put this book into a single category. The book centers around the 2007 season when Hayhurst moves between different levels of the San Diego Padres minor league system. Hayhurst use pseudonyms and composite characters (e.g. Pickles, Rosco, Slappy, & Maddog) to protect his teammates' identifies. This is raw stuff, some times cringe-worthy, sophomorphic fun, other times cringe-worthy pain, delivered in machine gun bursts by a gifted writer. A particular passage about an octopus copulating a bagpipe had me laughing so hard I couldn't catch my breath. Bullpen is compelling because of the style, or "voice" with which it is written. Hayhurst's style is disarmingly conversatinal and self-deprecating; exposing the reader to the lighter side of baseball, but also to his inner most fears and demons. He does so in a manner that makes you feel like you are in the room with him and his teammates shooting the breeze. The style draws you in, his stories are intoxicating, and the result is a spellbinding read. The grit and realism starts right from the prologue. "I was the team's long relief man. A nonglorious pitching role designed to protect priority pitchers. If the starting pitcher broke down or the game got out of control, I came in to clean up so the bullpen wasn't exhausted. Despite feel-good semantics supplied by the organization, my main job was mopping up lost causes. Why waste a talented pitcher when there was a perfectly useless guy for the job? I could pitch five innings in a blowout or face one batter in the seventeenth inning. Put it this way: if I could have done any other role successfully, I wouldn't have been the long man." Usually, when I review a book, I take notes to remind myself of things I might want to weave into the review. That approach was hopeless with this book. There are far too many memorable moments to keep track of. Below is an excerpt of a comparatively tame episode amongst the many: "As we made our way to the pen, fans splashed against the stadium's fenceing, begging us for autographs. We signed everything from hats and programs to ticket stubs and sandwich wrappers. It always boggles my mind how fans will fight all over themselves at a chance to get one of our names scribbled on their souvenirs. If only they knew what we were under these jerseys. Just hours before the game, the