Brenda Haversham is a forty year old, divorced mother of two adolescent boys. She lives in an old house that has seen better days in a neighborhood in Cleveland, has a lout of an ex-husband, and she is scraping along paycheck-to-paycheck in a dead end job at a local insurance company. One day, while chaperoning a group of kids at a Cleveland Indians game, on a whim, she picks up a baseball at a "How Fast Can You Throw" concession at Progressive Field and, to her surprise, she hits 72 MPH on the radar gun. Somebody posts a cellphone video of Brenda's pitch on YouTube, and Brenda, to both her surprise and annoyance, becomes an overnight Internet sensation.
Thus begins an incredible summer for Brenda Haversham that will take her to a recreational wooden bat baseball league, and, eventually, to her being the first woman to play in the Major Leagues as she finds herself pitching for the Indians in the heat of a pennant race.
In reviewing this book, I must add the following in the interests of Full Disclosure. I first got to know Susan Petrone when she served as am executive with the Society of American Baseball Research when that organization was based in Cleveland, I met her personally a few years back when I attended a SABR Chapter meeting in Cleveland, I friended her on Facebook, have read her blogs, and some of her short fiction, and I consider her a friend, so I was inclined to like this book from the outset. Having said all that, I have to say that I truly did enjoy reading this book, and following Brenda's adventures as she becomes a somewhat reluctant pioneer breaking baseball's glass ceiling.
There is enough runs-hits-and-errors baseball stuff in here to satisfy baseball fans, but this is more of a story about a woman approaching middle age who is just doing what she can to support and keep her family together. While Brenda loved baseball and playing baseball as a little girl, she never dreamed that she could actually ever make a living at it, and when the opportunity presents itself, it isn't necessarily what she thought it would be. She meets resistance from teammates and fans, she faces loneliness on the road and in her own locker room, and her new found and instant fame brings about a whole new set of problems in her family relationships. At one point, Brenda asked her agent (yes, she had to get an agent), "Why am I doing this?" To which her agent replies, "You're doing this for the same reason as everybody else in this business - to make a buck."
Yes, sports fans, baseball is a business, and that fact hits Brenda fairly hard, but she adapts to it well. This came home to her shortly after her recall to the Indians, when Brenda receives a not so warm welcome from her new teammates when she thinks "It only then occurred to me that for me to get this job, somebody else had to lose his."
It is not all bad for Brenda, though, but I won't say anymore (although late in the book, there is a scene where she goes out to dinner with three of her teammates while on a road trip that is one of the highlights of the book to me), other than to recommend this book to anyone, and you don't really need to be a hardcore baseball fan to enjoy it.
Cleaning out the Mental In-Box......
- Well, the BIG NEWS out of Spring Training arrived via social media at Noon today: Andrew McCutchen cut he dreads!!! He looks good:
- Is there a more fun sports weekend than the opening weekend of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament? We spent all of Thursday watching games deep into the night. On Friday I met up with friends Fred, John, and Len and others at the Tilted Kilt and watched games all afternoon. Lots of TV time on Saturday and Sunday watching the field of 64 being winnowed to 16. I do regret not having had the foresight to get tickets for the Opening Round games that were held at the Consol. I have great memories of seeing those same games at the Arena in 1997 and 2002.
- On the downside, watching all those games means seeing commercials - the same commercials - time after time. We can argue all day as to which are the best and which are the worst ones. My own nominations....Best - The AT&T commercials with Shaquille O'Neal, Clyde Drexler, Julius Irving, and Christian Laettner. The Worst (and no other is even close) - The trailer for that movie with Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart, a movie that shows promise of being one of the worst movies scheduled for release in 2015.
- I was dubious when the NCAA announced a few years ago that all opening round games would be telecast on CBS, TBS, TNT, and TruTV, but it has turned out to be utterly fantastic. The way they show the scores of other games, and the network on which it is being televised, thus enabling you to switch to another game, is the most viewer friendly thing on television.
- That said, isn't it amazing how four games being played simultaneously can all manage to be in a commercial break at the same time?
- As great as watching all these games is, I have to say that the endless cycle of foul-time out-free throw-time out-foul and on and on is extremely tedious. I know that it has become an intricate part of the strategy of the college game, but surely there has to be a better way.
- A special shout out to my SABR and Facebook Friend Susan Petrone of Cleveland. On Tuesday, her novel, "Throw Like a Woman" was officially released. I have already downloaded it on my Kindle, and it will be the next book that I read. Good luck, Susan!
- I know that we are very late to this particular party, but Marilyn and I, throughout he magic of syndication and reruns, have become completely hooked on "The Big Bang Theory". We are far from caught up on all of the adventures of Sheldon, Leonard, Penny and the rest of the gang, but there is seldom an episode that we watch where we have not laughed out loud throughout the show. Truly one of the funniest sitcoms ever.
- Did you notice that NFL has announced that one of the games that will be played in London next season, between Buffalo and Jacksonville, will start at 9:30 eastern time and will not be broadcast in network television. Instead, it will be streamed over some yet-to-be announced Internet streaming service. This is the first shot across the bow, folks. If the money is there from some Internet giant like Netflicks, Google, or Amazon, and it will be, be prepared for one day seeing the Super Bowl through your computer, telephone, or Apple Watch.
- Speaking of SABR, the Pittsburgh Chapter's next meeting will be on April 25, and I have already put together a presentation for that meeting. It's been a while since I have done a presentation, and I am looking forward to it. Makes you want to show up, doesn't it?
