Customer Reviews

Ain't No Sense Worryin: The Wisdom of Mick "the Quick" Rivers

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I purchased this book at the Yogi Berra museum in Montclair, NJ during a book signing by Mickey Rivers himself. I always liked him, and knew about his witty quotes, however, I never realized what a genuinely nice person he was. At the book signing, he talked to me for more than 5 minutes. The fact he's a nice person comes across loud and clear in the book as well. He tells tales of his childhood, the minor leagues, the Angels, Yankees, Rangers, and other experiences. The book is written in a conversational style, as if Mickey is talking right to you. You get a feel for the man, and you get to hear good stories as well. As you read, you'll laugh and come to like Mickey more and more. For me, I started to long for the days of my youth when the Yankees Bronx Zoo team battled with the Boston Red Sox, the KC Royals and the LA Dodgers. All in all, this book is a thoroughly enjoyable read. If you enjoy humorous baseball stories in an easy-to-read format, I highly recommend Ain't No Sense Worryin'.

A great book for Yanks fans as well as other baseball fans, and a great trip down memory lane for those of us who remember and treasure the late 70s Yanks and Sox.

I bought this because Mick's odd yet wise quotes were legendary during his playing career, kind of a next-generation Yogi Berra. (A nice touch in the book is that it includes many of these quotes in his own handwriting.) Mick recalls his baseball life with humor and a deep sensitivity, especially for those teammates who are gone -- Thurman Munson, Billy Martin, Catfish Hunter, Jim SPencer, etc. For example, he recounts his post-game activities playing ball with kids around the stadium and racing them down the street, and talks about the importance that today's players - Jeter, Williams, etc. - be role models for children.

A quick read that will bring you back to the Bronx Zoo. (Particularly enjoyed the story about how Mick's wife played bumper cars w/ his Benz and Cadillac in the Yankee Stadium parking lot - bet The Boss loved cleaning up...)

This book by Mickey Rivers is truly unique. It reads more like a loosely connected bunch of stories somewhat covering his life and career. Mickey breaks the rules of proper grammar in favor of telling a story in his own words.
The book is interesting, but lacking in any real depth. You can probably read it quickly in one setting, but I would rather have a meatier book from one of the true characters of the game, a man who spent time on one of the craziest and greatest baseball teams ever.

In a sense, this book IS Mickey Rivers - humorous, irreverent, oddly distracted, and in a sense somewhat disassociated from the reality that the rest of us live in. On the surface, the book is little more than a collection of mildly to moderately humorous stories: other than (arguably) Billy Martin, Rivers does little to expose facets of the people he discusses that we aren't already well aware of.

Yet in the telling of the stories Mickey does expose much of his inner self to the reader, and in so doing he more or less validates the title of the book. Apparently, Mickey truly didn't believe in worryin' about anything: his marriage, taking care of himself physically, what others thought of his various and sundry antics. Having said all of that, though, Rivers does come off as quite likable - he may have more or less unconsciously made his way through his career, but at least he did so with a smile on his face and a desire to do the best he could with those talents that he could readily muster.

In the end, I gave this book three stars because one doesn't get the feeling that Rivers put much thought into it, but what the heck... if the book was full of deep self-contemplation, it wouldn't be Mickey, would it?

I had hoped this book would be a lot more of a biography. Instead it was written as if the reader was a 10 year old. Not informative and a waste of money.