Customer Reviews

The Baseball Uncyclopedia: A Highly Opinionated, Myth-Busting Guide to the Great American Game

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First off, I have to agree with the last reviewer -- there's no way that the photo of the reviewer named "Tough Girl" is real. Second, I don't read fiction, so I'm sorry if I don't know who Kun is and didn't know how beloved he is; I've read the reviews of his other books on amazon, and it sounds like people really love his novels, even if I'm never going to read them. (Although I might read the one about Heather Locklear now that she's single again.) Third, he and his co-writer Bloom seemed to have a lot of fun writing this book. There is some very funny and entertaining stuff in it. There's also some stuff that isn't as funny or entertaining as it could be, which makes it hard to rate. Some chapters were 5s, some 4s, some 3s, a couple 2s and one 1. All and all, the batting average is very high, so I give it 4 stars overall. Most baseball fans should enjoy this a lot. But some people take the game too seriously -- which is the subject of one of the best chapters, about how baseball is not a metaphore for life --and those people might get a bit angry at all the sacred cows being tipped. I'm just waiting for some diehard Yankee fan to blast these guys for the chapter about Joe DiMaggio, even though I completely agree with them.

As a lifelong baseball fan, I approached this book with some amount of trepidation. Poking fun at baseball can be a dangerous thing. You run the risk of ticking people off or, much worse, just sounding stupid. After reading all of the reviews of Michael Kun's books, most of which seem to be from a growing cult of readers, I figured it was worth a try. And I'm very glad I did. The book isn't perfect. Far from it. There are a few sections that didn't work for me at all, and the interplay between Kun and his co-author didn't always work, either. But Kun is so consistent -- and so consistently funny -- that I have gone ahead and ordered all of his other books. I'm not ready to dub him a genius yet, like some of the other customer reviews, but the key word may be "yet."

I consider myself a rabid baseball fan, and as such, have prided myself on collecting random baseball factoids through the years... Most baseball fact books are tedious rehashings of standard (and admittedly boring) baseball trivia. We all know that Dave Winfield was drafted in 3 professional sports... We all know that Nolan Ryan struck out the side on nine pitches a gazillion times... We've been ready for something else for some time now. This book is the something else. Not only was it well written and very humorous, but is was entirely filled with original baseball facts and thoughts. Now that's impressive. Kudos to Kun and Bloom, and thanks for the great read.

Unlike the other reviewers here, I have not read any of the author's other works...yet. I did find this book very entertaining though, so if Kun's other books are similar in style I'm sure I'll enjoy. I did however find a few things wrong in this text. I'm looking over my shoulder and find no girlfriend around, I hope that the significant others of Kun and Howard, and their editor for that matter aren't around. I don't want to embarrass them. First of all, Big and Little Poison are the nicknames of the Waners (Paul and Lloyd) NOT the Wagners (Honus and Lloyd(?)). Also, is was Tug Mcgraw that said he'd never smoked artificial turf, not Ken Brett. There were a couple of other things wrong here, but as I said it was an enjoyable read and even found myself laughing out loud at times.

Entertaining from cover to cover. Keeps you laughing while at the same time giving interesting "tidbits" to rattle off while watching a game or in in any conversation. That's the beauty of this book-whether you're a die hard fan, casual follower, or not that interested in baseball, you'll still enjoy it.

I've been reading this book over and over again since I got it years ago. After all of those years, it's still a funny, interesting way to look at baseball trivia.

I enjoyed this book. But, seemingly not as much as previous reviewers. The basic format was from A (David Aardsma) to Z (Dutch Zwilling) with quite a bit in between. Particularly, I liked the sections on major league playing brothers,the pitch count,the hidden ball trick,manager Preston Gomez twice lifting pitchers in the process of throwing no-hitters that had gone eight innings,Phil Linz playing the harmonica from the back of the team bus after the Yankees had lost a game,pitcher Wilson Alvarez's no hitter in his second major league game. In his first start he retired no batters. All in all a worthwhile addition to a baseball fans library.

There is a reason why Kun is worshipped by other writers and a growing number of readers. He is one of our most original, thought-provoking writers. Everything he does works on more than one level. In "The Locklear Letters," the simple rallying cry of "Eat Wheaties" came to mean different things as the book progressed: first, it made you laugh; later, it broke your heart. The same for the breathtaking "You Poor Monster," which used footnotes (actually, endnotes) more effectively than any other writer has ever used the device, telling a story that was parallel to the main story.

Now comes "The Baseball Uncyclopedia." Unlike the last reviewer (whose photo must be a fake!), I am a baseball fan. So combining baseball with Kun's otherworldly writing had me foaming at the mouth. I went into this with the understanding that it might just be something of a "side project" for him, so I tried to lower my expectations. I read most of the book in the first sitting. And I feel like I need to give it two different reviews, which I suspect Kun would actually respect.

The review of this as a baseball book: The book is uneven, which you would have to anticipate since it may have been written by two different people (see my second review below). Some of the stuff is laugh-out-loud funny, which is precisely what you would expect from Kun. His riffs on why no ballplayer would want to play in Detroit, or why Joe DiMaggio was overrated, or which uniforms were the ugliest, will get a laugh out of any reader. Then when he decides to be serious, as he is when he talks about Brooks and Frank Robinson, and the impact race relations had upon them, is something every baseball fan should read. There's some other stuff that doesn't work as well, but who cares. As a baseball book, it's a four-star effort.

The second review: as Kun's fans know, Kun likes to play with form. "Locklear" was told in letters. "Monster" includes those endnotes which include a fictional version of the author himself. As I read this book, I was struck by the thought that Kun might be pulling a fast one on us again and/or providing a bit of a treat for his devoted readers. I kept wondering whether Kun in fact wrote the entire book using his own name for part of it and a fictional writer for other parts. If you read the book from the start, you'll follow this tension between Kun and the other writer. The first time we hear from the other writer is when he complains that Kun is writing too much of the book. Then, the other writer ends up essentially mimicking Kun's writing style, right down to the footnotes that have by now made Kun somewhat famous. Then, later, the other writer turns on Kun, insulting him both subtley and not-so-subtley. In the end, I wonder whether I enjoyed the pieces attributed to Kun so much because I felt sympathy for him. And if Kun created that sympathy himself through a fictional co-writer, all I have to say is, "Wow!" Five stars for that!

(BTW, I met Kun at a book signing a couple years ago. All this stuff about him being the nicest guy in the world -- it's absolutely true. He spend 45 minutes talking to me and my family about our jobs and our aspirations, and I'm convinced the only reason my brother stayed in college was because Kun told him to. So, Michael, if you're reading this, hello from Funny Charlie and my whole family!)

I don't like baseball, okay. Shoot me. I think it's silly and boring, and I'd rather watch paint dry than waste three hours watching a bunch of guys standing around waiting for someone to hit a ball to them. But, after reading Mr. Kun's breakout novel "You Poor Monster," which had me laughing and crying and thinking for months, I'm willing to see where he'll lead me. Even if it means (ugh!) having to read about baseball. Having read a sample chapter of the book on Mr. Kun's ridiculously funny website, I can say that I love the book already. If his story about how he and his friends used their knowledge of baseball to cheat on math tests doesn't get a laugh out of you, you're in big trouble. A warning to Mr. Kun, though: we may follow you when you want to write about baseball, but don't push it too far. If your next book is about figure skating, you can count me out. Maybe.

I certainly can picture the two authors in a room together cracking each other up at things that no one else would find funny.

It sounded like a good idea, and I was excited to read it.

It was neither entertaining nor informative.

Boredom fully set in around page 40. Had to put it down.