Can't Find a Dry Ball: The Evansville Otters on the Lowest Rung of Baseball [Hardcover]

Garret Mathews (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2002

Author Garret Matthews spent the entire season with the Evansville Otters of the Frontier League. His book is full of humor and pathos as he chronicles the dreams and hopes and frustrations of the players and coaches who are at the end of their major league dreams. Garret’s observations take the reader from the dugout to the bullpen and off the field, too, for a remarkable chronicle of life in the minors. It’s Bull Durham come to life, with real players and real situations.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Garret Mathews writes the Metro column for the Evansville, Indiana Courier & Press. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including First Place - National Society of Newspaper Columnists, 1999 and Scripps-Howard Columnist of the Year, 1999. His previous books include Baseball Days; Swing Batta; They Came To Play; and Past Deadlines, Past Lives.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 154 pages
• Publisher: Albion Press (FL) (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970917066
• ISBN-13: 978-0970917065
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,381,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Garret Mathews writes for The Evansville, Ind., Courier & Press. Born in Abingdon, Va., he graduated from Virginia Tech and worked on the Bluefield, W. Va., Daily Telegraph before coming to Indiana. In 2000, he was named Columnist of the Year for Scripps-Howard newspapers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Truth & Reality of Indepedent Ball, April 4, 2002

By 

C Brand (Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Can't Find a Dry Ball: The Evansville Otters on the Lowest Rung of Baseball (Hardcover)

Garret Mathews did a superb job at getting into the game of an independent team. I enjoyed the company in the dugout. Garret did a good job at not forcing the issue of getting a quote all the time. It seemed like he would speak out at certain times of the game that was appropriate.
Furthmore, he did a good job at getting quotes from most of the members of the team. It just shows you that there are so many different types of people from all over the world that can come together to form a baseball team.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Neat Look at Independent Ball, April 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Can't Find a Dry Ball: The Evansville Otters on the Lowest Rung of Baseball (Hardcover)

Garret Mathews does a fine job of giving the reader an "inside" look at independent ball, as he chronicles life with the Evansville (Indiana) Otters of the Frontier League. Being from the home of another Frontier League team, the Johnstown Johnnies, this book had special interest for me. Mathews gives us a good look at the daily routines of the players, their struggles just to make ends meet and the pressures they face. At this level, the players often stay with "host families" and the author gives the reader a look at that aspect of the life of an independent player. I suppose much of what Mathews covers in this book applies to players in the lower levels of affiliated baseball, also.

My only complaint with the book deals with several mis-statements, typos, etc. For example, he discusses the "Cap Cod" League (should be Cape Cod) and states that one player lives in Sonora, California, near Yellowstone National Park. I believe Mathews meant Yosemite National Park; Yellowstone is several states away, in Wyoming. At another point, he refers to (I presume the same player) as both Rick Skinnou and Rob Skinnou. Several things tend to lead to confusion, also. Several times in the book, it is mentioned that he is with the team during the 2001 season, yet near the end of the book, he quizes the manager about whether he'd want the players back in 2001. At another point, games on a road trip seem to run together. The July 26 game seems to start in London, Ontario, but later, in the same stream-of-thought, refers to the Johnstown dugout. And there are more examples.

These errors may seem small and inconsequential, but it seems to be the norm in many books that I've read lately. For me, it tends to take the focus off the intended contents of the book, and puts you in a position of finding the next error.

That aside, I still found "Can't Find A Dry Ball" to be a book that I'd recommend to others (my wife, for instance).