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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Schmidt hits his 549th home run, March 29, 2006
This review is from: Clearing the Bases: Juiced Players, Monster Salaries, Sham Records, and a Hall of Famer's Search for the Soul of Baseball (Hardcover)
Mike Schmidt's most recent book, "Clearing the Bases," offers a wonderful prescription for the troubled state of baseball today. Instead of bashing the game, Schmidt takes a hard, candid look at such issues and steriod-inflated slugging records, Pete Rose's on-going challenge to be admitted to Cooperstown, hitter-friendly parks, free agency's impact of player-team loyalty, and what ittakes to manage in the pros today.
While his solutions may not please the baseball purist, they are carefully thought-out and reasonable. On the issue of steroids, for example, Schmidt admits to understanding the temptation for players to "gain an edge" in order to remain "at the top of their game." But he believes that he would not take steroids if he were playing today. As for the record books? Baseball must take into consideration the context of the time in which these records were set. While steroids should not be tolerated in the game, baseball cannot justifiably eliminate slugging records simply because a player was suspected of taking performance-enhancing drugs. Nor should a "suspect" be eliminated from Hall of FAme consideration. These are strong sentiments from a Hall of Fame slugger whose own records have been broken in the steroid era.
What sets this book aside from other prescriptive tomes is Schmidt's earnest desire to approach each of these difficult issues from the standpoint of a former player, minor league manager, parent, and, now, fan. Thus, his judgements are informed by "all sides" of the debate.
This is a wonderful book, judiciously told by one of baseball's greatest stars. In that sense, "Clearing the Bases" represents Schmitty's 549th life-time dinger.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The book is, like its author, respectful of the game, May 1, 2006
This review is from: Clearing the Bases: Juiced Players, Monster Salaries, Sham Records, and a Hall of Famer's Search for the Soul of Baseball (Hardcover)
I was never a particular fan of Mike Schmidt in his playing days, mind you, I did not have negative feelings about him either. He was one of those superstars that went about his way, playing the game extremely well but without being flashy. Schmidt caught my attention in his post-playing days for sticking by Pete Rose (one of the few) and that always gets your attention in Cincinnati. It was primarily based on that reason that I picked up this book, what did Schmidt have to say about Rose, and other 'hot potatoes' in baseball?
"Clearing the Bases" (201 pages) starts off tentatively in the first half, where Schmidt recounts his days growing up a Reds fan in Dayton, OH, and eventually becoming a superstar in Philadelphia. But the second half of the book is where things really take off, and where Schmidt spouts his thoughts on the hot topics in baseball. "Look, if I had played in the 1990s, I would have considered using steroids" (since it wasn't illegal then, but eventually stating that he wouldn't have). He lays the blame also squarely on the Commisioner and the players' union: "Did they ever bother to compare trading card pictures of guys in, say, 1993 with their cards in 1999?"
Schmidt also makes a convincing argument that with the many changing circumstances since his playing days (new hitter-friendly ballparks, changes in the make-up of bats, etc.), he would've averaged 50 homers a year instead of the mid-30s in his playing days. As to Pete Rose, Schmidt clearly is disappointed in both Rose's handling in the matter (not forthcoming, etc.) as well as the Commissioner's (not getting back to Rose after the November, 2002 private confession, 14 months before Rose published his tell-all book).
In all, this is a much better book than I expected. Schmidt is clearly a man of integrity, full of admiration, and respect, for the game. His disappointment for not having been considered for the manager's position for the Phillies in late 2004 is one I share. Baseball needs more guys like Schmidt.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Clearing the Air, April 21, 2006
This review is from: Clearing the Bases: Juiced Players, Monster Salaries, Sham Records, and a Hall of Famer's Search for the Soul of Baseball (Hardcover)
The subtitle of the book, juiced players, monster salaries, sham records, and the soul of baseball speak to the most precious problems that baseball faces today. Too bad then that only about 20% of Schmidt's book is really on these topics. The rest of the book is about Schmidt's career. I'm a baseball fan and I would have appreciated reading about his career. If the title of the book had been "Mike Schmidt's Story: The Greatest Third Baseman in the History of Baseball," I'd have bought it. I don't need to be baited and switched into buying that book.
Problem is, when Schmidt does finally get to the issues at hand, his opinions seem so weak it makes me wonder why he made the effort. Take the sham records, for example. Does Mike think we need asterisks or any other delimeter to set aside the travesty of routinely hitting 50+ HRs/season? Nope. What does he say about Barry Bonds? Not much. What does he say about monster salaries? Sure, they're a good thing for baseball players, and so are the pensions. The soul of baseball?? Surely nothing could eliminate the soul of baseball faster than a major league manager betting on his own team, even to win. Yet, when it comes to whether or not Pete Rose, his former teammate, should be in the Hall, Schmidt says he should, and even after Schmidt has gone out of his way to help Pete (apparently according to the story) to make ammends with MLB.
I wasn't expecting Canseco. But I wasn't expecting Marvin Milktoast either. Too bad the reviews by Brett, Morgan, and Rose, and the subtitle, led me to expect a very different sort of book entirely.
And by the way, why use a title for the book (Clearing the Bases) that was used for a Bob Costas publication only 4 years ago?
Anyway, note to retired superstar baseball players. Don't try to be cute with the subtitle and make it seem like you are going to comment on sham records and juiced players only to punt. Punting is football. If you don't want to comment on it, great. Tell us some good baseball stories. We'll listen.
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