A Nice Tuesday: A Memoir [Paperback]

Pat Jordan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 2000

In A Nice Tuesday, Pat Jordan chronicles his decision to reclaim the failed potential of his youth. A young baseball pitcher of inordinate promise, Jordan had been one of the Milwaukee Braves first “bonus babies.” His struggle through the minor leagues and ultimate failure to play in the majors, eloquently chronicled in A False Spring, defined his youth. At fifty-six, Jordan realizes that “this trivial thing” has also defined his life and decides to make a comeback. He whips himself back into playing condition and convinces an independent minor-league team, the Waterbury (Connecticut) Spirit, to let him return to the mound one last time. In this memoir, Jordan lays bare his midlife quest with honesty and humor, making A Nice Tuesday about much more than baseball.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

One the best writers on baseball in any lineup, Jordan arrived at his typewriter with first-hand experience: his Major League dreams were snuffed out in the low minors by an arm and an attitude that were less than dazzling. A False Spring, his classic account of his youthful experiences--and indiscretions--on the mound, remains a cornerstone of any good baseball library. A Nice Tuesday picks up the Jordan saga some three decades later. It is more than a complement to the earlier memoir, it's a perfect fit.

Well past the prime he never had, Jordan, at 56, realizes he still can't shake the game or the way the failure of not making it continues to haunt him. Setting out to confront his past, he tries stepping back into it, detailing moment by moment the excruciating process of struggling into shape for his shot to pitch a minor league game with the Waterbury Saints. At the same time, he also describes with painful precision what it takes to repair old wounds within the family. That both processes lead to a sense of peace with who he is and the journey his life has taken is the kind of stat that stands up favorably to any win-loss record.

Jordan is a powerful writer, his prose riding carefully controlled waves of muscularity, tenderness, understanding, and insight. Sports may be his arena here, but metaphysics is his game. "In our late fifties," he writes of himself and his wife, "we lived our lives in a Twilight Zone. We were both young and old. With one hand we held on to our fading youth, bikini thongs and pitching baseballs.... We both knew that the days of our youth were closing fast." What Jordan makes clear throughout A Nice Tuesday is that hearing the footsteps of time approaching isn't tantamount to being overtaken by them. --Jeff Silverman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In his much-admired 1975 memoir A False Spring (Hungry Mind, 1998. reprint), Jordan told of his failure as a young aspiring pitcher and his successful rebirth as a journalist. Now, at 56, an age far past the end of even the best baseball careers, he labors to pitch once more, revisiting his youthful disappointment by joining a minor league team, the Waterbury (Connecticut) Spirit. He recalls his boyhood pitching promise, his domineering brother, and his alienated first wife and children. Though happily remarried with six beloved dogs and writing success, he struggles to pitch alongside teammates half his age. This second installment of Jordan's saga, often raunchy but still touching, is heartily recommended for both adult and young adult collections.AMorey Berger, St. Joseph's Hosp. Lib., Tucson, AZ
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 341 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (May 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312263627
• ISBN-13: 978-0312263621
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,684,213 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better Than Any Baseball Book, November 7, 2003

By 

Brian Sullivan "vtsullivan" (Burlington, Vermont USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Nice Tuesday: A Memoir (Paperback)

This book is not about baseball, and it is not a sequel to "A False Spring," which was a classic in its own right. It is also not about dogs, cigars, fast cars or South Florida, although all of those things figure prominently in the book. Instead, "A Nice Tuesday" is a deeper, fuller portrait of an unusually talented guy living out his life as best he can despite a nagging feeling that he has failed.

That may not sound particularly interesting, but Pat Jordan himself is a far better subject than 99% of the atheletes he usually writes about. He is an intelligent guy, with a wide range of interests. His writing captures that struggle we all go through of being able to perceive our shortcomings and only have limited success trying to change them. But, at least he does try. In this book, he's completely unafraid to reveal himself through his writing.

Beyond this, Jordan is a very skilled writer. He has a great sense of judgment as to what will capture and keep the reader's attention. He doesn't abuse this gift by lingering on his stories too long. There are dozens of memorable scenes and vignettes in this book, but it does not come off as being choppy or disorganized. The connections make sense to Jordan, and he convinces the reader that they should make sense.

Although this is non-fiction, the book "A Nice Tuesday" resembles most closely is "The World According to Garp" by John Irving. I mean that as a compliment; Garp is one of my favorite books of all time. For me, the similarities are in how Jordan and Garp are both fascinating individuals who have improbable life experiences -- much more interesting than the rest of us -- develop a unique way of looking at life, surround themselves with unusual, even quirky companions and still manage to come off as average guys. Just as John Irving novels have wrestling, dancing bears, New England prep schools and scenes in Vienna, Austria, Pat Jordan's life has baseball, dogs, cigars and Florida. We can relate to these elements, but the books are more than the sum of the elements. Neither Irving's novels nor Jordan's memoir are about these things. They just give the writer an excuse to display talent, skill and a unique way of looking at the world.

"A Nice Tuesday" also conveys Jordan's sense of inevitable doom -- this obviously comes from the heart -- which reminds me of the "Under Toad" in Garp. Jordan knows that he always drives the people he loves away from him, but can't figure out why and can't seem to stop the process. How honest and uncommon to admit this secret fear that so many of us have.

A Nice Tuesday is an excellent choice for any adult reader, male or female, young, middle aged or old. It has humor, insight and poignancy. It is much more rewarding than any sports book I have ever read and should not be cheapened by that label. It would have been just as good a book if he had not pitched in the minor league game.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Failed pitcher Jordan wins in the contest to find himself., June 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Nice Tuesday: A Memoir (Hardcover)

This is a wonderfully intimate look into the life of a failed baseball pitcher who comes to embrace life's reversals and use them to his advantage. Without fully realizing the success he had become, author Jordan sought, after thirty years, to find his lost baseball career. Instead we read how he comes to find peace in his family, friends, and pets. The author's sensativity is not eclipsed by his gruff personality - it is enhanced. He is nothing if not a contradiction. Child pitching star and professional baseball failure. Father to five children who do not speak to him, and patriarch to a group of loving "usual suspects". A husband of questionable value to his first wife, but of ultimate worth to his second. A dog-owner who through a lack of sensativity allowed his childhood pet to die of lonliness, but who in his middle age devotes himself to a pack of noble hounds who teach him more about life than his parents were able to do. Author Pat Jordan takes us into places most people would not invite us to visit. We learn more of life than of baseball in A NICE TUESDAY. A pitcher's tunnel vision, his ability to focus only on the throw, was something lacking in Jordan's sports career - he saw too much. What was a flaw for him as a pitcher is what makes him a great author. This story has as its backdrop the game of baseball. But at its core it is a story of a man's journey through life and all the pains and pleasures that life brings. This book will appeal to baseball fans, but its reach is far broader.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pat Jordan teaches the meaning of "baseball is life.", June 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Nice Tuesday: A Memoir (Hardcover)

This book sneaks up on you. Jordan writes not just of baseball, but of life, death, failure, dog-packs and teenagers, cigars and smugglers, estrangement and reconciliation. One paraphrase stays with me about his life...when signed for a $50,000 bonus in 1959, Jordan cried because he did not break a record for bonus signings. Nevermind that the amount was more than either his father or brother had seen in a lifetime! He says in retrospect, "I never appreciated the gifts I was given, because I was so busy paying attention to the gifts I wanted!" At 56, and considerably more humble, Jordan writes of a life that is about redemption, and has a message for all of us. His writing is raw, but resonant. Read this if you are a fan of baseball, love it because he is a true storyteller.