You'll never watch baseball the same way again. A timeless baseball classic and a must read for any fan worthy of the name, Nine Innings dissects a single baseball game played in June 1982 -- inning by inning, play by play. Daniel Okrent, a seasoned writer and lifelong fan, chose as his subject a Milwaukee Brewers<endash>Baltimore Orioles matchup, though it could have been any game, because, as Okrent reveals, the essence of baseball, no matter where or when it's played, has been and will always be the same. In this particular moment of baseball history you will discover myriad aspects of the sport that are crucial to its nature but so often invisible to the fans -- the hidden language of catchers' signals, the physiology of pitching, the balance sheet of a club owner, the gait of a player stepping up to the plate. With the purity of heart and unwavering attention to detail that characterize our national pastime, Okrent goes straight to the core of the world's greatest game. You'll never watch baseball the same way again.
Nine Innings: The Anatomy of a Baseball Game
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Daniel Okrent, the author of The Ultimate Baseball Book, has written not just another windy paean to the national pastime, full of labored metaphors and recollections of demolished stadiums, but a detailed, digressive breakdown of a single early-season game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Baltimore Orioles on June 10, 1982. Along the way the reader learns about the history of the slider, the building of the Orioles by their famed manager, Earl Weaver, how batters' swings reveal their personality, and even which brand of vitamin C can be found in a certain player's locker. It's a labor of love, but an enthralling one that reveals the complexities at the heart of this most complex and maddening game.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Interesting and meaningful." Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"Informative and amusing . . . we get a little bit of everything and a lot of entertainment." - Christopher Lehmann-Haupt The New York Times
"An astounding piece of sports journalism . . . the best book about the best game there is." - ST LOUIS DISPATCH
"Informative and amusing . . . we get a little bit of everything and a lot of entertainment." - Christopher Lehmann-Haupt The New York Times
"An astounding piece of sports journalism . . . the best book about the best game there is." - ST LOUIS DISPATCH
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As a young boy, I read Okrent's Ultimate Baseball book. As a much older man, I watched Okrent on Ken Burns' Baseball and enjoyed his witty thoughts. Finally, I came to 9 Innings. It is a terrific read. What a great idea to look at the world of baseball through the lens of one game. It was a fascinating look at the game and the Brewers in the their brief glory days. Everything from the grounds crew to the ownership books was noted. The game, between the AL Champion '82 Brewers and the soon to be World Champion '83 Orioles, was entertaining. But, the picture of life in a small market and behind the scenes stuff is the best. The updates at the end strangely gloss over a Brewers team that came within one win of the World Championship and ignore the Orioles championships (and Hall of Famers Murray and Ripken) entirely. That is ok. A brillant book by a real traditionalist. Not dated if you are a true fan.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Dan Okrent went to the Oriole-Brewer game of June 10, 1982, and here he gives a play-by-play account of the game with enormous background on each team. He shows how a baseball game is like an iceberg -- how what you actually see of it is just one-tenth of what it's all about. If you've spent the last few years wondering about Bud Selig, Okrent offers a comprehensive look at today's acting commissioner. Arnold Hano wrote a similar book about Game One of the 1954 World Series (A DAY IN THE BLEACHERS), but Okrent proves just how compelling a non-descript game in mid-season can be in its own right
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By stoic
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
In Nine Innings, Daniel Okrent focuses on a single game - on June 10, 1982 - between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Baltimore Orioles. Through the game, Okrent hopes to show the reader how baseball games are won (or lost) long before they are actually played. The book is a success and baseball fans should not miss it.
Okrent discusses the hidden side of the June 10th game. More interestingly, Okrent also explains the past decisions that had built the 1982 Brewers. He goes back to Brewers owner Bud Selig's purchase of the bankrupt Seattle Pilots in 1970 , the team's move to Milwaukee, and all of Selig's efforts to build a winner.
Nine Innings is lively and easy to read at just 260 pages. Okrent excels at writing short, interesting portraits of the people in the book. (Interestingly, he writes of beloved Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker - "With the players, he was always charming; at other times, though, he could be brutally cold" (pp. 233-234)). On occasion, Okrent's prose can be a little too flowery, but - on the whole - the book is well written.
As a kid in the 1980s, I loved baseball. Nine Innings brought back so many memories of players I had admired, but long forgotten: Don Money, Ted Simmons, Ben Oglivie, and so many others. The book reminded me of the wonder that I felt at baseball before I became a middle-aged cynic :)
Any baseball fan - regardless of age - will enjoy Nine Innings.
Okrent discusses the hidden side of the June 10th game. More interestingly, Okrent also explains the past decisions that had built the 1982 Brewers. He goes back to Brewers owner Bud Selig's purchase of the bankrupt Seattle Pilots in 1970 , the team's move to Milwaukee, and all of Selig's efforts to build a winner.
Nine Innings is lively and easy to read at just 260 pages. Okrent excels at writing short, interesting portraits of the people in the book. (Interestingly, he writes of beloved Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker - "With the players, he was always charming; at other times, though, he could be brutally cold" (pp. 233-234)). On occasion, Okrent's prose can be a little too flowery, but - on the whole - the book is well written.
As a kid in the 1980s, I loved baseball. Nine Innings brought back so many memories of players I had admired, but long forgotten: Don Money, Ted Simmons, Ben Oglivie, and so many others. The book reminded me of the wonder that I felt at baseball before I became a middle-aged cynic :)
Any baseball fan - regardless of age - will enjoy Nine Innings.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Darren Glass
Format:Paperback
I love Daniel Okrent, the public editor of the NY Times. I find his column -- and the very existence of his job -- to be fascinating, and I am always interested in what he has to say. It turns out, however, that my love of Okrent goes deeper than just his current position. Last night I finished reading his book Nine Innings. The book covers the Brewers-Orioles game that took place on June 10, 1982. No, there's nothing special about that game, even though the Brewers managed to make it to the World Series that year. It's just one game in the middle of the season, and he covers it in excrutiating depth, using pitching changes and at-bats as excuses to ruminate on everything related to the history of the game, the biographies of the individual players, the city of Milwaukee, and oh so much more.
Unlike Moneyball, which I recommend that everyone reads whether or not they are baseball fans (and if you haven't read it yet, shame on you. go get it now), I don't think Nine Innings would appeal to anyone who is not already a baseball fan. Or maybe a Milwaukeean. But if you are, I suggest you find this book
Unlike Moneyball, which I recommend that everyone reads whether or not they are baseball fans (and if you haven't read it yet, shame on you. go get it now), I don't think Nine Innings would appeal to anyone who is not already a baseball fan. Or maybe a Milwaukeean. But if you are, I suggest you find this book
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By K.A.Goldberg
Format:Paperback
This is an excellent baseball book for the thinking fan. The book focuses on one seemingly unimportant mid-season 1982 contest between the Baltimore Orioles and the Milwaukee Brewers. As author Daniel Okrent recounts the game, he weaves in such baseball lore as the history of the slider, player behavior in the locker rooms, catcher's signals, scouting, etc. Every chapter covers an inning, and every inning leads to lengthy sidebars on many facets of baseball. The book is a bit dated, but Okrent's prose and subject matter make important reading for any fan wanting to know about the nuts and bolts of baseball. Some may not like that the author focuses more heavily on the Brewers, who won that year's AL pennant (Baltimore took the World Series a year later). Fittingly, these two teams battled each other in the season's final game to decide the division title. Fans will learn a lot about baseball from this engaging and thoughtful book.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By Tom Gillis
Format:Hardcover
This is a fine book, recommended to all baseball fans. The book is structured around a single game in June 1982, with a description of the game and asides on players and events. Each chapter covers one inning, although the events of the inning may occupy only a few lines in each chapter.
By now (2000), most of the players and events are ancient history. But the game remains the same, and any fan would enjoy this book
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Copy Cat
The idea of writing a book about a single major league game was brought off nicely by Arnold Hano in "A Day in the Bleacheer."
Hano can write. Read more
Hano can write. Read more
Published 2 months ago by A. Doubleday
4.0 out of 5 stars
Halberstamish
"9 Innings" is an eloquent, entertaining, erudite book, marred only by a kind of drive-by criticism of evangelicals. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Tim Williams
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Idea; Mixed Results
It is a great concept for a book, and many aspects are fascinating, but it is sometimes challenging to plow through Okrent's writing style. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mike Harrington
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of My Favorites
I read this book when it was first published, and I've always felt that reading it recreates the sensation of being at a baseball game, arriving early (in Okrent's case, way early)... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Ohioan
5.0 out of 5 stars
OKRENT ON BASEBALL
The author dissects a game played between the Milwaukee Brewers and Baltimore Orioles played on June 10th, 1982 - this book was originally published in 1985. Read more
Published on June 7, 2011 by JoeV
3.0 out of 5 stars
dated
I just read this book recently (2011). It has some interesting tidbits of information about baseball and a few recognizable player names come up. Read more
Published on April 29, 2011 by Charles Kennedy
5.0 out of 5 stars
Baseball at micro detail
Through the lens of a single baseball game, Dan Okrent takes the pulse of baseball in the early 1980s and gives a wonderfully rendered view of both how the game is played on the... Read more
Published on January 22, 2011 by Avid Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars
9 Innings
An excellent book that takes one game and dissects the workings of a baseball team. It is easy to read and very informative
Published on December 5, 2010 by windsorsdad
5.0 out of 5 stars
25 years later, still doesn't feel dated
The events in this book will reach their 25th anniversary a few months from my writing this review, and the only things that feel stale are the salary figures. Read more
Published on March 6, 2007 by Russell A. Carleton
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great! Make Another One!
This book is about the last game in a four-game series between the Baltimore Orioles and the Milwaukee Brewers. Read more
Published on January 26, 2006 by Josh Moffit
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 10
books:
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13
books
cite this book:
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- Texas Rangers by Ed Gorman on page 46, and page 259
- Chicago White Sox (Topps Baseball Card Books) by Bill Shannon on page 20
- The Air Force: 2 by Lawrence Landis on page 155
- The Unknown Soldier by Heenie Lee on page 18
- Babe Ruth (Sports Immortals) by William R. Sanford on page 213
See all 10 books this book cites
- Baseball the Writer's Game (P) by Mike Shannon on 4 pages
- The Joy of Keeping Score: How Scoring the Game Has Influenced and Enhanced the History of Baseball by Paul Dickson on page 72, and Back Matter
- The Joy of Keeping Score: How Scoring the Game Has Influenced and Enhanced the History of Baseball by Paul Dickson on page 72, and page 103
- 27 Men Out: Baseball's Perfect Games by Michael Coffey in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Girls of Summer: The U.S. Women's Soccer Team and How It Changed the World by Jere Longman in Back Matter
See all 13 books citing this book
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