Pennant Race (The Penguin sports library) [Paperback]

Jim Brosnan (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Penguin sports library | Publication Date: September 29, 1983

The companion piece to his baseball classic The Long Season, Jim Brosnan's Pennant Race recounts the game-by-game lives of the Cincinnati Reds during their pennant-winning 1961 season—as only Mr. Brosnan could write it. He was a pitcher with Cincinnati that season, but also (as The Long Season had proved) one of the sharpest and wittiest writers baseball ever produced. His insider's account concentrates on how and why the Reds won the pennant that year. But as with The Long Season, Mr. Brosnan displays an uncanny knack for capturing the alternating excitement and tedium of a baseball season, its colorful characters, and the droll and uproarious aspects of everyday baseball. "One of the best baseball books ever written. If we allow it to be called a diary, it is probably one of the best American diaries as well. Jim Brosnan is a gifted observer.... His book is beautifully constructed, helped no end by the essential unity and chronology of a baseball season, and strengthened by a central theme: the increasing possibility that the Reds will win the pennant.... The book bristles with pungent dialogue, some of it hilarious, some bitter."--Arnold Hano, New York Times Book Review. "As the Samuel Pepys of the league champions, Brosnan obviously knows his baseball, writes about it wittily, informally and with irony. He is a cynical, tough professional athlete and his book makes wonderful reading for anyone who knows the difference between Chris Pelekoudas and Charles McCabe."--William Hogan, San Francisco Chronicle.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Wonderful reading [from] the Samuel Pepys of the league champions. (San Francisco Chronicle )

One of the best baseball books ever written...probably one of the best American diaries as well. (New York Times Book Review )

Jim Brosnan is a gifted observer.... His book is beautifully constructed. (Herald Tribune )

...Brosnan obviously knows his baseball, writes about it wittily, informally and with irony. He is a cynical, tough professional athlete and his book makes wonderful reading... (The New Yorker )

Brosnan...with verve and humor...provides the type of insight into...the game that sportswriters can only dream of. (Chicago Tribune ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Jim Brosnan pitched in the major leagues for the Chicago Cubs, the Cincinnati Reds, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Chicago White Sox, and was a sports commentator for ABC. His other books include The Long Season and Great Baseball Pitchers. He lives in Morton Grove, Illinois, outside of Chicago. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (September 29, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140067558
• ISBN-13: 978-0140067552
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,042,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Baseball Book, November 21, 1999

By 

J. Haught (Germantown, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pennant Race (The Penguin sports library) (Paperback)

Pennant Race and its companion book, The Long Season, are the best baseball books ever written. I enjoyed Ball Four, written ten yeras after The Long Season, but it is a pale imitation. Brosnan's style and perspective are unique; his blend of candor and cynicisn unmatched; his writing subtleties are brilliant. I have read hundreds of baseball books, and these two, which I basically consider one volumne, are unequaled.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent! One of the best baseball books ever!, August 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pennant Race (The Penguin sports library) (Paperback)

Although most of the players from the 1961 Cincinnati Reds are forgotten now (exception: right fielder and National League MVP Frank Robinson), this book remains current due to the good humor and insider's view it affords the reader. Nearly 40 years old now, it shows how timeless the game of baseball is.

I'm a lifelong NY Yankees fan, but this remains one of my favorite books on any subject.

One note: this is one of the only baseball books that was _really_ written by the named author. Brosnan had no ghostwriter.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Witty, Fun Read By Brosnan, April 11, 2005

By 

K.A.Goldberg (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pennant Race (Paperback)

In his second player diary, pitcher Jim Brosnan describes his day-to-day participation as a member of the pennant-winning 1961 Cincinnati Reds. Brosnan writes with the same wit and amused irreverence he used two years earlier in his superb initial diary, THE LONG SEASON. Here we get an insider's view of star teammates like Frank Robinson (that year's MVP), Vada Pinson, Jim Maloney, manager Fred Hutchinson, etc. Readers will enjoy hearing about now-forgotten players in long-gone ballparks like Crosley Field, Shibe Park, Forbes Field, etc. We also get the tension and thrill of a pennant race. Unfortunately, the author omits spring training, and he ends the diary on the last day of the regular season, before the Reds played the Yankees in that year's World Series - thus I gave the book just four stars instead of five.

Brosnan was a college-educated player who gained recognition (and notoriety) for his writing. PENNANT RACE is as readable and charming as its predecessor, and once again landed Brosnan in some hot water with baseball's establishment.