Customer Reviews

Take me out to the ballgame

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The best praise I can give Gary Morgenstein's Take Me Out to the Ballgame is not insignificant. With approximately 50 pages left to read, I put the book down in order to go out to dinner. While at dinner, I found myself distracted, thinking about the book, wondering how it would end. I actually found myself anxious to get home, so I could finish reading.

That being said, Take Me Out to the Ballgame is definitely a book for people who love baseball, like baseball, or, at the very least, tolerate baseball. If you would sooner get a colonoscopy than watch a baseball game, then this is probably not for you. If you count yourself among the legion of baseball fans, you will enjoy this novel. Don't misunderstand, however. This is not some heart-warming, apple pie tale of America's pastime.

I didn't get anything that I expected from Morgy in this novel, which is a good -- if not great -- thing for readers. While I thoroughly enjoyed two of his other books (How to Find a Woman...or Not and Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman), which were replete with Jewish humor and a good dose of New York living, this book strays far from that style. The plot revolves around a fictional -- but very believable -- baseball team, the Buffalo Matadors. There are actually two storylines, but ones that are inextricably woven together. One focuses on Cal, the Matadors' number one fan, whose love of baseball can't really be called an obsession -- because obsession is far too weak a word. The other storyline is behind-the-scenes of the Matadors' ball club; the owner, the manager, the PR guy who figures out how to transform a failing ball club into a national sensation. Cal grows increasingly irritated by the newfound popularity of the Matadors, especially the bandwagon-jumpers. And again, irritated is far too weak a word.

You won't believe what happens in this story, but it's not preposterous, which is possibly the scariest part. This is hard to put down...and when you finally do, it'll be because you've reached the end.

The Buffalo Matadors have been stuck in rut for 37 years. The team undergoes some major changes when Harry decides that he is willing to do anything to win. When the team changes, so do the fans. Harry isn't only interested in baseball, he's set his sights on a position in the senate. This dream has a higher chance of coming true if he can use his team to his advantage. Will his hard work resemble a home run or a foul?

The crazy players and outrageous fans make for an entertaining read.

For those of you that don't know, I absolutely love Gary Morgenstein. He is in my top ten favorite authors of all time. I fell in love with Jesse's Girl and Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman. Not only is Gary an extremely talented writer and storyteller, he is also one of the most down-to-earth person. I'm so glad that he has written these three books and I'm hoping there are several more to come.

Cal Fleisher has always been the number one fan of the local professional baseball team, the Buffalo Matadors. The new owner of the Matadors, Harry Witowsky, wants to rebuild the flagging franchise, and he is willing to do anything it takes draw in the fans. To that end, he turns into a demagogue, working the fans into a fevered pitch. But, before he knows it, things begin to spiral out of control and Cal Fleisher starts seeing that desperate times call for desperate measures.

As a work of fiction, this book is actually pretty good, with interesting characters, and an interesting plot. I found the characters to be quite believable, and the storyline to be quite absorbing. To make this book even more interesting, the political commentary is quite timely. Here in the United States, demagoguery on one side of the political aisle has aroused political activism on the other as well, raising the temperature of debate, with political leaders decrying the passions unleashed even as they try to stoke it on their own side.

My one and only complaint against this book is that, as the author himself admits, this is a rewrite of a 1980 book. As such, the political message is muddied and unclear, and as such the book loses some of the power that it should have.

But, that said, I did enjoy reading this book, and recommend it to all political junkies. It's quite a read.

A very dark and disturbing picture of cynical ownership of a major sports franchise is painted in this book. The Buffalo (New York) Matadors are a major league baseball team that has been mired in a losing muck for a long time and when the season begins, the prospects look no better. At this point owner Harry Witowsky decides that something must be done to change their fortunes. He hires a new PR director and openly adopts an anything goes philosophy.

The fans are incited to be rowdy, interfere with the opposition whenever possible and do everything else they can to intimidate the players on the other teams. These tactics are successful as the Mats start winning and emerge as a serious contender for the championship of their division. Witowsky is a life-long Democrat and he is being touted as a contender for the Democratic nomination for a Senate seat, a prospect that his winning team makes more likely over time.

However, the rowdiness gets so out of hand that a drunken mob overruns the hotel where the chief rivals of the Matadors are staying during a crucial end of the season series. Earlier in the season an umpire is assaulted in Buffalo after making close calls against the Mats and "Kill the umpire!" is flashed on the scoreboard. The mayor of Buffalo, a man that tries to get the fan reaction toned down to a more civilized level, is castigated for his actions by the media and other "fans." Even though he is winning, the Mats longtime manager resigns in disgust over what he feels are management actions that are to the detriment of baseball.

As a long-time fan of baseball, I come down on the side of the mayor and the manager. Fans screaming drunken obscenities and throwing debris and heavy fireworks such as cherry bombs on the field during a game destroy the integrity and enjoyment of the game. No major league franchise could tolerate such behavior and no lover of the game would. Baseball is a cerebral game where strategy can be discussed for hours. That is something that cannot be done when in the company of drunken louts so after reading about so much of this fan behavior I found the book difficult to read.

I was contacted by the author to do a review of this book, just for fair and balanced coverage here. I have no problem reviewing books at an author's request just so long as it is understood that I will always give an honest review, even if a bad one.

This book, as one might ascertain by its title, is about baseball. But one does not have to be a baseball fan or even all that knowledgable about baseball, to enjoy this book. However, the book will be particularly appreciated by baseball fans.

Another caveat here, Morgenstein tends to tell his story via the dialogue of the characters. While there's nothing wrong with this, I found that it took some concentration to follow the plot line this way. It takes some talent to tell a story this way and my hat's off to Morgenstein for using this device to move the plot along as well as giving us more insight into the characters than narrative might allow. Morgenstein provides narrative via sports columns written, in italics throughout the book, by one of the characters in the story.

Harry Witowsky is owner of the Buffalo Matadors, a desultory baseball team until a new gang of PR folks move in and change the dynamic. Witowsky oversees the transformation of his very mediocre baseball team and in due course imagines himself running for high political office.

Eddie Olds is a crusty old-time sports writer that finds himself pulled into the transformation of the Matadors way more than he would have liked.

Cal, Mickey and Nino are a couple of average fans only Cal's a bit more into baseball, particularly his beloved Buffalo Matadors, than might be wise or mentally healthy.

The plot follows the story of a baseball team and its struggles to ascend to victories as well as PR gimmickry that will bring in new fans and revive the existing ones. The Buffalo Matadors' ascendancy into a player for the championship tends to take on a life of its own. At some point the fans, the sports writer, the owners, and various politicians, aided and abetted by a PR baseball guru with little morals, takes on a nasty turn that is overlooked for the thrill of the win.

One fan named Cal is put on overload by it all until the reader is no longer reading a story of a lackluster baseball team achieving a new glory but is pulled into a page-turning thriller as Cal conspires to do anything to help his team win. Anything. Including murder.

Morgenstein creates these characters with that great dialogue and he leads the reading into the story without guile. While I enjoyed the interplay of the characters, that great dialogue and the political sub-plots of the book, I found the story of a sick and determined Cal to be so compelling that I would wake up in the morning happy that I could read on to find out what happens to Cal and Harry Witowsky for that matter.

This is an entertaining, well-written and page-turner of a book that I highly recommend. Morgenstein would be well served to get this book out in front of baseball fans across the fruited plains because the tale is how it could happen, yes it could.

I enjoyed reading Gary Morgenstein's "Jesse's Girl" and looked forward to his latest book, "Take Me Out to The Ballgame" which is actually a re-write of a book her wrote in the seventies, updating it with what is happening in society today. With that said, mixing baseball (America's favorite pastime), politics and the economic situation of today, this thriller is quite a ride. I didn't expect the outcome and enjoyed this book.

Synopsis:

Take Me Out to the Ballgame is an unusual thriller carefully combines baseball and politics with the pain of the current financial crisis. The Buffalo Matadors have not come close to a world championship in close to forty years, but their new owner, Harry Witowsky, is a self-made hardware store millionaire determined to turn the team around. With jobs down and mortgages failing, Harry believes that fans rely on baseball to escape their increasingly dire lives. Savoring the new and glamorous image of himself as owner of a baseball franchise, Harry and his exploitative marketing assistant Switzer, develop unorthodox ways to spur fan involvement and promote the Mats. On "Mortgage Day" Harry picks out one ticket holder and pays his mortgage for a full year. Mortgage Day wins fan loyalty while simultaneously triggering an Attorney General investigation. By undertaking to assume someone else's mortgage, the AG considers Harry to have illegally acted as a bank without a license. Egged on by Switzer, Harry stands firm the AG and covers the mortgage with his own money. Mortgage Day is public relations move that changes the Mats and Harry's life and it is just the start of increasingly fan oriented and risky promotional stunts. Add to this mix, aging sports reporter Eddie Olds. Eddie works with Harry and Switzer to encourage greater fan participation even as an uglier element starts to rise. It begins innocently enough, encouraging fans to become part of the action, "a tenth player", first by stopping foul balls from being caught. But with the ushers no longer policing liquor and unruly behavior in the stands, incendiary billboard slogans, and the unexpected chance of winning the pendant, things quickly escalate and everything changes.

The Mats fans are hooligans like English soccer fans, but the self proclaimed Number One fan Cal stands out from the start. Insecure and a loser, the Mats had always been his grand passion. When the team suddenly becomes popular, Cal holds himself apart from the new "Where's My Bailout?" fans. Obsessed with the possibility of winning the championship, everything else recedes from Cal's life. Increasingly unstable and paranoid, Cal concocts ways to help the Mats reach their goal.

Review:

Take Me Out to the Ballgame is fast paced, absorbing, and funny. From those that see the danger in its early stages like the Mat's longtime manager Cy to Mickey, Cal's longtime friend and baseball buddy, each of the characters are complex and carefully developed. Each scene layers upon the next to push the action forward as the absurdity adds to the humor. I highly recommend this book.

Publisher: CreateSpace (June 24, 2009), 290 pages.

Review copy courtesy of the Author.

Take me out to the ballgame

I have completely rewritten this 1980 version into a political baseball thriller, available exclusively on Amazon. It is the June 24, 2009 paperback version.

Baseball isn't the first thing one would associate with economic crisis. "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" is a story that blends America's pastime with America's current time - financial politics. The Buffalo Matadors were one of the worst teams in the league, but when an aspiring millionaire takes over, their fortunes reverse, and the tactics he used will seem oddly familiar to many readers. With a healthy dose of allegory and some not-so-allegory, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" is a fun read sure to entertain and make readers think.