The Mighty Roman is a fast, funny, thought-provoking novel about baseball and the modern American man. Set in the indie “Cal Hairy” League, the story follows the San Carlos Coyotes of San Diego County through a wild season in which the team’s free-spirited, elfin captain leads his multicultural eighteen-year-old teammates in a rebellion against the team’s gargantuan man-child manager Roman Meister, a frustrated former minor league home-run champ who topped out at AA. "Mutiny On The Bounty meets Bull Durham" serves as a shorthand description of this bubbling baseball stew. To quote the magazine riverbabble, "Sindell takes us on a lyrical and at times fearful ride with a team of wannabe baseball players, whose talents only occasionally match their ambitions. This is a real-life novel, packed with personalities and filled with beautiful language and true emotion. Huck's raft becomes a team bus, and it is a ride worth taking."
The Mighty Roman
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Sindell takes us on a lyrical and at times fearful ride with a team of wannabe baseball players, whose talents only occasionally match their ambitions. This is a real-life novel, packed with personalities and filled with beautiful language and true emotion. Huck's raft becomes a team bus, and it is a ride worth taking." - Riverbabble
About the Author
The author of numerous published stories and the novels Trips `n' Trials of a Down, Beat Dad and The Mighty Roman, Jon Sindell lives in San Francisco with his wife and near fledglings, and spends his non–writing time hiking the Northern California coast, growing greens, reading his fiction publicly, and making time to write.
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More About the Author
The author of numerous published short stories and the baseball-and-more novel The Mighty Roman, Jon Sindell reads his work publicly throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. An educator, an editor, and a lawyer-no-more, Jon lives with his wife and near fledglings and spends his non-writing time hiking the Northern California coast, growing and cooking greens, and making more time to write. He encourages readers to connect with him at Jon Sindell Fiction (where lots of his published fiction may be seen), Twitter, Goodreads, or Facebook.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By E. Blackman
Format:Kindle Edition
On occasion, usually while watching a high school game, you'll see a batter so completely fooled, that he turns after striking out and asks the umpire- what was that pitch? And you can't help but smile at the pitcher's mastery of his craft.
You get that same feeling when reading The Mighty Roman, as you're enjoying the exuberant fun of a great sports story, and suddenly it hits you, that this book has been setting you up on more levels than you can imagine, and you can't begin to guess where you're headed.
The story begins with a rickety busload of quirky characters, a barely professional minor league team so far removed from the familiar world of major league baseball, that you see it all with the same fresh eyes as the nineteen-year-old players. The season unfolds in vivid detail, as the hardness of the infield dirt, the mascots, the maniacs, the injuries and anxieties permeate the action, and the tension builds with the accelerating rhythm of a pennant race.
And always there's the sheer joy of sport, even as the world of Cal Heritage baseball is reshaped by social, political, and personal conflict. Shame and triumph, bigotry and grace, compete for supremacy, as the young men struggle with the looming influences of tradition, expectation, and history, as visited upon them by the many fathers and father figures that populate the book, from the dreamers and dropouts to the braggarts, the bullies, and the totally unhinged.
As the season goes on, the stakes are continuously raised, as courage and personal morality become more critical than speed and power, and the young men strive for more than a championship.
You get that same feeling when reading The Mighty Roman, as you're enjoying the exuberant fun of a great sports story, and suddenly it hits you, that this book has been setting you up on more levels than you can imagine, and you can't begin to guess where you're headed.
The story begins with a rickety busload of quirky characters, a barely professional minor league team so far removed from the familiar world of major league baseball, that you see it all with the same fresh eyes as the nineteen-year-old players. The season unfolds in vivid detail, as the hardness of the infield dirt, the mascots, the maniacs, the injuries and anxieties permeate the action, and the tension builds with the accelerating rhythm of a pennant race.
And always there's the sheer joy of sport, even as the world of Cal Heritage baseball is reshaped by social, political, and personal conflict. Shame and triumph, bigotry and grace, compete for supremacy, as the young men struggle with the looming influences of tradition, expectation, and history, as visited upon them by the many fathers and father figures that populate the book, from the dreamers and dropouts to the braggarts, the bullies, and the totally unhinged.
As the season goes on, the stakes are continuously raised, as courage and personal morality become more critical than speed and power, and the young men strive for more than a championship.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This wonderful baseball novel places you amongst a group of young professional baseball players who learn about each other, and their intimidating and complex old-school style coach, as they experience a season together playing on a team in the California Heritage League. Throw in some off-field adventures, teenage romance, racism and homophobia, and you are pulled into a baseball world that is present day and is pure summer fun reading.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Sam Tudor
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
First it is a baseball book, and he knows baseball, and that is all good. Second it is about a great variety of people, all but two of the main characters are 18 and 19 year old males, put together for two months, with very little outside influence, so they act, and interact, and develop as the summer rolls on. And third it is very well written. Although Amazon lumps it with the gay/baseball novels, it is a baseball book, not a gay coming out book as most of the rest on this page are. It is a good summer read for all of us who played baseball as kids, young adults, and even now as a 70+ who can still play slow pitch or whiffle ball, play catch with his grandchildren, or go to the ball park on a fine summer evening and feel that all is right with the world, at least for a few hours.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
So Much More Than Baseball!!!
This book is so much more than baseball. It is the collection of people dealing with cultural issues of sexual preference and illegal immigration. Read more
Published 1 month ago by BStreeper
5.0 out of 5 stars
More than a game
In Jon Sindell's novel "The Mighty Roman", baseball is much more than just a sport. It's a stage that spotlights the challenges between one generation and the next. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jeffrey Trott
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must for anyone who likes baseball!
Great commentary on the changes on society expressed through the game of baseball. Must read for anyone interested in the game. Read more
Published 1 month ago by mark schoeller
4.0 out of 5 stars
You Don't Have to Like Baseball
The owner of an independent bookstore recommended this book and said it was by a local author. Both seemed like good reasons to read The Mighty Roman, and they were. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Nicky d'
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great work.
This is an exceptionally-crafted book. It felt like I was in the dugout and fighting for my spot on the team with the rest of them. I pulled for everyone on the team. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Adam M.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Mighty Roman
This was a great book. I read it and was very impressed - had to share with my son! The author's writing style is fantadtic. I highly recommend this book!
Published 4 months ago by Colleen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Baseball, life, hope and poetry
I really enjoyed reading this book. The language of the book was the best part for me, it was often like poetry. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Agnes C. Gawne
5.0 out of 5 stars
Triumphant Baseball Tale!!!
Jon Sindell's The Mighty Roman explores the complexities of race, politics, competition, and camaraderie within the confines of a minor league baseball team. Read more
Published 7 months ago by mjschnapp
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good story and characters, but could have been tighter
Let's call it 3 1/2, but I can't round it to 4. The ending didn't really work for me, and much of the book is so overladen with similes that it distracted me from the actual story,... Read more
Published 8 months ago by James Bailey
4.0 out of 5 stars
Like great ensemble humor...
This book was a pleasure to read, and you don't need to be a baseball expert to enjoy the interplay between characters. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Kenneth Reilly
