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Wrecking Crew: The Really Bad News Griffith Park Pirates
 
 
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Wrecking Crew: The Really Bad News Griffith Park Pirates [Hardcover]

John Albert (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)


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Book Description

August 9, 2005
"You never know what's going to save you."

After years of dingy nightclubs and drug addiction, John Albert and his hard-luck friends certainly never expected their salvation to arrive in the form of a pastime most often associated with Mom, God, and apple pie. Wrecking Crew -- a highly unusual chronicle of recovery and redemption -- documents the transformation of a group of musicians, struggling screenwriters, and wannabe actors into a competitive band of hardballers.

For over a decade, it seemed to be enough: the narcotics, gambling, whores, and aimless rebellion. But as they stumbled into their thirties, the blithe pursuit of self-destruction had simply become exhausting to these battle-scarred denizens of the L.A. counterculture. The romantic squalor of being perpetually broken-down, periodically drug-addled, and irresponsible began to lose its charm.

The idea of fielding a baseball team to compete in a hard-knocks amateur league seemed merely the latest in a string of half-hearted stabs at restoring order to their ragged lives. But this escapade was different. When these men donned their team uniforms, the old obsessions started to fade and something incredible began to happen. This is the unforgettable story of the Griffith Park Pirates.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Take the song "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and change the words "peanuts," "crackerjacks" and "home team" to "sex," "drugs" and "rock and roll," and you're left with a pretty good summary of Albert's debut memoir. Recounting the first seasons of the Griffith Park Pirates, an amateur baseball team made up of denizens from "the Hollywood underclass," Albert, an out-of-work screenwriter and former punk rock drummer and heroin addict, creates an engrossing chronicle of his teammates' search for the American dream. Brutally honest prose is tinged with humor and written in short chapters reminiscent of a punk rock song. While the team of junkies and unemployed musicians and actors find improbable success and happiness on the field, they struggle with their demons off the field. Being on the team affects each player differently: burly catcher Chris gains the confidence to accept himself as a cross-dresser, while the recently clean Dave celebrates with a speedball, to tragic results. But even with the players' penchant for relapses, bizarre behavior and dead-end jobs in the shadows of Hollywood's bright lights, Albert keeps hope alive as these grown, battered men continue to battle and take to the field to play the old ballgame.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Reformed drug addicts, recovering alcoholics, struggling actors, aspiring screenwriters, macho cross-dressers, and the national pastime. The only thing missing is Darryl Strawberry. In Wrecking Crew, John Albert shows that the greatest addiction -- and the greatest recovery program -- is baseball. Betty Ford, it's time to field a team."

-- Jim Caple, ESPN.com senior writer and author of The Devil Wears Pinstripes --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.


Product Details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Scribner (August 9, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0743246322
  • ISBN-13: 978-0743246323
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,198,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Junkies, wino's, pimps and whores.... and baseball, August 25, 2005
This review is from: Wrecking Crew: The Really Bad News Griffith Park Pirates (Hardcover)
I've never done hard jail time, and I've also never slept with a stripper, but this book opened a window into a life many of us have chosen to either forget or never look through. It really forces one to think about the realization of dreams and ambitions in ones life versus the things that we do to get there and the lessons we are willing to forget in order to keep those dying dreams alive... there are simple joys in life, like baseball, good sex, and good friends, this book shows that despite our failures as human beings, we are still capable of redemption to some degree and some realization of happiness.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Now THIS is baseball!, August 13, 2005
By 
Adolph Pastrami (Northern California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Wrecking Crew: The Really Bad News Griffith Park Pirates (Hardcover)
This book was totally cool. Baseball, sex, drugs and punk rock. Finally a book about what makes American great! This is a book about me and MY friends. Old punks, bad tattoos, weak livers, the usual.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars THIS SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING!, August 19, 2005
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This review is from: Wrecking Crew: The Really Bad News Griffith Park Pirates (Hardcover)
This book really does have it all. John Albert invites you into a world filled with drugs, sex, personal demons, and what we all want in our lives, some sort of purpose. This is Less Than Zero with a conscience.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
You never know what's going to save you. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Los Angeles, Mike Coulter, New York, Chris Casey, Griffith Park, Jordan Mitchell, Little League, North Carolina, Orange County, San Fernando Valley, Southern California, Dave Huffman, Hollywood Boulevard, San Francisco, Dodger Stadium, East Coast, Sunset Boulevard, Jacob Hedman, Johnny Navarro, Star Strip, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Skid Row, Sunset Strip, Eagle Rock
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