Joy in Mudville: A Little League Memoir (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "It's opening night at Memorial Park in Nyack, New York, hard by the Hudson River, and already the Little League season is looking bleak My..." (more)
Key Phrases: intentional walk, New York, Valley Cottage, World Series (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Little League baseball parents are the stage mothers of our era. Hardly a summer goes by without another story about them brawling, threatening the umpire, or berating their own kids or others to the point of tears. Former Crawdaddy editor Greg Mitchell's father wasn't like that: he played catch with young Greg exactly once. Determined to do better, Mitchell volunteered to manage his son Andy's Little League team in Nyack, New York. Joy in Mudville is the delightful result, restoring sanity, perspective, and fun to what is, after all, a kids' summer game.

The book chronicles Mitchell's first two seasons as manager of the Red Sox and the A's, nicknamed the Aliens for the rubber alien head mascot that the kids rub for luck before (almost) every game or at-bat. The Aliens' inspiring 1998 season provides the drama, from draft-day rumor-mongering to the brilliant late-inning playoff stratagem Mitchell employed to protect a thin lead (and his son the pitcher's psyche). With solid knowledge of baseball traditions--superstitions, nicknames, even a pilgrimage to Cooperstown--coupled with a good father's sense of what's best for his son, Mitchell spins a masterful yarn sure to keep parents and fans of all ages on the edges of their seats--when they're not laughing out loud.

Best known for political books (Tricky Dick and the Pink Lady, The Campaign of the Century), Mitchell shows his versatility with this warm, lighthearted, and deftly told memoir of one of the great pleasures of summer. Joy in Mudville will have readers in stitches, and it might even keep a few Little League parents out of the headlines. --Bill Penrose

From Publishers Weekly

It happens every spring--fathers coaching their Little League children as if they were top-roster players for the Yankees and Braves instead of a group of 10-year-olds. As Mitchell (The Campaign of the Century) describes in this book about his coaching stint in Nyack, N.Y., the season actually begins with the winter draft. From this point through the playoffs, he treats readers to an exciting glimpse of the psychological, emotional and strategic considerations inherent in running a team. Mitchell writes with wit and humanity of the balance between the good of his son versus that of the group, between playing to win and making players feel good. Many of the predictable dramas--such as the games between Mitchell's squad and a hyper-prepared team helmed by an uptight coach--are here, as well as coaches' shrewder tricks, like enlisting assistants whose sons are good ballplayers. If Mitchell comes off as a little obsessed, there is more than enough self-aware humor and erudition (he is as likely to quote John Cheever as Yogi Berra) to make up for it. He also includes a number of worthy digressions from his own baseball past, as well as social topics like the dearth of African-Americans playing youth baseball. Mitchell spends more time describing the game than characterizing the kids, but what goes on in his head is as interesting as anything that happens on the field. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Atria; First Edition edition (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671035312
• ISBN-13: 978-0671035310
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,951,060 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bound for Cooperstown...., March 15, 2000

By A Customer

Joy In Mudville deserves a place of honor in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Mitchell pulls off quite an impressive feat: the strange-but-true story of his son's Little League team is interwoven with intelligent and hilarious riffs on just about every possible human relationship: fathers and sons, husbands and wives, adults who behave like children, interacting with children with the wit and wisdom of adults. Hey, even the real Boss--Springsteen, not Steinbrenner--makes a cameo appearance in the book...Who knew Bruce was born to run the bases? It's a guaranteed homerun for parents, for kids...and Mitchell even manages to win over the naysayers who insist watching baseball is like watching paint dry.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Baseball at Its Best, February 19, 2000

By	John Doble (New York City) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Joy in Mudville is a terrific, terrific read! It is laugh-out-loud, you'll-read-parts-aloud-to-your-wife-or-friends funny. And a tender story about fathers and sons, and battling against the longest odds. To top it all off, Greg Mitchell really knows his baseball.

This book is not only a great read, it would make a great movie. In sum, "Joy in Mudville" has replaced my previous favorite,"Ball Four", as the best baseball book I've ever read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mitchell Mania, April 4, 2000

By A Customer

The author deserves a SRO stadium. It's a lovely book, written by a guy who seems like a cross between Casey Stengel and Joe Torre. The book should be savoured, read in short stretches--one inning at a time. It's all you need to know, for now, about athletic fathers and sons: albeit the sensitive, wry, politically correct and very funny kind. I'd especially recommend this book to any father who claims it doesn't matter whether his own Little Leaguer strikes out with the bases loaded, or boots a crucial ground ball.