Confessions of a Baseball Purist: Whats Right and Wrong with Baseball As Seen from the Best Seat in the House (Hardcover)

by Jon Miller (Author), Mark Hyman (Author) "Hello, I'm Jon Miller..." (more)
Key Phrases: interleague play, interleague games, baseball broadcaster, World Series, Red Sox, Sunday Night Baseball (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Broadcaster Jon Miller didn't know he was a baseball "purist" until acting commissioner Bud Selig accosted him with the moniker on national TV in 1993. "At one time," writes Miller in retrospect, "the label 'baseball purist' could've been worn as a badge of honor. Any legitimate fan would've been pleased to be thought of as a purist. But I suppose that to Mr. Selig, a purist was a lonely old man hunched over a windup Victrola, thumbing through a 1929 Who's Who in Baseball, fretting that the game just hasn't been the same since the Babe retired." In Confessions Miller admits to being a purist--loosely defined by him not as a forlorn fan stuck in a period-piece movie but as a fan knowledgeable enough to realize that baseball evolves for the good of the game--despite what myopic owners might try to perpetrate in the short term. In a chapter titled "The Good Old Days Are Now," Miller reminds die-hards of the old adage about things changing and staying the same. To wit, here's Ty Cobb in 1925: "The great trouble with baseball today is that most of the players are in the game for the money." Miller goes on to suggest that the 1990s will be remembered in 20 years as a "golden age" of hitting and that accusations of juiced balls, watered-down pitching, smaller ballparks, and expansion still cannot account for this decade's abundance of outstanding batters. The voice of the San Francisco Giants (and formerly the Baltimore Orioles) holds forth on everything from interleague play (it's good for the game but messy) to traveling with Cal Ripken (a game of Strat-O-Matic baseball reveals just how competitive the Iron Man really is). Occasionally he whiffs--as when he suggests that ballparks install 20-second time clocks to keep pitchers hurling at a reasonable pace. But ultimately what comes through the anecdotes and arguments is his tremendous love for the game and a generous capacity for recognizing the quality of the present and not just the past. --Langdon Cook

From Library Journal
Miller, ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" announcer and former voice of the Baltimore Orioles, is one of the top TV broadcasters in baseball. Fans will enjoy Miller's insights on Cal Ripken's work ethic and his recounting of the incidents surrounding his own dismissal by impulsive Orioles owner Peter Angelos. Miller remains optimistic about the future of baseball. Because of his national presence this book should circulate well in most libraries.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (April 6, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684845180
• ISBN-13: 978-0684845180
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,176,357 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny memoir, August 31, 1999

By A Customer

More of a memoir than anything else, the book is unflaggingly interesting and funny, especially if one can imagine Miller himself reading it. An audiocassette version of this book might well be the ultimate way to experience it. In any case, it just breezes by, leaving you with a warm feeling and a greater desire to hear more Miller broadcasts afterward.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Memoir, January 30, 2000

By A Customer

I received this book along with Joe Morgan's as a Christmas present, and it was interesting to read them in tandem, as it shows why they are such a complementary broadcast team. Miller's book is more an anecdotal memoir than a detailed analysis of the game, but that doesn't spoil the enjoyment of it. His tribute to Ken Coleman, the retired Red Sox radio broadcaster, brought back to this Red Sox fan vivid memories of Miller's all-too-brief stay in Boston. The book, however, suffered from an editing job that assumed that the reader had a familiarity with Miller's personal life and career history. For example, there are several references to his first marriage which both assume that the reader knows that Miller was married before and why it ended. But these references are extraneous and add nothing to this picture of Miller as broadcaster and baseball purist -- which, after all, is the book's primary focus.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must reading for today's baseball fan!, December 17, 1998

By A Customer

Had an opportunity to read this book over the Thanksgiving holiday...just couldn't put it down. Jon Miller gives baseball fans and purists an updated insider's view on many of the issues that are of prime concern to today's baseball fans such as: the designated hitter, interleague play, outrageous salaries, current and future hall of famers; and he gives you all the details of his divorce with the Baltimore Orioles and notes interesting tidbits about Baltimore's greedy and incompetent owner -- Peter Angelos.

Easy to read. Easy to understand and enjoy.