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A Great and Glorious Game: Baseball Writings of A. Bartlett Giamatti
 
 
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A Great and Glorious Game: Baseball Writings of A. Bartlett Giamatti (Hardcover)

~ Kenneth S. Robson M.D. (Editor), David Halberstam (Foreword) "A. BARTLETT GIAMATTI WAS AN ACCOMPLISHED MAN..." (more)
Key Phrases: league president, New York, National League, American League (more...)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

Price: $17.95 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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  • This item: A Great and Glorious Game: Baseball Writings of A. Bartlett Giamatti by Kenneth S. Robson M.D.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

By far the most literate of baseball's commissioners, the late Bart Giamatti, former president of Yale, was the game's most unashamedly vocal fan both before and during his tenure as chief executive. The child of immigrants, he embraced baseball's very Americanness, and ascribed to its simple goal--coming home--a far-reaching, overall metaphor. His ardor was unguarded and unabashed, his approach sentimental and as expansive as a pair of foul lines diverging in the distance. Giamatti's oversized passion infuses everything in this slim volume, from his wistful elegy to Tom Seaver and his admonition to fans to clean up their act, to his pained public statement banning Pete Rose from the game for life. Best of all, his seductively lyrical essay "The Green Fields of the Mind" leads off the lineup. The latter alone--it begins by poignantly observing of baseball, "It breaks your heart. It's designed to break your heart"--is worth the price of admission.


From Publishers Weekly

In the baseball pantheon, Giamatti occupies an unusual place: leaving the presidency of Yale University, he became the president of the National League and then, for the five months before his death in 1989, the commissioner of baseball. Although his writings on the subject were few, all radiated a love for the game as well as an appreciation of it as a metaphor for American life and, indeed, life in general. He saw baseball as quintessentially American because it combined individual achievement with successful teamwork and because, in a country where rootlessness appears to be a pervasive national characteristic, there is always the quest to go home. Yale clinical professor Robson has collected nine Giamatti writings, including the often-anthologized essay "The Green Fields of the Mind" and the statement banning Pete Rose from baseball for life, in which he notes that "no individual is superior to the game." The collection will appeal primarily to the most diehard baseball fans.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 121 pages
  • Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1st edition (January 4, 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1565121929
  • ISBN-13: 978-1565121928
  • Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #128,272 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category: (What's this?)

    #48 in  Books > Sports > Baseball > Essays & Writings

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13 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An eloquent, erudite, and decent man, August 4, 1999
By A Customer
The collected writings of Bart Giamatti demonstrate the depth of appreciation he had toward our game. The first paragraph of "Green Fields of the Mind" alone should be the centerpiece for the canon of sports literature. His high esteem for all that is right in sports is further evinced in his courageous moral stand against Pete Rose.

Perhaps all the Pete Rose people would be well-served by reading this book. They would gain an exponentially greater appreciation for the wonder of baseball and afford themselves the opportunity to reflect on why Mr. Rose does not deserve a place in its shrine.

The only shame involving Giamatti is that he did not live long enough to eloquently and courageously defend his side of the sordid Rose affair, while Pete is able to hawk memorabilia, bleat self-righteously about his case, and sell his name to anyone with a fistful of cash and an agenda.

However, while it is tragic that Giamatti passed on too soon, we are lucky to have his writings to further stoke our interest in the great game, and to remind ourselves that some things are still worth fighting for.

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, Thankfully, February 11, 1999
By A Customer
I read the essay "Green Fields of the Mind" in 1990 and have waited for a collection of Giamatti's work ever since. I know no other writer who so eloquently captures not only the magic of baseball, but how we experience it. I wish I could be half as passionate about my life as Giamatti was about the game we love. Buy the book and count how many times you tell yourself during its reading that you either need to lend it to a friend or buy a copy for someone you love. It transcends baseball without the obvious pretentions of academia. Should be read just before opening day, again on the day your favorite team is eliminated for the season and once more during the off-season.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A very passionate man, July 17, 2000
Throughout this book Giamatti is referred to as an idealist by others and at least once by himself. There is not a more accurate description of his writings contained in "A Great and Glorious Game."

What seperated Giamatti from others of like mind was his ability to act upon his impulses. Most famously, banishing Pete Rose from ever being associated with baseball again. An incredible unfortunate situation, but to all those who cannot accept Giamatti's judgment please read this book. For myself it clarified his motives and subsequent actions.

Beyond anything to do with Rose, this book is thoroughly engaging. Giamatti deftly exemplifies why many of us continually return to baseball every spring. Recommended for any baseball fan.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars The Soul of Baseball at It's Intellectual Best
Bartlett Giamatti's essays provide you with a delightful dimension of the national pastime which you will find in no other source. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Ron Bierman

5.0 out of 5 stars Baseball is a metaphor for life of Bart Giamatti
Bart Giamatti's baseball story is really a metaphor for life, and he undoubtedly intended it as such. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Susanna in Montana

3.0 out of 5 stars Ok...
The language of Giamatti is wonderful and there are some interesting stories in here. It is nothing more then that and it really wasn't my cup of tea. Read more
Published on July 18, 2005 by J. L. White

5.0 out of 5 stars A Glorious Book About A Glorious Game
When renaissance scholar A. Bartlett Giamatti was asked to become president of Yale University, he said the only presidency he had ever aspired to was that of the American League... Read more
Published on January 2, 2004 by W. C HALL

5.0 out of 5 stars just loved this book...
I read this book outloud with my 12-year-old son in October 2000 during the playoffs and world series. Read more
Published on January 3, 2002 by Long Island MOM

5.0 out of 5 stars The dignity of this great game.
Mr. Giamatti is very eloquent in his writings on the game of baseball. Of the many chapters, the one most appealing is the last chapter on Peter Edward Rose. Read more
Published on October 24, 2000 by Phillip Michaelson

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for ( )
Giamatti's short tenure restored dignity and eloquence to the game. By stopping corruption in it's tracks he brought his level-headed love of the game to it's most powerful... Read more
Published on June 13, 2000

2.0 out of 5 stars A work whose excellence shames the character of the author.
For all of his literary and academic accomplishment, A. Bartlett Giamatti did not outlive the incontestable fact the the one thing, the only thing, he did with his office as... Read more
Published on July 26, 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars A man of letters writes eloquently about the game he loved.
May I humbly suggest that if you love baseball as Bart Giamatti loved baseball, that you read this book. Read more
Published on January 16, 1999 by gonzo@northstar.k12.ak.us

5.0 out of 5 stars Giamatti's writings equal Cobb's field presence
Giammatti's prose flows unhindered and helps the average fan understand the game, and gives the "fanatic" something more to think about ... Read more
Published on April 12, 1998

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