Baseball Bookshelf Recommendation #1

As humans, we like to be able to define things, to give them a name. We attribute labels to the people around us to eliminate the unknown, to make them known to us. In our attempt to understand and know them we take them down to the human version of the lowest common denominator, which narrows our view to only the label they were given. All the while, we forsake the rest of the person behind the label. Nowhere do we do this more than with people in the public eye.

It's understandable. The lives of movie stars, rock stars, sports stars all have situations and experiences that are very different from the lives of the majority. They're so foreign to us, that sometimes we elevate those labels to the levels of superheroes or gods. We think their lives are perfect because they're a movie/rock/sports star and it can be very easy to forget that there's a real, live human being behind that character on the screen, that amazing guitar solo, or the professional jersey. It's refreshing (and sometimes rare) to get a clear view of the person behind the label.

From the opening pages of Dirk Hayhurst's The Bullpen Gospels, you can tell that the jersey will be coming off and that in its place you're going to get an incredibly open look at the person behind the "baseball player". From his struggle with making his career and how it should/shouldn't define his life to contemplating the role of baseball and the baseball player in society, you're absorbed in a world that few ever get to see. The stories from the clubhouses, buses and hotels will touch your heart, make you laugh out loud, and bring a tear to your eye. The only thing better than Hayhurst's humour and humility, is his honesty.

He clearly paints how plenty of men try to make it to the elusive "Show"; they want their cup of coffee, a decade long career, a great multi-year deal. That's the goal. But it's presumptuous for us as non-pro ball players to reduce it all down to a goal; a dream; a life; a job. It's so much more and so much less than that.

The Bullpen Gospels is a great starting point for readers to look at their own lives, their own careers and expectations, and their own definitions and labels that they attribute to themselves and to others. After all, at its heart, this book is a young man's journey of growing up and coming to terms with the expectations and labels set on him by the world and by himself, set to a colourfully described baseball background.

By book's end, readers will have a new appreciation for achieving their goals, they'll have begun to understand the struggle between success and failure of a dream, and "baseball player" will no longer be a one-dimensional label. After reading Hayhurst's gospels, you'll never be able to forget about the human behind the baseball jersey again.

Happy reading and Thanksgiving!

JaysGirl5