Word: chapter
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Angell can see the less tangible but more meaningful, subtle, and lasting aspects of the game. Instead of grilling Bob Boone or Jim Sundberg on why they called a certain pitch at a certain point in the game, Angell asks them about their craft. What ensues is a wonderful chapter, a round-table conversation with some of the game's best catchers, including Boone, Carlton Fisk, Terry Kennedy, and Ted Simmons, on how they go about their job. You find out how catchers call a game, settle down high-strung pitchers, seize up-and-in, rising 95-m.p.h. fastballs...
...fascinating observation Angell gleans from Joe Garagiola, a former catcher himself, in this chapter is that Johnny Bench, without a doubt the greatest catcher of his time, probably set back the art of catching, on account of his own great skills. Only Bench, with his extraordinarily quick release and balance, Angell's argument goes, could get away with catching the pitch one-handed, which normally catchers are taught not to do so that their throwing hand is on the ball if a Rickey Henderson or Vince Coleman tries for second base...
THERE are many other similar great moments captured by Angell in this book. Although Red Sox fans like myself cringe at the thought of reading about the 1986 World Series, Angell, a fellow Red Sox supporter, makes his "Not So, Boston" chapter bearable with a detailed recall of Dave Henderson's clutch homer in the American League Championship Series against the Angels and "Rocket" Roger Clemens' glorious summer...
...Another chapter gives a refreshing insight into Roy Eisenhardt, the progressive president of the Oakland A's--one of the few baseball executives who cares more about their players and the state of the game than about making money from it. Angell shows that Eisenhardt considers baseball not as merely another tidy, profitable investment, but rather as an activity that can bring joy to thousands and provide a badly needed diversion from our daily lives...
...Boyer oversimplifies. Many of the changes at CBS News would have occurred with or without Sauter; nor have all of them been bad. (They have certainly not been unique to CBS.) Boyer is on the shakiest ground in his final chapter, in which he tries to fit the events of the past year -- when CBS News' fortunes have improved -- into his anti-Sauter thesis. His assertion that Rather's newscast has degenerated into a "broad-reaching video tabloid" seems particularly unfounded...