The Summer Game – Roger Angell, 1972 ★★★★½

Diamonds are Forever

Last September marked the 100^th birthday of baseball writer Roger Angell, a bittersweet occasion for longtime admirers like myself. While certainly pleasant to think of him still around and hopefully enjoying life, I find myself floored, too.

Time’s passage is a dominant theme of this, Angell’s first and most famous book on the sport: “Since baseball time is measured only in outs, all you have to do is succeed utterly; keep hitting, keep the rally alive, and you have defeated time. You remain forever young.”

While focused on the transitory nature of youth as seen in the lens of a national pastime, The Summer Game is exactly that, a book that somehow remains forever young.

Late Innings – Roger Angell, 1982 ★★★★

Baseball in the Jacksonian Era

This collection of baseball essays by Roger Angell details baseball during one of its pivot periods, 1977 to 1981, an era where free agency and player strikes dominated sports headlines. It was an era personified by the player who also dominated headlines while leading the New York Yankees to three World Series appearances, Reggie Jackson.