book recommendation with a Brewers hook

[gregmag]

I've spent the past few nights reading a very enjoyable book called Cardboard Gods by Josh Wilker. It's a memoir of his childhood and young adulthood, with each short chapter keyed off a baseball card from the late 70s, when collecting baseball cards was what kept him sane. It's beautifully written, funny, and sad, and it draws a lot of great connections between baseball fandom and life (or not having much of one sometimes). I particularly love it because he's almost exactly my age, and he discovered baseball and baseball cards exactly when I did. I bet a lot of people who post here would enjoy it.

 

But the real reason I bring it up here is that, maybe 150 pages in, after barely mentioning the Brewers in the book, this lifelong Red Sox fan suddenly lets forth with the funniest page or so that anyone has ever written or will ever write about our favorite team. His basic point -- and this guy is a Red Sox fan -- is that for the Brewers to have left the American League is an absurdity of cosmic proportions that makes it pretty much impossible for any sentient person to stay centered, but there's much more to it than that. It's unexpected, hilarious, and worth the price of admission all by itself.

[Patrick425]

Thanks for the heads up gregmag. Looks like a book that I'll definitely want to check out. The late 70's/early 80's were my card collecting years as well. I'm going to guess that the author is somewhere in his mid 40s?

 

edit: Not sure if you were aware of this, but it appears that there is also a blog dedicated to "Cardboard Gods". I'm excited about reading this book after browsing through this blog a little bit. http://cardboardgods.net/

[chadomac]

sounds interesting to me. gonna have to add it to my christmas list.

[Patrick425]

Thanks again for bringing this book up. I purchased it a while ago and just really started reading it during our family vacation last week.

 

I'm not a huge book reader. I read 2-3 books a year (I always say I'm going to start reading more, but then never make the time to do so). However, this book really struck a chord with me. I'm roughly the same age as the author and baseball cards were a huge part of my life during the same period he covers in his childhood. I completely understood his discussion about "Free to be you and me" and how big that was for a period of time in the 70's. I actually played William (of "William wants a doll") in our grade school play about "Free To Be You and Me". I also loved his description of Reggie Jackson and what a larger than life icon he was in the late 70's.

[WV Brew]

Didn't want to start a new thread.

There is a new book out by Lucas Mann, Class A: Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere. This is about the Clinton Lumber Kings. If anyone has read this, can you give a review? Thanks.

[Patrick425]

Didn't want to start a new thread.

There is a new book out by Lucas Mann, Class A: Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere. This is about the Clinton Lumber Kings. If anyone has read this, can you give a review? Thanks.

 

The author is not related to Terrence Mann is he?

[WV Brew]

I don't think so Patrick. I saw a review in the NY Times. He's actually an Iowan.

[WV Brew]

May have a Brewers component:

 

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-matheny-manifesto-mike-matheny/1120420221?ean=9780553446692

 

You must have Cardinals immunity however.

[pete]

You may find something poking around this site:

 

http://www.ronkaplansbaseballbookshelf.com/