How Life Imitates the World Series

Boswell is one of the all time best sports writers and this is one of his best works. What makes Boswell's writing so memorable is that he writes about how sport discloses (exposes)the character of the people who play the game. Highly recommended. Mark Friedman

This is the first of several superb baseball narratives by Tom Boswell of the Washington Post. Moving around the major leagues, Boswell speaks with players, coaches, scouts, executives, etc. Among the stars he interviews are Reggie Jackson, Tommy John, Rod Carew, and others, and readers come away learning something every time. The book is a bit dated and Boswell doesn't spread his time equally between every team. Still, this is a remarkably readable and informative book for baseball fans. Readers should also see his later books (WHY TIME BEGINS ON OPENING DAY, HEART OF THE ORDER) as well as the similar efforts by Roger Angell.

Baseball rewards attention like no other sport, and no baseball writer today is more attentive - or funnier or more loving - than Thomas Boswell. In this collection of already classic pieces he brings to life such superstars as Reggie Jackson, Pete Rose, Tommy John and Rod Carew; he muses on the art of the spitball, the Big Bang Theory of run scoring, and Earl Weaver and the Baltimore Orioles' winning ways; and he evokes the texture of baseball from the sandlots to the minors to Cuba to the majors.