Andrew K. (kuligowskiandrewt) -
In "Baseball Maverick: How Sandy Alderson Revolutionized Baesball and Revived the Mets", Steve Kettmann tells the story of baseball executive Sandy Alderson, and the story of the teams he helped to (re)build.
In the quest to walk the line between these two subjects, Kettmann begins with a biography of Alderson, talking about his life and how baseball influenced it with some information of how baseball, in particular the Oakland A's, were influenced by him. As the book progresses, however, it's more and more about baseball and less and less about Alderson, until the book became about the 2012-14 New York Mets and Alderson was simply one conpoment of its assembly. (One powerful component who actually DID most of the assembly, admittedly ...)
If the reader is a Mets fan, they probably appreciated the evolution of the book's focus. However, as someone who was more interested in learning about Alderson and about his philosophy in building and maintaining a baseball team, I wish that the spotlight had stayed more strongly on the man behind the team rather than its performance.
Still, it was a good book, and I would recommend it to baseball aficionados.
RATING: 4 stars.
DISCLOSURE: This book was provided to me free of charge in a random draw; the publishers hope for a review (and probably for a positive one) but one was NOT required for receipt of the book.
In the quest to walk the line between these two subjects, Kettmann begins with a biography of Alderson, talking about his life and how baseball influenced it with some information of how baseball, in particular the Oakland A's, were influenced by him. As the book progresses, however, it's more and more about baseball and less and less about Alderson, until the book became about the 2012-14 New York Mets and Alderson was simply one conpoment of its assembly. (One powerful component who actually DID most of the assembly, admittedly ...)
If the reader is a Mets fan, they probably appreciated the evolution of the book's focus. However, as someone who was more interested in learning about Alderson and about his philosophy in building and maintaining a baseball team, I wish that the spotlight had stayed more strongly on the man behind the team rather than its performance.
Still, it was a good book, and I would recommend it to baseball aficionados.
RATING: 4 stars.
DISCLOSURE: This book was provided to me free of charge in a random draw; the publishers hope for a review (and probably for a positive one) but one was NOT required for receipt of the book.
