Play by Play: Baseball, Radio and Life in the Last Chance League - Hardcover

Conan, Neal

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0609608711 ISBN 13: 9780609608715

Publisher: Crown, 2002

Synopsis

Following nearly twenty-five years as a prominent voice at National Public Radio, after being shelled, rocketed, bombed and held captive in the desert as one of their top foreign correspondents, Neal Conan decided to pursue a lifelong dream—to become, of all things, a baseball announcer. And that’s what he did, specifically with the Aberdeen Arsenal, a franchise of the independent Atlantic League. Not the majors, alas, but it afforded him a true opportunity to use the surge of conflicting emotions that we refer to as midlife crisis to rethink what he’d done and what he was doing. It also allowed Neal to marry his two lifelong passions—radio and baseball—and gave him the chance to return to the grassroots of each. He decided to put the fun and challenge back into things he had become bored with.

Play by Play is Conan’s diary of the 2000 season—Aberdeen’s and his. From his position in the announcer’s booth, on the team bus and in hotels and motels along the way, we meet the coaches, fans and, of course, the players. And in this league, most of the players are on the way out rather than up but are happy to still be getting paid to play ball. It is indeed a league of last chances, but for most everyone involved, it’s better to be spending time playing ball than not. Some are resigned to the fact that they’ll never make the majors—or, in a few cases, get back there—while others hang on to a dream that everybody but them sees as foolhardy. Either way, they play for the love of the game, and very little else.

Through the lens of the minor leagues, Conan captures the soul of a great sport and reveals the ways men face age, come to terms with their limitations and ambitions and look for new challenges when they’re no longer young phenoms. In the end, Conan’s experiences, the things he’s learned, help him refocus his own life and reappreciate the things he has, giving him direction of where he needs to go. (But that’s not to say he wouldn’t take a call from George Steinbrenner to be the voice of the Yankees.)

About this title

About the Author

Neal Conan is a veteran utility infielder for National Public Radio, serving as reporter, producer, editor and host. He has worked on every program produced by NPR News and has covered the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War, presidential elections, inaugurations and one impeachment. He is presently the host of NPR’s Talk of the Nation and lives in Bethesda, Maryland.

From the Back Cover

“Neal Conan’s home run is a modern coming-of-age story for all ages and a warm yet shrewd inside look at the new golden age of minor league baseball. It’s a joy for anyone who ever dreamed of swinging a bat or a mike.” —Robert Lipsyte, sports columnist, The New York Times

From the Inside Flap

arly twenty-five years as a prominent voice at National Public Radio, after being shelled, rocketed, bombed and held captive in the desert as one of their top foreign correspondents, Neal Conan decided to pursue a lifelong dream―to become, of all things, a baseball announcer. And that’s what he did, specifically with the Aberdeen Arsenal, a franchise of the independent Atlantic League. Not the majors, alas, but it afforded him a true opportunity to use the surge of conflicting emotions that we refer to as midlife crisis to rethink what he’d done and what he was doing. It also allowed Neal to marry his two lifelong passions―radio and baseball―and gave him the chance to return to the grassroots of each. He decided to put the fun and challenge back into things he had become bored with.<br><br><b>Play by Play</b> is Conan’s diary of the 2000 season―Aberdeen’s and his. From his position in the announcer’s booth, on the team bus and in hotels

Reviews

Following his lifelong dream, National Public Radio personality Conan took a sabbatical to do baseball play-by-play. Toiling in an independent minor league, the rookie sportscaster writes of the daunting task of filling the airwaves during his Aberdeen (Md.) Arsenal broadcasts with compelling stories and anecdotes; Conan the fledgling author seems to find filling the pages of his book just as difficult. Quotes from players and coaches go on far too long and reveal far too little (and are often unattributed). Conan's childlike enthusiasm for the game is undeniable and his storytelling skills solid, but there's nothing about this band of ballplayers, managed by former major league slugger Darrell Evans that's particularly engaging. It's questionable whether the book's best story a lengthy account of Conan once being held hostage in Iraq while pursuing an NPR feature belongs in a baseball book. Similarly, the author's love note to his son feels out of place. All the minor league clich‚s are here: players on their way up or on their way down, the talented kid with the bad attitude and the kid with the great attitude and marginal skills, and the lonely life of a baseball nomad. America's rediscovery of minor league baseball has meant numerous love-of-the-game articles and programs focusing on the lesser leagues' pastoral charms. Conan's take on it, however earnest, offers little that's new.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

A veteran announcer in radio's majors, National Public Radio's Conan was thrilled to get a call to baseball's minors and spent a happy summer of 2000 doing the play-by-play for the independent Atlantic League's Aberdeen Arsenal. Here he recounts his small-time baseball sabbatical, some of which he previewed on NPR's "Baseball Diary."
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Conan had been one of the familiar voices of NPR for 25 years. In the year 2000, he left job and family to do something he'd always wanted. From April until September, he was the Voice of the Aberdeen Arsenal, a new minor-league baseball franchise in the Atlantic League--a bunch of "kids and castoffs" taking a fling at professional sports outside the major-league's farm system. He discovers there is virtually no overlap between the world of NPR and that of independent minor-league baseball, and he pursues this very different radio dream learning as he goes. The team does that, too, and his essays throw into sharp relief the many kinds of failures to be had in baseball: not enough focus, too many injuries, letting drugs or sex or stupidity get in the way. Conan writes nicely, and it's clear he had a wonderful time in the course of trying to find himself. This book is more about baseball dreams than baseball, but it provides some bittersweet reality and some crackling good times. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Crown
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0609608711
• ISBN 13: 9780609608715
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 242