It's Gone!. No, Wait a Minute . .: Talking My Way into the Big Leagues at 40

A whimsical look at the world of big-league baseball broadcasting describes how a successful thirty-something Hollywood writer set out to pursue a new career as a baseball broadcaster, providing an irreverent, anecdotal look at his rookie year. 17,500 first printing.

Levine was chief writer and co-producer of the TV series M*A*S*H and Cheers when he set out to achieve his secret ambition to become a baseball broadcaster. After working in minor league cities, he was tapped to be the second banana on WBAL Radio in Baltimore in 1991, covering the Oriole games. He stayed for one season (he moved to Seattle, home to the Mariners), the subject of this uneven book. When discussing the personalities of his colleagues and members of the team, he is generous and tolerant of human frailty; when writing about the athletes' performances on the field, Levine becomes contemptuous. His weepy accounts of parting from his family, which he did dozens of times during the season, are annoying. The book is far less impressive than Levine's work for the tube. Author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Unmemorable memoir by a former Hollywood writer and producer -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

In the mid-60s, writer George Plimpton participated in a pro football team's training camp for all would-be Walter Mittys, which he recounted in Paper Lion ( LJ 10/1/66). Some 25 years later, "a writer approaching middle age decides to follow a lifelong dream and... becomes a major league baseball announcer." It's Gone!... No, Wait a Minute... is the day-by-day journal kept by Levine while he worked as a radio announcer for the Baltimore Orioles during the 1991 season. The diary of the former head writer and co-producer of the hit television shows Cheers and M*A*S*H is humorous and spiced with movie references. There is, however, minimal baseball to get in the way of this tongue-in-cheek account of life with a big league team. This book is excellent for light reading, and will be a welcome addition to public libraries.
- Albert Spencer, Coll. of Education, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.