Rating: 
Summary: Transcending Baseball
Review: As a rule, I generally avoid contemporary books which focus on too narrow a subject (see Tom Clancy, Robin Cook) because I can't stand how the technical subject becomes the focus of the book instead of mere table dressing. In reading For Love of the Game, I was apprehensive because I'm no real fan of baseball. But, to my delight, the game is not "about" baseball. It's about a man, a success by any measure, struggling with what he has really accomplished and what he can look foward to after being told that he is no longer wanted by the team that he has loyally served for so many years. Shaara does a good job of melding several different memories into a coherent concious and the reader, in the end, gains not only perspective into the main character, Billy Chaple, but also into himself.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, Coming of age story
Review: By far, one of my favorite books. A brilliant masterpiece that transports the reader along an emotional roller coaster ride as Billy Chapel comes to grips with the end of his sports career - and the start of a fulfilling life. Reminiscent of Hemingway in its simple complexity.
Rating:
Summary: I wish I could write a book like this
Review: Chapel was hearing the music in his head and conditioning himself, timing himself, sending messages all through the body, sensing the step, the push, the pull, the weight. All fine today. All good today. End of the season, hard slow cold season, they never scored behind you, but, no matter, you aren't weary today. That's a fact. Surprising. You have plenty tucked in there today. Must be a state of mind. I wonder...how far? Five innings? Six? Oh please God...today...if I could just go the distance. Let me go all the way. Give the old arm...A rare thing for Chapel, who did not pray or go to church. But the desire was huge. He thought: be at least a little crafty, old man. Take it easy now. Rest and prime it. Save it for when you need it. Be crafty for once. Well. But best thing is blaze away at the beginning, put 'em down, boy, down, show 'em who's boss. Then get foxy. Sure. Waste nothing. Save the energy until you really need it, but...this is the last day. Today, you'll use it all. Sudden memory of Mom: "God has blessed you, Billy, with that wondrous talent. Remember someday...to give Him thanks." He never had. Well. May do it today. Right, Mom. But it's a little late. So...don't think on that. Music. And throw.
Rating: 
Summary: Actually 4 1/2 stars
Review: Don't get me wrong this was a really good book. And I am so close to giving it 5 stars. It was just a little too short for me. The story invloving the ball game was great and showed why baseball is so pure at its core. The only thing that was lacking in the story was the story outside of the game. You will fly through this book, it is a good story and you will feel satisfied after reading it, even after that mild short coming I mentioned. Just my opnion, I could be wrong.
Rating:
Summary: Actually 4 1/2 stars
Review: Don't get me wrong this was a really good book. And I am so close to giving it 5 stars. It was just a little too short for me. The story invloving the ball game was great and showed why baseball is so pure at its core. The only thing that was lacking in the story was the story outside of the game. You will fly through this book, it is a good story and you will feel satisfied after reading it, even after that mild short coming I mentioned. Just my opnion, I could be wrong.
Rating:
Summary: For Entertainment, You Mean
Review: Entertaining reading and fun for the whole family. Don't read it for the fine literature (although the long paragraph in the climax of the novel was worth the whole book--very good writing). I never really associated with Billy Chapel; he didn't capture my heart. It seemed at first like he was merely a ballplayer who had "a girl in every port" (Wade Boggs?) and his romance never seemed like it was worth all of his greiving. But the baseball life is here and the Shaara writes to the rising action like a masterful narrative writer should.
Rating:
Summary: A good read......
Review: For Love of the Game. . . . . . I'm not a fan of Baseball but I enjoyed the This Novel, The Motion Picture and a lot of what this book gave the reader. Granted, this book is not A Baseball Clinic either. Chapel, the lead man, wakes up with a deck stacked against him and yet decides his own fate. That sounds cliché, I'm sure, straight out of Star Trek even, but in this novel it rings true. He may lose the game, already lost his girl, and his job may vanish, that's three strikes. So what do you do? You keep that chin up and you give life your best. Make yourself a big target and be defiant as you are Marked. Chapel did it. He pitched the game he could not top. Why would he? The feat was great, one to be admired. He left on his own terms, on top (was carried out too, by teammates) and he understood what the women in his life said to him, what she wanted. He loved her. He needed to say it and needed her to hear it. Quite simply but hard to do. The novel takes a man near icon status and his life, a kid at heart and reveals to us, the reader what makes people go. It can be Baseball, but it's love. Cliché again, sorry. The books says lot too on the game today, what people think of it and want. Die hard fans, and Die Hard players. Loyalty! Old School!. I must add that I did not now enjoy the many ellipses. Too many! Scale of 1 through 5. '3'.
Rating:
Summary: For the Love of the Game.... A Must Read!!
Review: FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME The grass freshly cut always in diamonds so the ball almost skips right off of it. The dirt mixed with clay is drug before every game making the infield look so perfect that you are a afraid to set foot on it. The game itself America's pastime where a 40 year old man can be a kid again and a 1 year old child can have his first hot dog. While having 60,000 fans on the edge of their seats waiting to see what that same 40 year old man would do next. But, is their more to the game than that perfect picture? What about those men day after day that are treated like gods is that all they are? What about after all the lights are turned out and the uniforms are removed. Then what , those men once heroes are now normal people , no different than you or I . In Michael Shaara's novel For the Love of the Game baseball is given a new life , a man's life where only two things matter, baseball and the love that he is about to loose. Much like in other novels by Shaara his in depth detail really depicts life in baseball. Much like in the The Killing Angels Shaaras's Pulitzer Prize winning novel , the two stories both put the reader in the characters mind, where Shaara uses detail like " He played every game in this way: from man to man, from pitch to pitch aware of the way they stood, all their motions, with total concentration which excluded everything else"(pg.76). to enunciate his surroundings. Shaara has a style of writing that is so powerful that along with The Killer Angels this novel For the Love of the Game were made into major motion pictures. In this story the author uses a man's emotions to tell his life instead of his mind. The book gives the reader a look at the heart using baseball as a metaphor for life. Billy Chapel a pitcher for the Detroit. Now in his 19th season as a Tiger, is reaching the end of his career . Chapel now a legend winning every award the game has to offer. Is faced with the decision of his life. On the brink of being traded to the Giants. The Tigers season comes down to a final game against a must win Yankee team . Detroit already with no hopes of a playoff birth can destroy the Yankees hopes with a win . Billy is moved up a day to pitch. With his mind on his girlfriend and the hole city of New York against him. Chapel must pitch the game of his life to save his life. This book to me is now one of my favorites. For anyone who has ever competed when they had other things on their mind or even watched an athlete give everything he has when everyone is against him, then you must read this book. This book helps people put life in perspective. It has just the right amount of sports and romance. The author uses baseball to tell the story of a man, which is inciting and creative. I would recommend this book to everyone. The story has something for us all even if you hate sports Shaara gives us a lesson in life.
Rating:
Summary: For the Love of the Game.... A Must Read!!
Review: FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME The grass freshly cut always in diamonds so the ball almost skips right off of it. The dirt mixed with clay is drug before every game making the infield look so perfect that you are a afraid to set foot on it. The game itself America's pastime where a 40 year old man can be a kid again and a 1 year old child can have his first hot dog. While having 60,000 fans on the edge of their seats waiting to see what that same 40 year old man would do next. But, is their more to the game than that perfect picture? What about those men day after day that are treated like gods is that all they are? What about after all the lights are turned out and the uniforms are removed. Then what , those men once heroes are now normal people , no different than you or I . In Michael Shaara's novel For the Love of the Game baseball is given a new life , a man's life where only two things matter, baseball and the love that he is about to loose. Much like in other novels by Shaara his in depth detail really depicts life in baseball. Much like in the The Killing Angels Shaaras's Pulitzer Prize winning novel , the two stories both put the reader in the characters mind, where Shaara uses detail like " He played every game in this way: from man to man, from pitch to pitch aware of the way they stood, all their motions, with total concentration which excluded everything else"(pg.76). to enunciate his surroundings. Shaara has a style of writing that is so powerful that along with The Killer Angels this novel For the Love of the Game were made into major motion pictures. In this story the author uses a man's emotions to tell his life instead of his mind. The book gives the reader a look at the heart using baseball as a metaphor for life. Billy Chapel a pitcher for the Detroit. Now in his 19th season as a Tiger, is reaching the end of his career . Chapel now a legend winning every award the game has to offer. Is faced with the decision of his life. On the brink of being traded to the Giants. The Tigers season comes down to a final game against a must win Yankee team . Detroit already with no hopes of a playoff birth can destroy the Yankees hopes with a win . Billy is moved up a day to pitch. With his mind on his girlfriend and the hole city of New York against him. Chapel must pitch the game of his life to save his life. This book to me is now one of my favorites. For anyone who has ever competed when they had other things on their mind or even watched an athlete give everything he has when everyone is against him, then you must read this book. This book helps people put life in perspective. It has just the right amount of sports and romance. The author uses baseball to tell the story of a man, which is inciting and creative. I would recommend this book to everyone. The story has something for us all even if you hate sports Shaara gives us a lesson in life.
Rating:
Summary: As good as the movie
Review: GReat book with the exception of too much driffitng and too many elispes. Todd
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