Summer of '98

Rating:
Summary: A great baseball book ¿ but much more
Review: Last year really was the year we fell in love with baseball again, and Lupica captures it wonderfully, often through interesting angles: Kerry Wood's high school coach, the scout who discovered Sammy Sosa, Joe DiMaggio on Yankees past and present. But it's much more than a baseball book. It's about fathers and sons, the things that Lupica's father passed on to him and that he passed on to his sons. As a portrait of parenthood, it's the best I've read in a long time. I recommend it to everyone.

Rating:
Summary: A Fan Returns
Review: Like many baseball junkies, I ended my long obsession (25 years of attending 30+ games) during the 94 strike, not watching or caring about the game for a couple of years. Gradually my interest returned and I started making trips back to the Oakland Coliseum to see my A's, primarily when a big draw like the Yankees came into town. Luckily, I had been able to closely follow McGwire's career from the start when he hit 49 dingers his first year. It seemed like everytime I'd go to a game, he'd hit one out for the small crowd of only 10,000 or so. Sadly, the inevitable happened and he left in 97. Our loss became St.Louis's and the rest of America's gain. The 98 summer was also marked (no pun intended) for me by the birth of our first son in July. Ironically, I was born in 61, the year of Maris. I really feel a connection to Maris, McGwire and Sosa and am so happy that all of this incredible baseball has been so beautifully recapped and chronicled by the great Mike Lupica. This book is very moving also because it's about fathers and sons and the very special bond brought by this greatest of games. In fact, I am in the process of buying a hardcover copy to be given to my son on his 10th birthday. Summer of 98 is a definite winner for any baseball fan!

Rating:
Summary: Covers more than baseball, rather, is about life
Review: Lupica did a fantastic job of not only capturing the baseball season of 1998 and all it's glory, but also sharing the importance of family relationships. If baseball is a part of your family, you should read this book!

Rating:
Summary: A great Book
Review: Mike Lupica is a smart man, and this shows alot of that ability. I just bought this book because I wanted to buy one and I was glad picked this one. It tells about not only baseball, but about his life, kids, and the all-around game of baseball. I think you SHOULD get this book.

Rating:
Summary: Pulp baseball non-fiction at its worst.
Review: Mike Lupica lost me on page 8. I picked up his book with the high hopes of having a fine sports writer carry me back to the magical season just concluded. But my hopes were quickly dashed. On page 8. This isn't a book about the 1998 season - McGwire, Sosa, Clemens, Ripken, Wells, the Yankees - it's a book about Mike Lupica and Sons. It is so self-absorbing, it's nauseating. It's about deciding a week before to go to a Mets game and sitting close to the field; it's about escaping the crowd by getting permission to jump a fence and going out through the player's tunnel; it's about his kids and their private chat session with Darryl Strawberry; it's about Mike playing basketball with Cal Ripken; it's about Mike's sister and her impromptu walk with Joe DiMaggio; it's about, well, it's about Mike Lupica. It does for baseball non-fiction what "The Love Story" did for fiction: pulp baseball non-fiction at its worst. This book was in desperate need of an editor; too bad Bob Costas and Pete Hamill, both of whom had glowing things to say about the book on the dust jacket, didn't read the book before they honored it. The Cardinals have won seven [sic, it's nine] World Series [p. 19]? Where in the heck is Bent [sic, it's Bend] Oregon [p. 58]? And who is Kent Bottenfeld [sic, it's Bottenfield, p. 100]? How many other factual errors did he miss? Did I miss? Did Costas and Hamill miss? But let's get back to page 8. Lupica wants to convince us that he is a true baseball fan. Desperately wants to convince us. He learned a love for the game from his father; he came of age during the dramatic Maris-Mantle home run chase of 1961. And he is successfully passing along that passion to his three sons, who obviously are fans of the game. But it is so unconvincing when on page 8 he admits to leaving a game in the 6th inning - and we hear nary a peep from his three sons/fans. It all started with this awkward sentence: "We had decided that the one more inning before we left was this inning, the fifth." A collective decision? To leave in the 6th inning? They came to see McGwire in a spring training game and left as he was standing - and grinning - on 2nd base? Was he removed from the game? Did he go deep in the 8th? We'll never know - and it is not clear if the Lupicas cared. Gotta beat the unwashed to the parking lot! It would have been bad enough if they had made their exit as Big Mac was being lifted for a pinch runner - was Mike one of those "fans" who left early in the game after Hank Aaron hit number 715 in 1974? - but to leave in the 6th inning with Mac on 2nd base is blasphemy. What is he teaching his kids? Guess Mike hadn't gotten permission from the security guard to beat the crowd to the parking lot after the game. Too bad this book wasn't more about the 1998 season and less about Mike Lupica. I wonder what his kids are going to do when they grow up and realize that being a fan is more than special privilege and a front row seat.

Rating:
Summary: Summer of 98 a season to remember!
Review: Most of America has realized we can't live without baseball. Mike Lupica, in his new book Summer of 98, has made us not forget that Baseball is America's National Pastime. What happened last year in Baseball was special, because we as fans have been longing for a season like last year, since the strike. Baseball is back!

Rating:
Summary: Memories Forever! Great Reading
Review: Outstanding book for all ages, especially for father & sons. My dad & I in the 50's & 60's followed the game in this manner and me & my boys did the same in the 70's, 80's & 90's. There are many memories to relive, not only from the greatest year yet, 1998, but also many years of growing up & listening to games on the radio, imagining I was there, then going outside and "pitching a game", throwing against our fireplace bricks, Ralph Terry or Whitey Ford winning another. Memories, Memories, Memories!!

Rating:
Summary: Good book savoring the '98 season
Review: Overall, I thought this was a very good book. Lupica tries a little too hard to find "coincidences" and "reasons" for everything but other than that it is very well written. It gives the '98 season from many different perspectives.

Rating:
Summary: It was aswome (easiest way to say it!)
Review: Read this book if you don't mind the 1998 season! I read it over and over. The 1998 season was magical, and we will never see anthor season like it, for a long time if ever! I think this book is also good of people that want to know how the season took over people, that becamne more then causal fans. It gives you a look at his family, and how they went through the season! READ IT!

Rating:
Summary: kept cummin back 2 it
Review: red it in 1 day, couldnt put it da down