Shoes of Giants

Rating:
Summary: Total Atmosphere
Review: Frank Walsh's columns bring all of America into the dirt and green diamond that so typifies America. He sees beyond the statistics (but doesn't ignore them) to the personalities of the fans, vendors, fellow sportscasters, the total experience of the ball game which goes beyond RBIs, ERAs, won-lost records, and fantastic catches. I haven't heard him write about luxury boxes yet. Maybe he will someday. But so much of the barely clinging to the majors bench sitter, the working class that serves the hot dogs and eats them. Ah yes, baseball the great therapist for America, and Frank Walsh bringing it to us, with mustard and onions and a nice cold beer.

Rating:
Summary: Total Atmosphere
Review: Frank Walsh's columns bring all of America into the dirt and green diamond that so typifies America. He sees beyond the statistics (but doesn't ignore them) to the personalities of the fans, vendors, fellow sportscasters, the total experience of the ball game which goes beyond RBIs, ERAs, won-lost records, and fantastic catches. I haven't heard him write about luxury boxes yet. Maybe he will someday. But so much of the barely clinging to the majors bench sitter, the working class that serves the hot dogs and eats them. Ah yes, baseball the great therapist for America, and Frank Walsh bringing it to us, with mustard and onions and a nice cold beer.

Rating:
Summary: When Baseball was King
Review: I grew up in a family where stories of glory games of days long past were the stuff of legends. Whether the stories involved one of my four brothers or our favorite teams, the Lions or Tigers or Red Wings, the male members of my family remembered every detail and still do. Add to that the almost-professional career that one of my brothers had with the Detroit Tigers, and it is obvious why the stories of Frank Wolfarth Walsh in Shoes of Giants would appeal to me so much. Walsh writes about Ernie Harwell with such warmth and grace that I can still hear Ernie's voice recounting the exploits of the Tigers as it ws the background music for Sunday afternoon gatherings and weeknight must sees. I was in eighth grade when the Tigers won the 1968 World Series and all of Walsh's stories of the glories of the game came back to me in a sweet nostalgia of a simpler time when all it took to bring us together was a group of men called Kaline, Northrup, Horton, Freehan, and Cash. Shoes of Giants does leave the baseball field as a few of the essays explore the beauty of Florida's St. Johns River and a visit to the spiritual Cassadaga in Central Florida. Enjoyable to read, Shoes of Giants tells simple tales of ordinary folks doing extraordinary things.
Patricia C. Behnke is the author of A Lethal Legacy and A Victorian Justice

Rating:
Summary: Shoes of Giants
Review: I never cared for baseball--still don't. But that doesn't matter. Shoes of Giants is a fine read. Frank Walsh acknowledges at the beginning that who won the game will hardly be news to the readers of his weekly newspaper column. Instead, he puts baseball in context--in the daily comings and goings of a Renaissance man. For non-jocks, the last third of the book gets even better as the author frees himself from the usual expectations of sports writing, and lets his mind roam freely. We read of Asian art exhibits, meteor showers, calligraphy, short wave radio, Ring Lardner, poisonous plants, and fine friends--all of this woven around his enthusiasm for baseball.
The author is a fine wordsmith, with some arresting turns of phrase. The book is a joy to read--and reread.

Rating:
Summary: Shoes of Giants
Review: I never cared for baseball--still don't. But that doesn't matter. Shoes of Giants is a fine read. Frank Walsh acknowledges at the beginning that who won the game will hardly be news to the readers of his weekly newspaper column. Instead, he puts baseball in context--in the daily comings and goings of a Renaissance man. For non-jocks, the last third of the book gets even better as the author frees himself from the usual expectations of sports writing, and lets his mind roam freely. We read of Asian art exhibits, meteor showers, calligraphy, short wave radio, Ring Lardner, poisonous plants, and fine friends--all of this woven around his enthusiasm for baseball.
The author is a fine wordsmith, with some arresting turns of phrase. The book is a joy to read--and reread.