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Title: Cup of Coffee: The Very Short Careers of Eighteen Major League Pitchers by Rob Trucks ISBN: 1-58848-039-9 Publisher: Smallmouth Press Pub. Date: 07 January, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00

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Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (6 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Great bedtime read
Comment: Simply, I loved this book. I would read one bio each night before bed and found it (the individual bio) to be the perfect length, basically what Poe had in mind when he said a short story should be read in one sitting. I think readers make a mistake when they try to read this in one sitting. It should be read, in my opinion, more like a collection of short stories or a book of poetry, one ballplayer at time.

It's a lovely book, paced leisurely and calmly like the game it depicts. I mean, really, what's up with the reviewer who complains about the length. He's probably in favor of time limits on games and no extra innings too. This book, like the players and the subject it covers, should be read slowly, with the rhythms, the quiet passion and sudden moments of insight, that define America's game.

In sum, take your time and enjoy the ride. You'll be glad you did.

Rating: 3
Summary: Good Book that Could Have been Great
Comment: 18 bittersweet tales of careers doomed by bad timing, bad luck and in some cases just plain bad play.

A welcome reminder that even those who play at sports highest levels are, at the end of the day, just plain Joes (and Janes).

The tales here are worthwhile and often touching (such as the pitcher who used his signing bonus to pay for running water for his family) but the author decided to serve merely as a court reporter providing near verbatim transcripts of the interviews. This makes the reader wade through unecessary pages of exhanges punctuated by "yes" and "no" answers. This slows the overall flow of the book to a snail's pace at times reducing impact and enjoyment of the book. In short, it's a subperb 200 page book that unfortunately goes on for 400+ pages.

The author/stenographer would have been well served to read and follow the example set by Lawrence Ritter in his classic "The Glory of Their Times" -- still the Gold Standard for baseball oral histories.

And what about the story of Larry Yount, the best "short career" story ever. Was introduced as pitcher(thereby registering officially as a player) pulled a muscle during his warm up pitches, was pulled before facing a batter and never made it back to the Bigs. Plus he was Robin Yount's brother. Now that's a story!

Rating: 4
Summary: Good read, despite...
Comment: I enjoyed the book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read about the "average joe baseball player". However, the tense it was written in is positively annoying and makes it hard to read some of the time. Instead of writing how real people would talk, like, "So when you were in high school, what types of pitches were you throwing?" he writes, "You're in high school. What types of pitches are you now throwing?" It's written as if you're in a hypnotherapy session and you're regressing your memories.

Bottom line: Good book. Get a real editor.

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