- Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks; First Edition edition (April 19 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312997108
- ISBN-13: 978-0312997106
- Product Dimensions: 16.8 x 10.7 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 136 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,572,350 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
This very funny memoir offers a hilarious look into life behind the plates by the man who was voted the most colorful umpire in the American League in a 1986 Sporting News poll. After 36 years as a professional umpire, with 23 seasons spent in the major leagues, Kaiser has seen just about everything there is to see in baseball, and he recounts it all-from his early hustling days in the minor leagues, surviving by trading stolen league baseballs for food and gas, to his final days risking (and losing) his six-figure income in the unsuccessful senior umpires' dispute with MLB in 1999, when he was persuaded to resign as a negotiating tactic ("one of the worst decisions made in the whole history of labor negotiations"). But the book's main strength is that Kaiser, writing with Fisher (coauthor of such books as A Lawyer's Life, by Johnnie Cochran), presents in a lively and energetic style at least one great story (and sometimes more) per page, featuring such baseball legends as manager Billy Martin ("I was as unpredictable as he was") and third-baseman George Brett ("who liked to tell me dirty jokes while the pitcher was warming up"). Kaiser offers insights into umping that all baseball fans and potential umpires should memorize: "as an umpire you can't have any favorites. You have to despise every player and manager equally."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Kaiser, a major-league baseball umpire for 23 years, paid his dues in the minor leagues where, he recalls, "everyone was angry." He tells the story of those angry early years and of his career in the big leagues in a manner that is typical of most sports memoirs: anecdotes are loosely organized around topics, but no matter how you slice it, they are still a series of mostly funny stories in which the butt of the joke rotates between umps, players, managers, and even the occasional fan. Among the highlights are accounts of the time Kaiser changed the rules on a baseball-playing Michael Jordan and what happened when his umping partner left his glass eye on a training table. But beyond the humor, Kaiser and coauthor Fisher manage to communicate the commitment to professionalism that umpires bring to the game. An enjoyable insider's view of baseball. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Two things nobody grows up dreaming about being are broke and an umpire. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Two things nobody grows up dreaming about being are broke and an umpire. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
the ump speaks up!,
By
This review is from: Planet of the Umps: A Baseball Life from Behind the Plate (Mass Market Paperback)
Didn't realize that I'd read this tome previously; still good to re-visit all the old stories; doesn't rank up there with the Luciano books, but still a good story.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Read!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Planet of the Umps: A Baseball Life from Behind the Plate (Hardcover)
I enjoyed this book very much. Many funny and insightful stories. You really get a feel for what the life of an umpire is like...the good, the bad, and the ugly.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good stories but skewed viewpoint,
By Jeffrey Lichtman "Author of Baseball for Rookies" (El Cerrito, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Planet of the Umps: A Baseball Life from Behind the Plate (Hardcover)
The best parts of this book are the stories about what it was like to be a minor league and major league umpire. The worst parts, from my perspective, are in Kaiser's biased views about the umpires' labor problems and the quality of umpiring in the majors. Kaiser goes on at length about how every umpire has his own strike zone, and complains about the attempts to standardize it. While it's true that calling balls and strikes is very difficult and that absolute standardization is probably impossible, it's also true that several umpires' strike zones had gotten completely ridiculous (Eric Gregg would regularly call strikes on pitches several inches outside, for example).Kaiser says he trusted union head Richie Phillips too much when he agreed to resign along with most other major league umps. The problem wasn't just one of trust - it was one of arrogance. The umpires thought they were bigger than the game, that a mass resignation would force the owners to come crawling. They also failed to consider whom they were dealing with. Sandy Alderson accepted the mass resignation. This is the one time in labor history that a union broke itself. Major League Baseball owners have historically been poor labor negotiators, but they finally ran into a group of people who were worse. Kaiser doesn't face up to any of this, in my opinion. He admits it was a mistake to sign his resignation letter, but apart from that he seems to see himself as a victim. I think the book is worth reading, as long as one takes some of Kaiser's views with a grain of salt.
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