the path not taken. yet.

When I was 16, a friend named Ted recommended The Boys of Summer and the book just blew me away. I was already interested in journalism and the way Roger Kahn married the everyday rigours of sportswriting to the romance of (and rigours) of baseball struck me.

It is a beautifully written book that chronicles his experience covering the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers as a reporter and follows this with an update on the players' lives in 1970.

He looked them up, wherever they'd retired & wrote a chapter on how their lives had turned out after their careers had ended.

This book blew my mind. Here was a regular guy who just woke up and became a reporter one day? Sure, he could write and had studied English but that was it. That's all he had to do to be a writer. I couldn't believe it. Just like that?

The players themselves also blew my mind. This was some team.

In 1947, the Dodgers and Jackie Robinson had broken the colour barrier that prevented blacks from playing baseball in the big leagues. Many of the same players remained on the team in 1953 and Kahn's description of these Gods in cleats, even if the subsequent description described cleats of clay, was wondrous.

It was also a brilliant period in post-war America, brimming in pride from victory in WWII and not tinged by the self-doubt of Vietnam to follow. By 1970, the narrative shifts to include the Civil Rights issues, poverty & came to light in the 60s. The contrast between the two eras is sharp and the prose is crisp but wonderfully descriptive. 

I was hooked. 

I finished high school and enrolled in journalism school where I enjoyed myself beyond words but by the time graduation came along, life got in the way. One thing led to another and I ended up in a kind of self-manufactured version of the family business. Though, I love my work, I still get the occasional tinge of wonder at what might have happened had I stayed in journalism.

My elephantine e-reader has rekindled (see what I did there?) my interest in all sorts of books and this past week I just reread The Boys of Summer. 

My goodness. 

I really had no idea how good it was when I was 16.

So many impressions roared past me as I read: the reporter, who seemed so very grown up to me when I first read the book, is actually 24 years old at the outset. He was a baby.

Speaking of age, when he visits them in retirement most of the players are younger than I am now. Many of the guys were in their early 40s and only a couple were more than the 45 I will hit next week.

And they were done. Their lives, while not over, had almost certainly peaked in their minds.

I'm 45 and I'm just now starting to figure out up from down.

Who knows? I may even live long enough to give writing a try one day.

Comments

[Lissa77]

Given what I have read here, and in your other blog entries (not to mention your often-entertaining 140-character works), you should definitely expand on your writing. You need not "give writing a try" - that's what good bloggers do, and you fit into that group very neatly. I could see your pieces going into various sections of various papers, and rivaling the many sophomoric pieces I have read by so-called "established" writers. I highly recommend you not only begin to consider yourself a writer, but look into what you can do beyond the pages of this site. I'd be surprised if you didn't find some regular freelance work somewhere!

And nice "e-reader" reference, btw!

(PS what date do you hit the so-called Big 45? We fellow Cancerians should know one another's birth dates!)

[robert]

Hey LIssa,
Thank you for your kind words and I agree that I am probably best compared to the more sophomoric elements of our society...
I hope to have time to do some writing at some point. Qui vivra verra!

[Sonia]

I have always said you are a great writer. The first indication was your letter to Cinnamon when he died. I still cry when I read it.
You are and will always be the talent that is trying to burst out...don't wait too long. Lissa77 is right.

[Rick]

Pursue it man... you're far better now than many of the hacks I read on established media outlets... far better...

And you'd be far better still if you'd shed some of that ideology you cling to...

[Lissa77]

Let me link you to an article about an author, Jay Asher, now making an explosive debut. His first book was published in 2007, and while it took off, it didn't become as big as it is now. I just bought it, btw. But this article talks about his dream to be published - and I'll bet he didn't do HALF the writing you are doing here on your blog.

Here is the link to the article. The process fascinates me, as a writer as well, so this insight was beautiful and inspirational.

[robert]

thanks, everyone.
Maybe I shouldn't have named the post path not taken because it really was more about the book than anything else!
I do appreciate the encouragement and kind words but I'm quite happy in my work, I promise! I may try my hand at writing something someday but for now, this is it!
FYI Lissa, my bd is July 4 so it won't be long now.

[Lissa77]

I'll definitely remember that date, Robert! :-)

[Mike]

Just started the book and you were right... it's very good. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Heather]

I'm going to have to ask Dunc to pick that one up and read it....

And we all love your writing!