Status
Available
Call number
Call number
B Jor
Collection
Publication
New York : Dodd, Mead, [1975]
Description
In A False Spring, Pat Jordan traces the falling star of his once-promising pitching career, illuminating along the way his equally difficult personal struggles and quest for maturity. When the reader meets Jordan, he is a hard-throwing pitcher with seemingly limitless potential, one of the first "bonus babies" for the Milwaukee Braves organization. Jordan's sojourn through the lower levels of minor-league ball takes him through the small towns of America: McCook, Waycross, Davenport, Eau Claire, and Palatka. As the promised land of the majors recedes because of his inconsistency and lack of control, the young man who had previously known only glory and success is forced to face himself.
Subjects
Original publication date
1975
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User reviews
LibraryThing member joeldinda
Perhaps the best book ever written about minor league baseball, A False Spring explores the reasons one youngster failed to fulfill his potential.
This is a powerful and frustrating memoir of Pat Jordan's three summers pitching in the low minor leagues, written when the author was in his thirties.
There's a Midwest League connection: Jordan spent 1960 with the Quad City Braves. Unfortunately, it's the book's weakest chapter. The author knows this, and discusses the reasons; it's closely tied to the greater failure of his baseball career.
The book's honesty is absolutely painful, though occasionally a bit forced. And Jordan's ability to sketch a portrait with a few sentences is really quite remarkable; almost everyone he turns his attention to comes to life on the page. I was particularly taken by his description of Travis Jackson's need to be physically involved in baseball's rituals, contrasted with his relative disdain for the ordinary necessities of the manager's job.
The author describes his career as a series of unnumbered photographic slides, scattered purposelessly on a table. This fundamental inability to find a way to tie the episodes of his young life into a coherent whole was, he judges, the reason he failed so miserably. That's perhaps not entirely fair, but it's a good first approximation.
This is a powerful and frustrating memoir of Pat Jordan's three summers pitching in the low minor leagues, written when the author was in his thirties.
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At heart, it's an exploration of why he failed, and that story is pretty brutal: Much of the problem was immaturity; he comes off as a cocky kid, with obvious talent but no ability to put the talent to use. Except for a Winter Instructionals interlude, the path is ever downward, and the ending inevitable.There's a Midwest League connection: Jordan spent 1960 with the Quad City Braves. Unfortunately, it's the book's weakest chapter. The author knows this, and discusses the reasons; it's closely tied to the greater failure of his baseball career.
The book's honesty is absolutely painful, though occasionally a bit forced. And Jordan's ability to sketch a portrait with a few sentences is really quite remarkable; almost everyone he turns his attention to comes to life on the page. I was particularly taken by his description of Travis Jackson's need to be physically involved in baseball's rituals, contrasted with his relative disdain for the ordinary necessities of the manager's job.
The author describes his career as a series of unnumbered photographic slides, scattered purposelessly on a table. This fundamental inability to find a way to tie the episodes of his young life into a coherent whole was, he judges, the reason he failed so miserably. That's perhaps not entirely fair, but it's a good first approximation.
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LibraryThing member Big_Bang_Gorilla
Being the memoirs of a pitching prospect whose career abruptly sputtered out. This is, as has occasionally been noted, one of the finest memoirs ever writen. The author's prose at times made me shudder like no horror novel ever written could. I can't say enough nice things about this book.
Pages
277