Play by Play, Neal Conan ( read March - April 2009)

This is a book about baseball's Independent League of baseball on the Atlantic coast - teams like the Newark Bears, Somerset Patriots, Nashua, Long Island, etc. The author is an NPR radio talk show host who decided in 1999 that he wanted to spend a season or two radio broadcasting baseball games. A Maryland team, the Aberdeen Arsenal, agreed to let him give it a go - after some training. This story is his first (only?) season of radio broadcasting. Nicely paced, light and often interesting reading. It is as much about the radio side of things as it is about the Aberdeen team - though the bulk of the book is about the players, the nuances of the league and the politics surrounding its inception and (continued) survival - of both the league and the Aberdeen Arsenal. I am a baseball fan and enjoyed the read. Though it is not the best baseball book that I have read (A False Spring, by Pat Jordan - see earlier entry), it is worth the time if you like baseball.