Rating: 
Summary: A lovely, inspiring little book about a Big Man in Baseball.
Review: The subtitle of this book is "an Autobiography." Yet in the last pages, in the last sentence of the "Author's Note," it says that "All interviews with Sammy Sosa were conducted in Spanish and translated into English." So what we really have here is a book with the inherent pro-subject slant of any AUTObiography coupled with the biases and outlook of the true author, Marcos Bret`on. A lot of time is spent detailing the claimed biases against what they (Sammy and/or the author) call "Latin players" by which they mean any ball player coming from outside the USA (they include Puerto Ricans in this group) who speaks Spanish as his first language.Breton concludes that: "Sosa became a living antidote to baseball's recent poisonous past, in particular the 1994 baseball strike that canceled the World Series. And in the process, Sosa developed an appeal that extended beyond his sport." "Plainly stated, Sosa sells in Peoria, and everywhere else." This book recounts a modern Horatio Alger tale: Sammy's impoverished origins in the Dominican Republic to the American icon he is today. The chronological narrative is carried along in many voices: Sammy/Breton, Sammy's friends, mentors, relatives, and coaches. Sammy and all his brothers and sisters grew up in "a one-bedroom house with dirt floors and no indoor plumbing." ... and he would "practice on my street by hitting dried husks of maize again and again." "So many Dominican prospects like Sammy are malnourished by the time they reach their teens that they haven't developed physically yet." "Asked early in 2000 about his biggest regret, Texas Governor and presidential hopeful George W. Bush - formerly managing partner of the Texas Rangers - said "My biggest mistake was trading Sammy Sosa." The book lets long-suffering Cub fans re-live that magical 1998 season after Sammy first pays proper deference: "That spring of 1998 was a very sad time for all Chicago. Our community lost one of our favorites - my beloved friend Harry Caray. Harry helped me so much. He was such a good person to me. ... he was just one of those special people, and I know he is with God now. We all mourned his loss. And so before the start of the 1998 season, I decided I would dedicate it to him. Every time I hit a homer, I would be hitting it for Harry - and for Mama, of course." The book concludes with the for-the-Cubs-normal season of 1999. After that, us "maybe next year" Cub stalwarts can all give another listen to Steve Goodman's wry anthem "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request." [on the No Big Surprise CD.]
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