Rating: 
Summary: ONE OF THE GREATEST SPORTS BOOK OF ALL TIME
Review: "A False Spring" is so good I cannot do it justice here. It is, along with "Ball Four", "The Suitors of Spring" (also by Pat Jordan) and "Bo: Pitching and Wooing" by Maury Allen, one of the best baseball books ever written. This book describes minor league baseball, the hopes and dreams of a young athlete, youthful sex, raunchiness, crushing disappointment, and Americana. I read this book and memorized it, then went off to play minor league ball myself and totally lived all of it. My experiences in the Cardinal and A's organization did not resemble Jordan's, they rhymed. This book tells the story of thousands of young hopefuls who live amongst us, and many more of us can relate to it than can relate to the superhuman life and accomplishments of Barry Bonds.
Rating:
Summary: A True Classic
Review: I first read excerpts from "A False Spring" about 30 years ago when they appeared in three consecutive issues of Sports Illustrated. From the moment I began reading that first installment, I was entranced. It is hard to describe exactly why, but I am sure that the baseball action in the book was not the reason. Instead, I remember Jordan's vivid portrayls of such seemingly mundane things as a prarie thunderstorm, an afternoon fishing in the swamplands of Florida and the glow of the instruments on his dashboard. These depictions riveted me, I'm convinced, because they put into words how I saw the world. As an 11 year-old, this was a unique and novel experience for me.Jordan's portrayal of his own feelings of dissatisfaction, disappointment, anger, rage and finally resignation also resonated with me. Most of the reading I had done up to that point portrayed life's events in a linear fashion that was totally at odds with what I had already experienced. I was fascinated that Jordan could take an accessible subject matter and weave all of these other elements into it. Mind you, all of this came to me from reading the three SI excerpts. I never did read the book until, by chance, I was searching on this site and came across a name I remembered. So, 30 years later, I got a copy and tried to find out whether this book would have meaning for me anything like what I experienced as an 11 year-old. Some pompous windbag spoke at my college graduation ceremony about the test for what he called "clahsic stahtus." According to this guy, any writing qualified for that status if one could read the work at widely spaced intervals and still feel the same spark as in the previous readings. He assumed, I guess, that peoples' perceptions and interests change over the years and that only writing that had a certain breadth would be able to appeal to a reader who had undergone those changes. "A False Spring" certainly passed the test. All of the vivid descriptions -- the hand-me-down uniforms, the barracks-like atmosphere of minor league spring training, the experience of pitching in frozen northern outposts-- remained as vital and gripping as before, as did Jordan's portrayal of the unravelling of his baseball career. With the benefit of 30 years' experience, I was able to understand the author's struggles in more than the visceral way I did as an 11 year-old. Further, I got the strong sense -- confirmed in Jordan's later memoir, "A Nice Tuesday" -- that Jordan himself had not figured out exactly why things had gone so wrong for him. At times, reading this book was like watching someone reliving some horrible nightmare. At other times, it was simply a pleasant experience to read Jordan's description of day-to-day life in small town America in the late 50s. Throughout, the book was just as gripping as those SI excerpts that grabbed me 30 years ago. I have read that Pat Jordan set about to create a persona in this book and that the portrayal of that persona was calculated and not always accurate. Even so, this book reveals enough of the real experiences of the man that it withstands the test of time. I'm not so interested in absolute historical accuracy when I come across a book that can hold my attention and bring me back for more 30 years after the first reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Summer Dreams....
Review: I love baseball books; especially nonfiction books, and Pat Jordan has written a beautiful yet depressing account of his turbulent years in the minors. Once upon a time I played baseball, but unlike Pat, I didn't hold the talent and ability to progress into the upper levels. We follow Pat as he makes his journey from high school pitching phenom (whom scouts were foaming at the mouth to sign)to a broken-down, frustrated and average minor league pitcher. Pat Jordan accomplishes something that few other baseball books have in the past: loss of place and time. I for one become immersed in books that I read and A FALSE SPRING will allow you to be caught up in the struggle with Pat. You will feel his exhileration when he is signed, his pain when his career comes tumbling down; and, like Pat, at the end of the book you will ask yourself why? A FALSE SPRING has many charismatic characters that infiltrate the pages, and like Pat you will come to like and dislike them for the same reasons. Any baseball fan will quickly become enthralled with the story of this young and confused man as he trudges through the lower levels of baseball. After reading this book I ventured out and caught my first minor league baseball game. I sat in the stands, caught up in the excitement and amazement of a game that is still played for pure joy and not money.
Rating:
Summary: Summer Dreams....
Review: I love baseball books; especially nonfiction books, and Pat Jordan has written a beautiful yet depressing account of his turbulent years in the minors. Once upon a time I played baseball, but unlike Pat, I didn't hold the talent and ability to progress into the upper levels. We follow Pat as he makes his journey from high school pitching phenom (whom scouts were foaming at the mouth to sign)to a broken-down, frustrated and average minor league pitcher. Pat Jordan accomplishes something that few other baseball books have in the past: loss of place and time. I for one become immersed in books that I read and A FALSE SPRING will allow you to be caught up in the struggle with Pat. You will feel his exhileration when he is signed, his pain when his career comes tumbling down; and, like Pat, at the end of the book you will ask yourself why? A FALSE SPRING has many charismatic characters that infiltrate the pages, and like Pat you will come to like and dislike them for the same reasons. Any baseball fan will quickly become enthralled with the story of this young and confused man as he trudges through the lower levels of baseball. After reading this book I ventured out and caught my first minor league baseball game. I sat in the stands, caught up in the excitement and amazement of a game that is still played for pure joy and not money.
Rating:
Summary: An Uncommon Baseball Memoir
Review: I ran across Pat Jordan's A False Spring many years ago. I was intrigued by the book then and I still rate it as one of my all-time favorite sports books. It is a sports memoir which is unique in the genre in that it is a story of a loss of talent as well as the discovery of self.
Pat Jordan was a high school baseball phenomenon in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1959. At the end of his high school career, he signed a bonus contract with the Milwaukee Braves. His first assignment was in McCook, Nebraska in the class D Nebraska State League. Another young pitcher named Phil Niekro was a teammate. Their careers would take decidedly different paths. Niekro would go on to a brilliant major league career, but in three years Pat Jordan would lose his fastball and be out of baseball for good. Time Magazine said of the book:
"Pat Jordan is a failure by all professional baseball standards. But it is in the dissection of that failure that his book discloses the dimensions of a man and a game ... for out of Ex-Pitcher Jordan's experience has come one of the best and truest books about baseball, and about coming to maturity in America." This is a fascinating story. If it grabs you like it did me when I first read it , it will find a permanent place in your sports library.
Rating:
Summary: An Uncommon Baseball Memoir
Review: I ran across Pat Jordan's A False Spring many years ago. I was intrigued by the book then and I still rate it as one of my all-time favorite sports books. It is a sports memoir which is unique in the genre in that it is a story of a loss of talent as well as the discovery of self.
Pat Jordan was a high school baseball phenomenon in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1959. At the end of his high school career, he signed a bonus contract with the Milwaukee Braves. His first assignment was in McCook, Nebraska in the class D Nebraska State League. Another young pitcher named Phil Niekro was a teammate. Their careers would take decidedly different paths. Niekro would go on to a brilliant major league career, but in three years Pat Jordan would lose his fastball and be out of baseball for good. Time Magazine said of the book:
"Pat Jordan is a failure by all professional baseball standards. But it is in the dissection of that failure that his book discloses the dimensions of a man and a game ... for out of Ex-Pitcher Jordan's experience has come one of the best and truest books about baseball, and about coming to maturity in America." This is a fascinating story. If it grabs you like it did me when I first read it , it will find a permanent place in your sports library.
Rating:
Summary: Pat Jordan's Lost Seasons
Review: Like so many baseball books, this really isn't just about baseball. It's about a young mans' journey growing up. It's about what happens to a "can't miss" prospect when he does miss. Pat Jordan looks back 15 years after he threw his last pitch--trying to figure out what happened. He's still not sure-I got the feeling he wrote this book for theraputic reasons. But we learn a lot about Mr. Jordan, and some of it is not too flattering. It's obvious he's still searching for the answers, and that's what I like the most about the book-because YOU understand while reading that he just didn't have what it takes to be a big league pitcher. A wonderful peek inside Mr. Jordan's "coming of age." Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: A remarkable memoir.
Review: Pat Jordan's account of his ascent and decline in professional baseball reminded me of my own failures at that time of life. Mr. Jordan had difficulty living with himself during this period; his ability to confront his motives led to many insights which made this book one of the most honest and insightful coming-of-age stories I've read. This is a worthwhile book for anyone who recalls late adolescence with horror: "Pitcher in the Rye", if you will.
Rating:
Summary: A remarkable memoir.
Review: Pat Jordan's account of his ascent and decline in professional baseball reminded me of my own failures at that time of life. Mr. Jordan had difficulty living with himself during this period; his ability to confront his motives led to many insights which made this book one of the most honest and insightful coming-of-age stories I've read. This is a worthwhile book for anyone who recalls late adolescence with horror: "Pitcher in the Rye", if you will.
Rating:
Summary: Review for A False Spring
Review: The book was a great one. I'm not a baseball fan but I really enjoined this book. It's about a man and his career as a brilliant pither. He was great, but as time pasted he had lost it all, his talent and his career. Pat Jordan really puts his mind and heart into this book. He described his career very well. I believe this is one of the best books I've ever read and the book should get a lot of attention from readers.
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