Rating: 
Summary: A very passionate man
Review: Throughout this book Giamatti is referred to as an idealist by others and at least once by himself. There is not a more accurate description of his writings contained in "A Great and Glorious Game." What seperated Giamatti from others of like mind was his ability to act upon his impulses. Most famously, banishing Pete Rose from ever being associated with baseball again. An incredible unfortunate situation, but to all those who cannot accept Giamatti's judgment please read this book. For myself it clarified his motives and subsequent actions. Beyond anything to do with Rose, this book is thoroughly engaging. Giamatti deftly exemplifies why many of us continually return to baseball every spring. Recommended for any baseball fan.
Rating:
Summary: A Glorious Book About A Glorious Game
Review: When renaissance scholar A. Bartlett Giamatti was asked to become president of Yale University, he said the only presidency he had ever aspired to was that of the American League. Instead, a few years later, he took the helm of the National League, and shortly after that, became commissioner of baseball. Tragically, his tenure in that office ended after only five months with his sudden death at the age of 51. But Giamatti's legacy endures. and those who seek to understand or re-embrace it need only turn to this wonderful book. It's all here, opening with his wonderful essay, "The Green Fields of The Mind," which famously begins "It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart." There's his farewell to Tom Seaver, where the departure of Seaver and his wife Nancy from the Mets calls to mind a famous painting of Adam and Eve's expulsion from Eden. The book closes with its most powerful and saddest item--a statement Giamatti released to the press after banning Pete Rose from the game for life for betting on baseball. If you love the "great and glorious game," you must read this book. Savor the beauty of the prose and the passionate idealism that drives it. And pause for a moment to reflect on what the game--and the world--lost with Bart Giamatti's passing.--William C. Hall
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