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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
wise, rueful, funny and thoroughly enjoyable, May 12, 1998
OK, OK, so I'm an Oriole fan, and still grieving Jon Miller's departure for points west. I admit it. Still, I think I can objectively say: this is a terrific read. Miller is smart, opinionated, and articulate, and he *loves* baseball. Moreover, he is acutely conscious of the game's history, and the lessons and perspectives to be gleaned from it. More important, he exhibits a fine sense of humor that doesn't stop at his own doorstep. Any serious baseball fan, anywhere, should enjoy this book.
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humorous and entertaining anecdotes and thoughts, April 2, 2004
This book brings forth the thoughts of one of the most well known and well respected broadcasters in baseball today. This book came out in 1998 when Miller started as a Giants broadcaster. His broadcasts on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball and radio broadcasts for the Giants bring out his personality. He's dedicated to his job and had been interested in broadcasting since he was a child. His passion for the game of baseball and his attentiveness to perfecting his craft only added to his skill in the descriptions of his broadcasts and brought the feel of the flow of the game while it's unfolding live in front of his eyes. If you are familiar with Miller's broadcasts on TV or radio then you won't lose a step when reading his book because it is similar to the way he broadcasts. Miller brings about his thoughts about some of the issues in baseball like realignment as proposed by Bud Selig, to the personalities of owners he has known and how they contributed to the rise or demise of a franchise, and stories about Cal Ripken and some insider accounts from the clubhouse about his consecutive game streak. Miller bring a good light-hearted folksy humor that will make you smirk or guffaw with tongue in cheek. It is interesting in the fact that it feels like he conversing with you like you were at a bar and he was telling interesting stories which would be either intriguing or funny. This is a nice book for baseball fans who want to see things from the perspective of a broadcaster. The book reads easily and shouldn't take too long to read at all.
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3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Flawed, May 30, 2006
I got this book for Christmas and read it Memorial Day weekend. I love Jon Miller's voice and play-by-play skills. That being said the book leaves much to be desired. The chapter on the "Good Old Days are Now" is extremely silly looking today. Realizing that this was written between the '97 and '98 seasons at first Miller must have looked like a genius as McGwire and Sosa battled for the single season home run record, but in 2006,it seems ridiculous. Especially, after McGwire embarassed himself in front of the Senate the way he did. It's funny how Miller tells the story of how he was amazed at how huge McGwire's biceps were. Rather cocky of McGwire to be showing off his chemically enhanced physique. My other problem is that Miller is not completely truthful. There is a section where he tells of how he would go to A's games with friends (when he was 14) and tape himself broadcasting. Miller was born in 1952, which would have had this happening around 1966 or 1967. He then tells us that sometimes his "broadcasts" would be ruined if a fan sitting close by had brought his boombox. Around this time FM radio was in its infancy and boomboxes did not hit the stores until almost ten years later. Unless, this fan had stepped through a wormhole or was able to warp the space-time fabric, there is no way Miller's broadcasts were ruined by boomboxes. His anectdotes are good enough that he doesn't need to supplement them with such a glaring untruth. It casts a shadow of suspicion on everything else. The is no room for poetic license in a memoir.
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2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
hype and cheap shots -- a disappointing book, July 23, 1998
By A Customer
Almost everyone Miller has worked with he claims is "the best," and his biggest inspiration. After all of that fawning, he tears into recently deceased people, whom he apparently wouldn't have taken on when the were alive and waited until they had passed away to bad mouth them.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
A Fine Memoir, January 30, 2000
By A Customer
I received this book along with Joe Morgan's as a Christmas present, and it was interesting to read them in tandem, as it shows why they are such a complementary broadcast team. Miller's book is more an anecdotal memoir than a detailed analysis of the game, but that doesn't spoil the enjoyment of it. His tribute to Ken Coleman, the retired Red Sox radio broadcaster, brought back to this Red Sox fan vivid memories of Miller's all-too-brief stay in Boston. The book, however, suffered from an editing job that assumed that the reader had a familiarity with Miller's personal life and career history. For example, there are several references to his first marriage which both assume that the reader knows that Miller was married before and why it ended. But these references are extraneous and add nothing to this picture of Miller as broadcaster and baseball purist -- which, after all, is the book's primary focus.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Funny memoir, August 31, 1999
By A Customer
More of a memoir than anything else, the book is unflaggingly interesting and funny, especially if one can imagine Miller himself reading it. An audiocassette version of this book might well be the ultimate way to experience it. In any case, it just breezes by, leaving you with a warm feeling and a greater desire to hear more Miller broadcasts afterward.
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7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Mediocre, August 2, 1999
By A Customer
Maybe I'm being too critical here. I mean, I like Jon Miller. He's an excellent broadcaster. He certainly knows his baseball. But can he write? The answer (even with assistance) is, disappointingly, no. He has some good anecdotes, and makes some good points, but as I was reading it, I couldn't help wondering, "Where is this book going?" The answer is nowhere. It's meandering and disjointed. He makes all of his "controversial" points in the first chapter, but then offers nothing to back up his theses later in the book. Still, if you want to learn about Jon Miller, to read some interesting stories about the colorful players and broadcasters Miller has encountered over the years, AND get a defense in of Miller's decision to leave the broadcasting booth for the Baltimore Orioles, then go ahead and buy the book. But, perhaps you would feel you're getting your money's worth if you waited for the paperback version or maybe borrowed it from your local library.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
The Man Who Loves Baseball, March 22, 1999
By A Customer
A wonderful book from a man who loves his baseball, not to mention being one of the finest announcers in the game today. This is must reading for baseball lovers and Major League Baseball Executives!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Must reading for today's baseball fan!, December 17, 1998
By A Customer
Had an opportunity to read this book over the Thanksgiving holiday...just couldn't put it down. Jon Miller gives baseball fans and purists an updated insider's view on many of the issues that are of prime concern to today's baseball fans such as: the designated hitter, interleague play, outrageous salaries, current and future hall of famers; and he gives you all the details of his divorce with the Baltimore Orioles and notes interesting tidbits about Baltimore's greedy and incompetent owner -- Peter Angelos.Easy to read. Easy to understand and enjoy.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A great book from a great broadcaster!, June 10, 1998
By A Customer
I already knew that ESPN's Miller was the game's preeminent play-by-play man; "Confessions..." proves that he's a most capable writer as well. With a highly enjoyable mixture of autobiography, ancecdote, and opinion on the state of the sport in the '90s, Miller lets his obvious love for the pastime shine through. I don't agree with all of his opinions (this purist hates the DH), but I love his style. It's a welcome antidote to more pedantic mouthpieces like Bob Costas and George Will. END
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