During my Junior High School days, I was (in)famous for the number of times I had read Jim Bouton's "Ball Four". That was about forty years ago, and there hasn't been a baseball book in that time frame that I enjoyed so much, and intend to read again and again as this one.

Dirk Hayhurst tells about life in the monor leagues. This isn't a diary format as was "Ball Four", but you do get a lot of the day to day routine.

As we learned in "Ball Four", baseball players, as a whole, are fairly crude, undereducated, and enjoy few things more than good pranks. You'll never think of "Spider-Man" the same way after reading this one, and the prank played on the coach involving a call to the police will have you laughing out loud. So will the bunting drill designed specifically for Hayhurst.

We also get some suffering in the form of his addicted brother and crippled father. A meeting with Trevor Hoffman provides some empathy.

I hope there will be a follow up book; this one was great.