I've been lusting after this book for some time — have been keeping an eye out for it in used bookstores and at garage sales for a couple of years now. It does concern my hometown baseball team, the Milwaukee Brewers, in the halcyon year of their existence (and my youth) 1982. What's more, I revere Okrent. He invented fantasy baseball, I loved his work as the NYTRR, he seems like a dynamite guy with whom to share dinner or a couple of beers. What could go wrong?

Well, having read chapter 1 last night, I can say that the organization of this book seems awfully strange. There's a minimum of setup, then — BOOM. We're in the game. Then back to some more setup. There are a couple of false leads — anecdotes that seem to beg for a telling of backstory, but don't get it. I'm a little confused, but my faith and interest are not dented yet.

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Follow-up: I got used to it. The book was pretty remarkable in its omniscient, and sort of cinematic, form of presentation. You're present to every scratch in the dugout, all of the hand-wringing in the owner's box, and the stores of jealous pride that drive the players. The book really humanized the game. I wonder if it's still like this.

I've got to move on from baseball books for a while...