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Play by Play: Baseball, Radio and Life in the Last Chance League

Neal Conan

3.62 · Rating details · 42 ratings · 5 reviews

Following nearly twenty-five years as a prominent voice at National Public Radio, after being shelled, rocketed, bombed and held captive in the desert as one of their top foreign correspondents, Neal Conan decided to pursue a lifelong dream—to become, of all things, a baseball announcer. And that’s what he did, specifically with the Aberdeen Arsenal, a franchise of the ind Following nearly twenty-five years as a prominent voice at National Public Radio, after being shelled, rocketed, bombed and held captive in the desert as one of their top foreign correspondents, Neal Conan decided to pursue a lifelong dream—to become, of all things, a baseball announcer. And that’s what he did, specifically with the Aberdeen Arsenal, a franchise of the independent Atlantic League. Not the majors, alas, but it afforded him a true opportunity to use the surge of conflicting emotions that we refer to as midlife crisis to rethink what he’d done and what he was doing. It also allowed Neal to marry his two lifelong passions—radio and baseball—and gave him the chance to return to the grassroots of each. He decided to put the fun and challenge back into things he had become bored with.

Play by Play is Conan’s diary of the 2000 season—Aberdeen’s and his. From his position in the announcer’s booth, on the team bus and in hotels and motels along the way, we meet the coaches, fans and, of course, the players. And in this league, most of the players are on the way out rather than up but are happy to still be getting paid to play ball. It is indeed a league of last chances, but for most everyone involved, it’s better to be spending time playing ball than not. Some are resigned to the fact that they’ll never make the majors—or, in a few cases, get back there—while others hang on to a dream that everybody but them sees as foolhardy. Either way, they play for the love of the game, and very little else.

Through the lens of the minor leagues, Conan captures the soul of a great sport and reveals the ways men face age, come to terms with their limitations and ambitions and look for new challenges when they’re no longer young phenoms. In the end, Conan’s experiences, the things he’s learned, help him refocus his own life and reappreciate the things he has, giving him direction of where he needs to go. (But that’s not to say he wouldn’t take a call from George Steinbrenner to be the voice of the Yankees.) ...more

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Hardcover, 256 pages

Published April 28th 2002 by Crown

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Feb 12, 2010 Snap rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2010, biography, baseball

Most of you know how crazy we are about college baseball. We've just recently started reading baseball books. Play by Play was one we found at Half-Price Books. It is about Neal Conan (of NPR and Talk of the Nation fame) and the year he took off from NPR to follow his dream of being a baseball play-by-play announcer.

From the book jacket: " Following nearly twenty-five years as a prominent voice at National Public Radio, after being shelled, rocketed, bombed and held captive in the desert as one ...more

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Apr 09, 2012 Christopher Sigurdson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Imagine the idea of quitting your day job to follow your dream. That's what you will find in this book. A nationally renowned voice on NPR decided to become the voice of an Independent League baseball team as it's play by play announcer.

The book details his struggles in broadcasting, something to which he has devoted his life. There are also great stories of the coaches, fans, and most of all players. Those players who are chasing their dreams to make the major leagues. Most of them know this is ...more

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Aug 19, 2008 Jeff rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This was a chronicle of a play-by-play man for the Aberdeen Arsenal independent league team. A NPR radio host, Conan related a number of stories that could be interesting or disjointed from the book. The focus was more on the personal side of life in the independent leagues than on the baseball. While this book was entertaining in places, overall it was somewhat uneven for my tastes.

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Sep 13, 2008 Brian rated it really liked it

Neal Conan, a National Public Radio reporter for 25 years took a leave of absence to spend a summer broadcasting minor league baseball. He covers his and the team's struggles in a warm engaging style. He returned to NPR to host the 2-hour call in show, Talk of the Nation, with his first broadcast on 9/10/2001! ...more

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Jun 13, 2015 Randal rated it really liked it

Shelves: baseball, nonfiction

I enjoyed it, didn't love it. A couple of very good baseball tales, a little too much midlife crisis. I never developed any real affection for anybody in the book, including the author. He talks about passion for the game without generating any. ...more

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