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Baseball Life Advice
National BestsellerA Globe and Mail Best BookA National Post Best Book of the YearA passionate ode to baseball, its culture, and its community, which both celebrates and challenges the game – and reminds us why it really matters. For Stacey May Fowles, the game of baseball is one of "long pauses punctuated by tiny miracles." In this entertaining and thoughtful book, Fowles gives us a refreshingly candid and personal perspective on subjects ranging from bat flips to bandwagoners, from the romance of spring training to the politics of booing, from the necessity of taking a hard look at players' injuries and mental health issues to finding solace at the ballpark. Fowles confronts head-on the stereotype that female fans lack real knowledge about the game, and also calls out the "boys will be boys" attitude and its implications both on and off the field. She also shares her reverence for the no-hitter, her memories of going to the ballpark with her dad, and the challenges of falling in love with someone who didn't like baseball. Throughout the book, she offers exhilarating snapshots of the Toronto Blue Jays' 2015 and 2016 seasons, and gathers a selection of inspiring "baseball life advice" quotes from players and others that provide unexpected insight into how we could all live better lives. With remarkable verve, intelligence, and an unabashed enthusiasm, Fowles explores how we can use the lens of baseball to examine who we are. And in this passionate ode to the game, its culture, and its community, she reminds us that although baseball can break your heart, it will always find a way to make it whole again.
290 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 11, 2017
24 people are currently reading
448 people want to read
About the author
Stacey May Fowles
15 books97 followersStacey May Fowles is is an award-winning novelist, journalist, and essayist. She has written for the Globe and Mail, The Walrus, Torontoist, the National Post, Deadspin, Hazlitt, and Vice Sports, among others. Her most recent book, Baseball Life Advice, was published in spring 2017. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
October 5, 2017
ALL STACEY MAY FOWLES! ALL BASEBALL EVERYTHING! And I promise I'm not just saying this bc I am mentioned in this book aka "LEESA LOVES BASEBALL THIGHS!" These are my true-true feelings, Fowles writes abt baseball in the magical, important way it deserves. All love.
April 13, 2017
I love this book so much. As woman who loves baseball, I found so much to relate to, but I do think any fan would love Fowles essays & thoughts. Highly recommended - I'm not even a Blue Jays fan, but her love for her team is familiar who has a love of the game.
May 30, 2017
This book is magic. Some of the content will be familiar from readers of Stacey May's newsletter, but these essays strike the heart of a baseball fan like a fastball in a glove. Meh, I tried at a simile but Stacey May is better. Go read this.
January 22, 2018
Pretty sure I have been a subscriber of Stacey's newsletter of the same name since its first missive, so certainly I'm a fan and this is relevant to my interests. I'm not sure that the essays benefit from being read in quick succession as there is a lot of thematic repetition, but I'm glad to have her voice. I wonder if non-Blue Jays fans enjoy it as much. 😂
April 18, 2017
This book was fantastic. Fowles discussed anxiety and depression with such depth while also sounding light-hearted, which I found fascinating and meaningful (to me personally). I've never really been able to describe my love for baseball properly and "eloquently" - especially as a girl with male friends who are very outspoken - but if you've ever wondered why I love it so much, read this book. I also teared up four (4) times, which I didn't expect, but also wasn't surprised at.
August 19, 2017
The most recent baseball game I attended was with a group of coworkers, as a way to celebrate our new team at work and to spend time together outside of the office.
To call them coworkers is perhaps reductive: these are my friends, people with whom I share my thoughts and ideas and ups and downs. These are people who make me laugh every day, make me proud to do the work I do.
We all gathered on the “Flight Deck” at the SkyDome, allowing us to move around, socialize, enjoy each others’ company more than we could have had we been confined to our seats.
Despite the amazing company, the allure of the hot dog stand nearby, the fun conversations happening around me, I found myself drawn to staring at the game, alone surrounded by people, focused on every pitch, every decision made on the field.
Such is my way, when I go to the ballpark: I always go with a group of friends, but undoubtedly end up spending most of the afternoon wholly engrossed in the action in front of me, focused on the game more than the people with whom I came.
* * *
Like it has for Stacey May Fowles, baseball has taught me many things, but mostly it has taught me that I am okay being alone while surrounded by people. It has taught me that, in everyday life as well as at the game, it’s okay to focus on the things that inspire me, that help me grow, that bring me joy—even while everything and everyone around me is moving at a frantic pace, I can slow down and be me and only me.
Among many others, this passage in Baseball Life Advice resonated deeply:
I am re-learning how to be alone. Working from home, going out for solitary meals, strolls in the park where I don’t take my headphones with me, trips to the ballgame where I am lost in the game rather than the people around me: these have all reminded me that I like my own company, that I love things for my own deeply personal, individualistic reasons.
There are an immense number of revelations in Baseball Life Advice, all coming from the experience of the beautiful game of baseball, but that’s not the only reason you should read the book. More importantly, Baseball Life Advice is an illustration of someone who really loves something, and a reminder that we, too, have things we really love and that we shouldn’t be afraid to embrace that passion.
* * *
Towards the end of the ballgame that I attended with my coworkers—a game filled with more excitement than I’ve come to expect in a trip to the ballpark—Steve Pearce came up to the plate with the bases loaded in extra innings. The sounds of the stadium were loud, but I couldn’t hear anything but my own heavy breathing, completely engrossed in every pitch, every swing on the field in front of me.
Pearce blasted a grand slam to left field, just barely staying fair, and I breathed a sigh of relief. It was then that I was no longer alone in the crowd, and that everything around me came back into focus. Everyone yelled and screamed and gave each other high fives in jubilant celebration, and I joined right in.
I was reminded that there are times to be alone, and then there are times to be together. Often, those times collide at just right moment.
(originally published on inthemargins.ca)
To call them coworkers is perhaps reductive: these are my friends, people with whom I share my thoughts and ideas and ups and downs. These are people who make me laugh every day, make me proud to do the work I do.
We all gathered on the “Flight Deck” at the SkyDome, allowing us to move around, socialize, enjoy each others’ company more than we could have had we been confined to our seats.
Despite the amazing company, the allure of the hot dog stand nearby, the fun conversations happening around me, I found myself drawn to staring at the game, alone surrounded by people, focused on every pitch, every decision made on the field.
Such is my way, when I go to the ballpark: I always go with a group of friends, but undoubtedly end up spending most of the afternoon wholly engrossed in the action in front of me, focused on the game more than the people with whom I came.
* * *
Like it has for Stacey May Fowles, baseball has taught me many things, but mostly it has taught me that I am okay being alone while surrounded by people. It has taught me that, in everyday life as well as at the game, it’s okay to focus on the things that inspire me, that help me grow, that bring me joy—even while everything and everyone around me is moving at a frantic pace, I can slow down and be me and only me.
Among many others, this passage in Baseball Life Advice resonated deeply:
Now that every one of my workdays requires at least eight hours of being completely by myself, I’ve had to relearn that skill of solitude, to admittedly mixed results. Some days, I’m optimistic and think I’ve really come into my own voice as a result of that ever-present quiet. Other days, I worry that I’m descending into a kind of anxious, shut-in void that makes me reluctant to put on pants and go to a social event.
What the experience has taught me is how often we measure our skills and our talents—and understand our beliefs—relationally and competitively, and how in doing so we ignore who we are and what we really want. We habitually compare ourselves to others to a debilitating degree, believing our successes can only be captured by how much we've outpaced someone else. We deal in acceptable ideas. We disregard our own capabilities. We waste a lot of time and emotion on what everyone else is doing well or badly, when we should be investing in and celebrating ourselves. And sometimes we simply forget that we like our own company, or that we love things for our own, deeply personal, individualistic reasons.
In short, we forget ourselves, and how to be alone.
I am re-learning how to be alone. Working from home, going out for solitary meals, strolls in the park where I don’t take my headphones with me, trips to the ballgame where I am lost in the game rather than the people around me: these have all reminded me that I like my own company, that I love things for my own deeply personal, individualistic reasons.
There are an immense number of revelations in Baseball Life Advice, all coming from the experience of the beautiful game of baseball, but that’s not the only reason you should read the book. More importantly, Baseball Life Advice is an illustration of someone who really loves something, and a reminder that we, too, have things we really love and that we shouldn’t be afraid to embrace that passion.
* * *
Towards the end of the ballgame that I attended with my coworkers—a game filled with more excitement than I’ve come to expect in a trip to the ballpark—Steve Pearce came up to the plate with the bases loaded in extra innings. The sounds of the stadium were loud, but I couldn’t hear anything but my own heavy breathing, completely engrossed in every pitch, every swing on the field in front of me.
Pearce blasted a grand slam to left field, just barely staying fair, and I breathed a sigh of relief. It was then that I was no longer alone in the crowd, and that everything around me came back into focus. Everyone yelled and screamed and gave each other high fives in jubilant celebration, and I joined right in.
I was reminded that there are times to be alone, and then there are times to be together. Often, those times collide at just right moment.
(originally published on inthemargins.ca)
March 17, 2020
I really liked this book. I was all ready to give it 4 stars and then as I went back through my favorite quotes there were just too many that I truly loved. So my 4.5 star gets rounded up. By the time I got to page 20 I had already gotten all teary eyed about 5 times. There were times that I tried to talk about the book to my family where I could barely do it because I was getting so emotional. The essay about women sportswriters and women who enjoy sports in general and the vitriol they receive from stupid men made me truly sorry on behalf of all men.
The book was mildly repetitive at times but I realize that a book of this kind is likely to be that way.
Favourite quotes: (There are tons...)
“Baseball is a way for us to look away from life, and players give up their bodies in service to that impulse... in the end our dreams balance on the shoulders of men who are really only just men.” - p. 26
“‘He’s a different cat now,’ manager John Gibbons explained.” (About J.A. Happ) - p. 27
“Though we hold out hope that we’ll all be back together again next year, the reality is that, in life and in baseball, people pack their bags and move on. We have to find a way to be ok with that, no matter how difficult it can be... Sure, parting ways with a beloved player is always a painful baseball reality to deal with, but true love always wants the best for those who come into our lives - even if that ultimately means saying goodbye.” - p. 34
“He astounded me at the exact moment I was old enough to be astounded, the exact moment I needed to be astounded, the exact moment I truly understood the physical feats necessary for the perfect execution of that play.” - p. 41
“It’s strange to be so sad about not getting a thing you didn’t really think about having before...We thought the feeling that we deserved something was enough to make it happen, and in doing so we forgot to applaud how far we’d come.” - p. 81
“If you’re going to boo me, don’t cheer me when I’m pitching good.” - Brett Cecil - p. 100
“Further, the fact that the status quo argument is that players shouldn’t respond but should just “take it”, lest they be accused of disrespecting a group of drunk jerks who paid a few bucks for the pleasure of demoralizing another human being makes me livid.” - p. 101
“I had long put up a fight to secure my rightful place in the culture of sports, and some drunken idiot had taken it upon himself to remind me that I would never really feel safe... And no matter how hard and tiresome it can be to discuss issues of inclusion, I understand how important it is to do so. This is a fight we all have a responsibility to engage in, if only so a fourteen-year-old girl can safely enjoy a game.” - p. 140
“For this of us who are introverted, baseball provides a comfortable space to talk about something outside ourselves. When people discover you love the game, it can replace the usual chit-chat about work and relationships.” - p. 165
“But it seems to me that men are driving a great deal of that toxicity, and that gendered insults have the very real effect of further excluding women from a realm where they’ve been repeatedly told they don’t belong.” - p. 186
“Baseball was a perfect combination of our disparate passions and interests - chock-full of romantic feeling and myriad storylines, yet reliant on the measurements of complex statistics and the velocity of a ball traveling through space.” - p. 191
“Those who have lost their fathers remember days in the sun with a mixture of nostalgia and grief, their memories treasured more and more as time goes by.” - p. 194
“Frankly, there are far too many places where we feel hopeless and traumatized by what the world dishes out, and here, in the world of baseball, I chose admiration, love, respect, and delirious hope above all things.” - p. 215
“We’re happy to participate in something we are deeply afraid will break our hearts, because we know, no matter the outcome, it makes our lives richer and better.” - p. 231
“The matchup was baseball romance at its finest... with one North Carolina Cubs fan even driving to his fathers gravesite in Indiana so they could listen to the win on the radio together.” - p. 265
“Most people crave autumn, but August’s finale guts me. Always the heartbreaking close of summer... which is the beginning of the long dark.” - p. 273
The book was mildly repetitive at times but I realize that a book of this kind is likely to be that way.
Favourite quotes: (There are tons...)
“Baseball is a way for us to look away from life, and players give up their bodies in service to that impulse... in the end our dreams balance on the shoulders of men who are really only just men.” - p. 26
“‘He’s a different cat now,’ manager John Gibbons explained.” (About J.A. Happ) - p. 27
“Though we hold out hope that we’ll all be back together again next year, the reality is that, in life and in baseball, people pack their bags and move on. We have to find a way to be ok with that, no matter how difficult it can be... Sure, parting ways with a beloved player is always a painful baseball reality to deal with, but true love always wants the best for those who come into our lives - even if that ultimately means saying goodbye.” - p. 34
“He astounded me at the exact moment I was old enough to be astounded, the exact moment I needed to be astounded, the exact moment I truly understood the physical feats necessary for the perfect execution of that play.” - p. 41
“It’s strange to be so sad about not getting a thing you didn’t really think about having before...We thought the feeling that we deserved something was enough to make it happen, and in doing so we forgot to applaud how far we’d come.” - p. 81
“If you’re going to boo me, don’t cheer me when I’m pitching good.” - Brett Cecil - p. 100
“Further, the fact that the status quo argument is that players shouldn’t respond but should just “take it”, lest they be accused of disrespecting a group of drunk jerks who paid a few bucks for the pleasure of demoralizing another human being makes me livid.” - p. 101
“I had long put up a fight to secure my rightful place in the culture of sports, and some drunken idiot had taken it upon himself to remind me that I would never really feel safe... And no matter how hard and tiresome it can be to discuss issues of inclusion, I understand how important it is to do so. This is a fight we all have a responsibility to engage in, if only so a fourteen-year-old girl can safely enjoy a game.” - p. 140
“For this of us who are introverted, baseball provides a comfortable space to talk about something outside ourselves. When people discover you love the game, it can replace the usual chit-chat about work and relationships.” - p. 165
“But it seems to me that men are driving a great deal of that toxicity, and that gendered insults have the very real effect of further excluding women from a realm where they’ve been repeatedly told they don’t belong.” - p. 186
“Baseball was a perfect combination of our disparate passions and interests - chock-full of romantic feeling and myriad storylines, yet reliant on the measurements of complex statistics and the velocity of a ball traveling through space.” - p. 191
“Those who have lost their fathers remember days in the sun with a mixture of nostalgia and grief, their memories treasured more and more as time goes by.” - p. 194
“Frankly, there are far too many places where we feel hopeless and traumatized by what the world dishes out, and here, in the world of baseball, I chose admiration, love, respect, and delirious hope above all things.” - p. 215
“We’re happy to participate in something we are deeply afraid will break our hearts, because we know, no matter the outcome, it makes our lives richer and better.” - p. 231
“The matchup was baseball romance at its finest... with one North Carolina Cubs fan even driving to his fathers gravesite in Indiana so they could listen to the win on the radio together.” - p. 265
“Most people crave autumn, but August’s finale guts me. Always the heartbreaking close of summer... which is the beginning of the long dark.” - p. 273
May 22, 2017
Gorgeous, nuanced, thoughtful, and inclusive. Stacey takes a relative baseball newbie through the paces, the ups and downs of a bad season, a good season, a great season. There were parts when the hair on the back of my neck actually stood up - when describing the Marlins' emotional win in honour of their dead pitcher, the breathlessness of watching a potential no-no unfold, the Jays' fateful batflip game. I started tearing up while reading Dickey's intro, and the rest of the book did not disappoint. The chapters on being a woman who loves sports and being a woman who writes about sports were especially powerful and relatable. Everyone, from people who have never seen a game to people who love The Show, can find something to relate to in this book, whether it's love, or heartbreak, or the contentment you feel while watching something you can't live without.
September 2, 2017
Well, Stacey May Fowles is certainly passionate about baseball. I enjoyed her anecdotes and how she was able to make lessons from the stadium and the game apply to real life. I liked delving into the not-so-talked-about topics as well such as mental health, domestic abuse and doping. Her essays definitely gave me a better insight into baseball as a whole and her love and devotion for the Toronto Blue Jays. Thanks Sam!
July 14, 2017
I cried through the first three essays of this book, in all the best ways. So many thoughtful insights on baseball and life. I loved every word and every page. Great for baseball fans and everyone else who's ever been anxious or sad or looking for an unending source of joy in their life.
December 19, 2017
I truly enjoyed these essays. I took my time reading them. Finally, a woman who can put my love for sports into words. Thank you!
February 5, 2018
Beautifully done. A must read for anyone who feels *any* kind of way about sports, baseball and / or the Toronto Blue Jays. This book thrilled me.
July 4, 2018
A series of essays about my favourite sport. I loved reading Stacey May Fowles’ perspective on the game (especially since we adore the same team!). She looks at the good, bad and ugly of baseball. 💙
April 30, 2017
Baseball is great! As this book will confirm. it brought back some memories and some tears (RIP Fernandez).
March 1, 2019
Necessary female perspective on watching baseball.
April 8, 2021
Highly recommended for all baseball fans! It’ll make you laugh, make you cry, and make you long for a better world that deserves the beauty of baseball more.
January 19, 2019
Baseball can indeed break your heart, but, without fail, it will always find a way to make it whole again.
I am so fond of Stacey May Fowles and her baseball feelings. I feel so magnificent whenever she shares them because she understands, and I am thankful. Baseball fandom as a woman can often be isolating, but her presence shows how things are changing, the tides are turning, and we're always been here. The community is infinitely richer with her around. I hope she never stops writing.
I am so fond of Stacey May Fowles and her baseball feelings. I feel so magnificent whenever she shares them because she understands, and I am thankful. Baseball fandom as a woman can often be isolating, but her presence shows how things are changing, the tides are turning, and we're always been here. The community is infinitely richer with her around. I hope she never stops writing.
April 26, 2017
This was everything I had hoped it would be and more. Captures so many things I love about baseball so very well. My heart was on the pages.
July 20, 2017
This book reminded me of the young girl who snuck out of bed in 1992 and 1993 to watch her hero in the World Series. It reminded me of the same girl who still has her Kelly Gruber glove and CIBC Blue Jays posters.
May 13, 2022
A lovely and thoughtful book of essays about the magic of baseball, and also about being a female fan and sports writer. I felt a great sense of camaraderie with Stacey, loving a game that is sometimes hard to explain to those that don’t “get” it. Like Stacey, I grew up going to games with my family, though my mom grew too love baseball just as much as my dad, who introduced her to it. They were married in 1977, the same year our team, the Mariners, were established, and many of my most treasured memories, especially those with my dad, who passed away in 2018, involve baseball.
I definitely recommend this book to fans of the game (though I wish she was a Mariners fan instead of a Blue Jays fan, haha.) Here are some quotes that particular resonated with me:
“Those who have lost their fathers remember days in the sun with a mixture of nostalgia and grief, their memories treasured more and more as time goes by.”
“It was also my father who first instilled in me my now signature lack of worry when my team isn't on top--his love of the ballpark experience, combined with his patient, near-ambivalent view of the outcome, was always soothing, even when I didn't entirely understand the complexity of the rules or the stakes of any given matchup. "It was a good game," he'd always say on the way out of the stadium, whether it had been or not. For him--and then for us--baseball wasn't about competition, standings, or even winning. It was about being at the ballpark together, despite the sometimes less-than-perfect details. All that mattered to him was that we were there, an inheritance I'm grateful for.”
You could say this about my Mariners, and the city of Seattle, too:
“After the final out last night, I made my way through the jubilant crowds and went home to rewatch the game from the seventh inning onward. Seeing it on screen made the whole thing feel almost fake, like a heartstring-tugging movie, as if someone had scripted it for maximum emotional impact. It was simultaneously so unlike baseball, and also exactly the baseball I love the most--harrowing, excruciating, hopeful, and ultimately triumphant.
When it comes to sports, Toronto is a city that doesn't really know how to win, and these Blue Jays keep forcing us to understand that it's possible. This team, with all its storybook individual victories, actually feels more cohesive than any other I've ever witnessed, and has brought this city together in a way I could never have conceived.”
I feel this way about introducing baseball and pretty much anything I love to others:
“I perhaps get overly excited (and maybe even a little anxious) about being a part of someone's very first baseball outing. That's largely because I want them to love the game experience as much as I do, want them to enjoy every last minute of those nine inning.”
I wholeheartedly agree. Who cares when someone started liking something, or how much they know about it? Let the people have fun:
“Let's get something out of the way: there is absolutely nothing wrong with jumping on a sports-fandom band. wagon, and anyone who says otherwise hates joy.”
“Baseball can be, in more ways than one, an optimal training ground for dealing with loss. You have incredibly strong feelings about a team and then, all of a sudden, pieces of it disappear into the abyss. At the trade deadline or in the offseason, your beloved heroes are sent away to Detroit, or Milwaukee, or Oakland, or Boston. The game generously teaches you that even though you feel that sad, tearful heartbreak over losing one of your favourites, perhaps the player you're getting in return might be worth all the pain of saying goodbye.”
“Baseball has taught me that it is possible to be totally consumed by worry, and at the same time not to worry at all. It has taught me to let go and accept what plays out in front of me, understanding that no matter how much I need a win, I will never have any control over what happens. For an anxious person like myself, that's an incredible lesson, one that I chose to learn through dozens of nail-biting, fist-clenching matchups. Baseball has also taught me that a win can be someone else's loss, and that people can always surprise you in ways both good and bad. Less-than-reliable Josh Thole can hit a much-needed RBI or two, and ultimate underdog Chris Colabello can be suspended for a positive PED test. A once-derided J.A. Happ can end up in the Cy Young conversation, and a generally steadfast Marco Estrada can give up some unexpected home runs. The last-place team can demoralize the first-place team. The hero is sometimes totally predictable, and sometimes it's who you'd least expect. And sometimes your boys in blue can come from behind and score twelve runs, eight of which are in a single inning.
This game has consistently asked me to have high expectations, and at the same time asked me not to have any at all. It has demanded I be fluid, and open, and generous, and in the moment. To readily accept the possibility of defeat, yet dream endlessly of victory. To live a life of faith, hope, and endless enthusiasm, and to know that anything is possible. It has asked me to always see meaning in the meaningless, and asked me to close my eyes tight and make a wish or two, regardless of the knowledge that it won't have any effect on the outcome.
More than anything else, baseball has taught me, time and again, that we can and we do get better.”
“Sportswriter and friend Jessica Kleinschmidt once said, during the thick of anxious September baseball, "I think we are looking for someone who loves us even when we aren't winning." To be honest, I'm not sure if she was referring to life or to the game, but then I'm also not sure it matters.”
I definitely recommend this book to fans of the game (though I wish she was a Mariners fan instead of a Blue Jays fan, haha.) Here are some quotes that particular resonated with me:
“Those who have lost their fathers remember days in the sun with a mixture of nostalgia and grief, their memories treasured more and more as time goes by.”
“It was also my father who first instilled in me my now signature lack of worry when my team isn't on top--his love of the ballpark experience, combined with his patient, near-ambivalent view of the outcome, was always soothing, even when I didn't entirely understand the complexity of the rules or the stakes of any given matchup. "It was a good game," he'd always say on the way out of the stadium, whether it had been or not. For him--and then for us--baseball wasn't about competition, standings, or even winning. It was about being at the ballpark together, despite the sometimes less-than-perfect details. All that mattered to him was that we were there, an inheritance I'm grateful for.”
You could say this about my Mariners, and the city of Seattle, too:
“After the final out last night, I made my way through the jubilant crowds and went home to rewatch the game from the seventh inning onward. Seeing it on screen made the whole thing feel almost fake, like a heartstring-tugging movie, as if someone had scripted it for maximum emotional impact. It was simultaneously so unlike baseball, and also exactly the baseball I love the most--harrowing, excruciating, hopeful, and ultimately triumphant.
When it comes to sports, Toronto is a city that doesn't really know how to win, and these Blue Jays keep forcing us to understand that it's possible. This team, with all its storybook individual victories, actually feels more cohesive than any other I've ever witnessed, and has brought this city together in a way I could never have conceived.”
I feel this way about introducing baseball and pretty much anything I love to others:
“I perhaps get overly excited (and maybe even a little anxious) about being a part of someone's very first baseball outing. That's largely because I want them to love the game experience as much as I do, want them to enjoy every last minute of those nine inning.”
I wholeheartedly agree. Who cares when someone started liking something, or how much they know about it? Let the people have fun:
“Let's get something out of the way: there is absolutely nothing wrong with jumping on a sports-fandom band. wagon, and anyone who says otherwise hates joy.”
“Baseball can be, in more ways than one, an optimal training ground for dealing with loss. You have incredibly strong feelings about a team and then, all of a sudden, pieces of it disappear into the abyss. At the trade deadline or in the offseason, your beloved heroes are sent away to Detroit, or Milwaukee, or Oakland, or Boston. The game generously teaches you that even though you feel that sad, tearful heartbreak over losing one of your favourites, perhaps the player you're getting in return might be worth all the pain of saying goodbye.”
“Baseball has taught me that it is possible to be totally consumed by worry, and at the same time not to worry at all. It has taught me to let go and accept what plays out in front of me, understanding that no matter how much I need a win, I will never have any control over what happens. For an anxious person like myself, that's an incredible lesson, one that I chose to learn through dozens of nail-biting, fist-clenching matchups. Baseball has also taught me that a win can be someone else's loss, and that people can always surprise you in ways both good and bad. Less-than-reliable Josh Thole can hit a much-needed RBI or two, and ultimate underdog Chris Colabello can be suspended for a positive PED test. A once-derided J.A. Happ can end up in the Cy Young conversation, and a generally steadfast Marco Estrada can give up some unexpected home runs. The last-place team can demoralize the first-place team. The hero is sometimes totally predictable, and sometimes it's who you'd least expect. And sometimes your boys in blue can come from behind and score twelve runs, eight of which are in a single inning.
This game has consistently asked me to have high expectations, and at the same time asked me not to have any at all. It has demanded I be fluid, and open, and generous, and in the moment. To readily accept the possibility of defeat, yet dream endlessly of victory. To live a life of faith, hope, and endless enthusiasm, and to know that anything is possible. It has asked me to always see meaning in the meaningless, and asked me to close my eyes tight and make a wish or two, regardless of the knowledge that it won't have any effect on the outcome.
More than anything else, baseball has taught me, time and again, that we can and we do get better.”
“Sportswriter and friend Jessica Kleinschmidt once said, during the thick of anxious September baseball, "I think we are looking for someone who loves us even when we aren't winning." To be honest, I'm not sure if she was referring to life or to the game, but then I'm also not sure it matters.”
October 2, 2017
I don't care about baseball, really at all, but Stacey May Fowles's gift is to make her love for the game enchanting, to allow us to see baseball through her eyes. I'm not a convert to the church of baseball, but I am devoted to great writing, and can unabashedly sing the praises of Stacey May Fowles.
May 14, 2019
"There is no real template for loving baseball when you're a girl or a woman, so you have to fumble around a bit to make it your own."
Baseball Life Advice offers a series of essays pertaining to the greatness and complexities of baseball. Some of them offer grand overviews of baseball topics, like pace of play. Others weave together personal reflections, like being a woman in a male-dominated fandom or using baseball as a coping method. Some also offer slices of specific occurrences or stories pertaining to the Toronto Blue Jays, such as David Price's 2015 free agency or Jose Bautista's bat flip. (I've seen some criticisms, btw, that this is a Jays-centered book. Fowles is a Jays fan and, unsurprisingly, a lot of her anecdotes come from Jays games, but you certainly don't need to be a Jays fan to enjoy the book nor relate to the overall themes and discussions).
There's no apparent organization for these essays, which I think could have greatly improved the book. You tend to bounce around from topic to topic, which disrupts focus, but I'd also argue that improved organization would strengthen the impact of the writing overall. For example, Fowles's essay on pace of play argues that MLB has other problems at hand, such as like alienating their fanbase. She mentions MLB's out-of-touch relationship with girls and women, a topic that Fowles discussed in-depth three essays prior. So when you come across that assertion, you can assuredly go, "Yep, I have been briefed on this, I'm good." Yet, she mentions MLB's poor history disciplining domestic violence, which is saved for an essay far later in the book and therefore lacks that similar powerful agreement. But at the core of all essays is a love for baseball, which Fowles undoubtedly has. As a long time baseball fan, it was beyond refreshing and validating to read a fellow women's unabashed love for the game, something that has not been depicted in print often.
Baseball Life Advice offers a series of essays pertaining to the greatness and complexities of baseball. Some of them offer grand overviews of baseball topics, like pace of play. Others weave together personal reflections, like being a woman in a male-dominated fandom or using baseball as a coping method. Some also offer slices of specific occurrences or stories pertaining to the Toronto Blue Jays, such as David Price's 2015 free agency or Jose Bautista's bat flip. (I've seen some criticisms, btw, that this is a Jays-centered book. Fowles is a Jays fan and, unsurprisingly, a lot of her anecdotes come from Jays games, but you certainly don't need to be a Jays fan to enjoy the book nor relate to the overall themes and discussions).
There's no apparent organization for these essays, which I think could have greatly improved the book. You tend to bounce around from topic to topic, which disrupts focus, but I'd also argue that improved organization would strengthen the impact of the writing overall. For example, Fowles's essay on pace of play argues that MLB has other problems at hand, such as like alienating their fanbase. She mentions MLB's out-of-touch relationship with girls and women, a topic that Fowles discussed in-depth three essays prior. So when you come across that assertion, you can assuredly go, "Yep, I have been briefed on this, I'm good." Yet, she mentions MLB's poor history disciplining domestic violence, which is saved for an essay far later in the book and therefore lacks that similar powerful agreement. But at the core of all essays is a love for baseball, which Fowles undoubtedly has. As a long time baseball fan, it was beyond refreshing and validating to read a fellow women's unabashed love for the game, something that has not been depicted in print often.
April 19, 2018
Stacey May Fowles captures the soul of baseball in her book. She does this in the form of a series of essays that explain how baseball has improved her life and that of many of her friends and relatives. Being a baseball fan I appreciate her insight into how many of the baseball players think and feel. As Stacey points out, as a fan you tend to think of the players as superhuman and they are there to entertain you. You often put them in a pedestal where they are not allowed to make mistakes or behave in a way that is contrary to your personal set of standards. As she points out, they are just young men trying to do their job.
Stacey has given me some insight into some Blue Jay players and she also has allowed me licence to pick my favourite regardless of the baseball stats. I personally like Kevin Pillar and hope that someday he becomes one of the team superstars, but as Stacey points out that doesn't even matter. He can still be my favourite.
Stacey also discusses some of the uglier parts of the sport. Drug and alcohol abuse are common. Racism and sexual abuse exist in far to many cases. Baseball has a long way to go to live up to the standards we as fans have set for the sport.
This is a book for all baseball lovers. It's more than just a sports book. It's a book for those needing advice, a book for fanatics or simply a book for those who want to understand baseball a little more. Everyone can read this book.
Stacey has given me some insight into some Blue Jay players and she also has allowed me licence to pick my favourite regardless of the baseball stats. I personally like Kevin Pillar and hope that someday he becomes one of the team superstars, but as Stacey points out that doesn't even matter. He can still be my favourite.
Stacey also discusses some of the uglier parts of the sport. Drug and alcohol abuse are common. Racism and sexual abuse exist in far to many cases. Baseball has a long way to go to live up to the standards we as fans have set for the sport.
This is a book for all baseball lovers. It's more than just a sports book. It's a book for those needing advice, a book for fanatics or simply a book for those who want to understand baseball a little more. Everyone can read this book.
June 30, 2018
There aren't words that could sufficiently sum up my thoughts of this title... Stacey is a sort of soul sister, at least in my mind. Every emotion a female baseball fan can fathom is touched on in this book.
Baseball truly saved me. It is what brought me back from a suicide attempt, the passion for the sport I inherited from my mother was reignited. My mother introduced me to the sport, and then reinforced the love for baseball when she began sportscasting for a local radio station, covering Syracuse Chiefs games. In those days Syracuse was the farm team for Toronto. My first MLB game was a Blue Jays game at the Sky Dome during an 8th grade trip to Toronto. (Though I was a born Yankees fan, and still die hard Pinstripes to this day.)
The correlation between Stacey's personal experiences almost mirror what my life combined with my mother's would resemble in my mind. I have genuine respect for Stacey May Fowles as a fan, as a woman, as a writer. I've read this three times in the past two months... First I ordered it via Inter Library Loan through the library I work at. I then became obsessed and purchased it to own forever. It then struck me as the perfect gift for my mother's birthday, which is July 10th. I sent it early because I just could not wait for her to receive it. She began reading it the day it arrived in the mail... I will forever refer to this as my bible. Thank you, Stacey! Thank you.
Also - Not all female sports fans like pink or glitter!!!
Baseball truly saved me. It is what brought me back from a suicide attempt, the passion for the sport I inherited from my mother was reignited. My mother introduced me to the sport, and then reinforced the love for baseball when she began sportscasting for a local radio station, covering Syracuse Chiefs games. In those days Syracuse was the farm team for Toronto. My first MLB game was a Blue Jays game at the Sky Dome during an 8th grade trip to Toronto. (Though I was a born Yankees fan, and still die hard Pinstripes to this day.)
The correlation between Stacey's personal experiences almost mirror what my life combined with my mother's would resemble in my mind. I have genuine respect for Stacey May Fowles as a fan, as a woman, as a writer. I've read this three times in the past two months... First I ordered it via Inter Library Loan through the library I work at. I then became obsessed and purchased it to own forever. It then struck me as the perfect gift for my mother's birthday, which is July 10th. I sent it early because I just could not wait for her to receive it. She began reading it the day it arrived in the mail... I will forever refer to this as my bible. Thank you, Stacey! Thank you.
Also - Not all female sports fans like pink or glitter!!!
May 8, 2017
New plan: every time someone thinks I'm not a baseball fan, that I'm humoring my husband and that he's dragging me unwillingly to games, I'm going to tell them to read this book. Stacey May Fowles perfectly describes why I love baseball. It's not only about stats and rosters; it's the drama, the emotion, the relationships, the narrative arc of every inning, game and season.
More than that, though, Fowles delves into the more problematic side of the game, where spousal abuse is less shocking than steroids, women are nervous spending Friday night games in the cheap seats (raise your hand), and female sportswriters have their expertise constantly questioned at best and endure horrible trolling and death threats at worst. MLB and, in my case, the Blue Jays and Sportsnet are complicit in all of this (hello, Manalyst? J Force?). Fowles is an important voice in this conversation, and it's a conversation worth having over and over again.
Anyway, a great read for any baseball fan. I'm sure I'll find myself returning to it during the long dark of winter.
More than that, though, Fowles delves into the more problematic side of the game, where spousal abuse is less shocking than steroids, women are nervous spending Friday night games in the cheap seats (raise your hand), and female sportswriters have their expertise constantly questioned at best and endure horrible trolling and death threats at worst. MLB and, in my case, the Blue Jays and Sportsnet are complicit in all of this (hello, Manalyst? J Force?). Fowles is an important voice in this conversation, and it's a conversation worth having over and over again.
Anyway, a great read for any baseball fan. I'm sure I'll find myself returning to it during the long dark of winter.
December 4, 2017
I’m someone who likes baseball, but is never the huge fan that the sport insists. I do love however reading others’ magical writing on the sport and showing their love for it. I imagine there are many books like this, the great American sports writing is built around baseball, but this one hit me hard.
Stacey May Fowles brings a beautiful reading into the many facets of the game and she writes with such charm and majesty that you cannot help but also as feel enchanted and as magic about baseball as she is. I love how it feels intensely personal and gives a rich reading through her takes on the sexism within the sport, bonding with her Dad at games, the analysis of domestic violence and its treatment from the MLB administration and a piece on Josh Donaldson and his “charming dirtbag boyfriend” ways. As well as this it also feels to speak to not only something richly personal but also something that everyone sees within the game.
This is such a lovely and beautiful compendium of articles and is surely one of the best books on baseball there is.
Stacey May Fowles brings a beautiful reading into the many facets of the game and she writes with such charm and majesty that you cannot help but also as feel enchanted and as magic about baseball as she is. I love how it feels intensely personal and gives a rich reading through her takes on the sexism within the sport, bonding with her Dad at games, the analysis of domestic violence and its treatment from the MLB administration and a piece on Josh Donaldson and his “charming dirtbag boyfriend” ways. As well as this it also feels to speak to not only something richly personal but also something that everyone sees within the game.
This is such a lovely and beautiful compendium of articles and is surely one of the best books on baseball there is.
October 23, 2018
I feel like this book was misrepresented as an overall baseball fan's book when in fact it is a Toronto Blue Jay fan's book - and all about the Blue Jays. The description of the book does not state that it is a Jay's fan book. The book was "meh". There were some interesting stories but the author is an apologist for spoiled brat baseball players like Jose Bautista. Look - I get it, you tend to defend those players who are on "your" team but it is pretty hard to defend such a rotten human being as Bautista. I have seen Bautista in action, live and in-person at Camden Yards. I've shared this story often but I have witnessed Bautista give the middle-finger to children and use obscene language in yelling to adults and kids in the bleacher section at Camden Yards. He is classless but I digress.
If you are a Jay's fan, you may enjoy the book more. I did not gain any baseball life advice from reading the book. It was an easy read because each chapter was basically an essay about an event.
If you are a Jay's fan, you may enjoy the book more. I did not gain any baseball life advice from reading the book. It was an easy read because each chapter was basically an essay about an event.
March 3, 2018
I’ve had this book on my to-read shelf, waiting for a good time to give it my proper attention. Spring training games are just beginning, and one of my “18 for 2018” happiness habits is to dive back into baseball after losing heart last year from the last in a series of truly dismal seasons from my favorite team. As a lifelong Cincinnati Reds fan, I could relate to many of the experiences Fowles details in these essays. It’s not easy being a female fan amongst the casual and overt sexism in the sport. Her observations about why and how the game matters meant a lot to me. I enjoyed her reflections on the Blue Jays, and I was reminded of the many happy summer days I’ve spent feeling so content and so at home with the game, whether sitting in the seats at my major league park or at a minor league field. The title says it all: it’s a great read that highlights how baseball and life connect.
July 30, 2019
Great book but definitely the type of book I would have preferred to listen to as an audiobook. Very personal books like this I prefer read to me as I can lose focus easily. Other than that I noticed some points seemed to be repeated often. Aside from that the boom felt very much like it was written from a friend to a friend. Being a Jay's fan I found the book very relatable and relevant as I share similar opinions on the players discussed. Further more I loved hearing the authors opinion about the game and opinion on the Jay's. I would have liked some more metaphorical connections to the real world but this is the authors own narrative so I can't be too nit picky. Overall a great read, I would definitely listen to the audiobook!
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