Hard To Grip: A Memoir of Youth, Baseball and Chronic Illness

by Emil DeAndreis

In 2008, after a record-breaking career as a D1 college baseball player, Emil DeAndreis' life seemed He was twenty-three, in great shape, and had just been offered a contract to pitch professionally in Europe.  Then his body fell apart. It started with elbow stiffness, then swelling in his wrist. Soon, his fingers were too bloated to grip a baseball. He had Rheumatoid Arthritis, a disease that causes swelling and eventual deterioration of the joints, mostly targeting old people and women. Hard To Grip tells the story of a young man’s body giving out when he needs it most. It chronicles an ascending sports career, the ups and downs of life in the NCAA, and the challenges of letting go of pro baseball due to a dehumanizing condition. In a series of humorous anecdotes, Emil takes the reader on his bittersweet journey of a young man’s having to grapple with an “old woman’s disease.” From striking out future major leaguer All Stars, to sitting in support groups; from breaking university records, to barely making it up the stairs; from language barriers with Chinese healers to figuring out how to be employed as a vegetable, this book unveils the disease with humor and fearless honesty through the eyes of an unlikely victim. This memoir is an honest, rueful and at times hilarious story about learning to come to terms with a new reality, and an inspiring account of how Emil learned to run with the disease and not from it.

Genres: Nonfiction, Baseball, Sports, Memoir, Biography

304 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2017

About the author

Emil DeAndreis has three books, Beyond Folly and Hard To Grip and most recently Tell Us When To Go. His fiction has appeared in StoryQuarterly, The Barcelona Review and more. He teaches English at College of San Mateo, and lives in the Bay Area with his wife and son.

Reviews

[Eve L-A Witherington · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a sufferer of a chronic illness, being into weightlifting in my case and sport in general, my life can be hindered in enjoying my passion.

Emil's story is alike mine, only he plays baseball and has rheumatoid arthritis.

He talks of his passion being his dream from an early age, practising with his dad his pitches and the hardships his family faced and for him, wanting to be good enough to qualify for a scholarship. The persistent training for the sport is damn hard and so we can see from reading through the book game after game.

However, persistent left shoulder and arm issues, aggravated a lot by long periods of rest started to alert Emil that something was up and here's where we get into depth about his challenges faced. From starting out, going through college and being set up in a baseball playing position with his girlfriend by his side, things took a turn as his doctor referred Emil on to rheumatology to be tested for rheumatoid arthritis.

I truly thank Emil for writing such an eye opening book here. Me having Fibromyalgia and Reynaud's I often feel a lack of chronic illness is written about in any form of book unless on the set subject. Here Emil has captured every stage I think we go through, from healthy to unsure of of futures, changing career and losing some abilities with areas of our bodies we took for granted previously. It's also shown how important it is to find the right support and a doctor who is auiteds to you and able to help you as much as possible.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic disease that cause swelling and eventually deterioration of the joints. The people who are most likely to suffer from this condition are elderly women. So imagine what it was like when a 23 year old young man who just completed a college baseball career in Hawaii and was about to sign a contract to play professional baseball in Belgium finds out he has this condition. That is exactly what happened to Emil DeAndreis. His memoir about this situation after dreaming of a baseball career is one that will tug at every emotion in a reader.

The stories he shares from his experiences are funny, sad, thoughtful and honest. It is clear while reading the book that DeAndreis is pulling no punches and fully describing his emotions when he finds out the news about important events in his life – not just the diagnosis of the disease. His story about the offer of a Division I baseball scholarship from the University of Hawaii-Hilo was one in which I was pumping my fist to cheer for him. His subsequent description of some of the wacky happenings on the campus with his teammates, the struggles of the team as they compiled losing records in each of his four seasons, and the joy of earning a win against a major conference school (the University of Kansas) are fun to read and make the reader feel like he or she is living the college life with him.

DeAndreis, who studied writing in college, saves his best for his battle with RA. His internal thoughts of denial that he has the disease, the alternative treatments he tried before medication and the support of his then-girlfriend (now wife) Kendall makes for compelling reading. Between the description of what his body was going through, his wish to disassociate from anything associated with baseball because the memories are too painful, and his life afterward which included coaching the high school baseball team for which was a star pitcher, will inform and entertain the reader.

This book is not one in which is meant to draw pity or sympathy for the author, nor is it one that is written with a greater message or cause in mind. It is simply an honest story of a young man who was diagnosed with a disease that caused him to give up his lifelong dream and adjust to living life with different goals. It is one that readers of many different genres will like – one does not have to be a baseball fan to cheer for Emil in his road to life after baseball.

I wish to thank the author and Schaffner Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...

[Sierra Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come for SBN.

[ASIA HARRIGAN · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author captures so much of the joy anyone who has been a serious athlete a can relate to, exceptional games or plays, lifelong bonds with teammates, the extreme highs, and the emotional struggle any athlete faces coming to the end of competitive play. The play-by-play throughout the book will please any baseball lover, it left me wishing I was more in touch with the game, as I had been growing up. It’s an ode to the complexity of baseball, yet you don’t have to be a super fan to understand every reference and enjoy. His depictions of partying to excess made me happily reminiscent and physically hurt. I laughed while reading parts describing his relationship with his mom knowing my mom would say so many of the same things, and it would annoy the shit out of me.

[Lauren Draper-wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to Grip epitomizes why I love sport; the passion, the camaraderie, the highs of a win and overcoming the lows.
Emil DeAndreis writes brilliantly, and you feel him age and mature through his writing as he works his was through high school to college and beyond.
Sometimes memoirs feel forced and unnecessary, but this has an honesty and depth. The intertwining stories of Charlie's pro career emphasize just what could have been. However with no regret, Emil's story is inspirational. Without putting his illness on a pedestal, it undoubtedly changed his life's trajectory, but has only strengthened the man he's become.

[Karen Ng · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was given to me from my niece, who’s a physicianwhen I was recovering from a massive stroke last winter,an inspirational read about a baseball pitcher who ended up with overcame Rheumatoid Arthritisat a young age. Old life ended, but new one started right after.

[Yasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Struggling with a declining body

The best parts of the book were how Emil struggled with his body in coming to terms with its decline. His writing was wonderful when he wrote about this difficulty.

[John Julius · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an impressive book for a young writer. Perhaps I would have streamlined sections, but DeAndreis achieves his goal of mourning the loss of his pitching career with style, class and literary rigor. Full review here: https://youtu.be/PKLB-pW5sBQ

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book through Goodreads. Very emotional but inspiring story. So young to lose so much. The story is extremely touching but also funny. Loved it.

[Dave Moyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just OK. Not overly inspiring. Ending was stronger than the beginning.

[manatee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really, really loved this book because Emil made you understand exactly how he came to love Baseball. Emil is a really talented writer, who has a way with humor and juxtaposing funny contrasts. He writes gloriously about the sport he lived and loves, as well as working at Jamba Juice, and dealing with life's blows. This book is fricking hilarious!
More importantly, it made me care about Emil and about baseball, a pastime that I have always regarded as one of the world's most boring sports.

This memoir is a breath of fresh air, since it is so skillfully written. Like any good memoir, it shows the reader "What it is like to be me." I felt that I could relate to Emil despite the fact that he is a teenage jock and I am a middle age woman. That is what powerful writing can do.
Emile has obviously put in hours upon countless hours honing his craft. It shows in his good writing.

I eagerly await his novel. This book is quite a winner.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, heartbreaking, with lovely sentence craft too.