Bullpen Gospels

Day 68 of the "What are you reading, and why?" project. It's Sunday, so we have some gospels.

That is, Richard is reading Bullpen Gospels by Dirk Hayhurst because it is baseball season! The subtitle is Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran, and surely many players have shared these dreams. The book is just out, and is apparently very frank and very funny!

And it already has fans and followers because it originated as a blog called The Non-Prospect Diaries, as Dirk was a minor leaguer who didn't feel he had the prospect of becoming a major leaguer. But he did! For the San Diego Padres and the Toronto Blue Jays. (You can learn more about his baseball career on the player page of his website, where, if you are that kind of baseball fan, you can even click on his stats! Or you can click here and float around cyberspace.)

And, of course, you will want to see pictures of and learn about the Garfoose.

People liked his blog, so it turned into a newspaper column called "The Bullpen Gospels" in his hometown paper and others. Dirk Hayhurst seems like a born writer and a baseball player who worked hard to get where he is. What a great story.

Reading about him reminded me of what fun I had, and how much I learned about the inside of baseball, reading Ball Four, by Jim Bouton, back in the 1970s. There have been updated editions of that, and a new one is out right now. In fact, Ball Four: The Final Pitch was released on the exact same day as Bullpen Gospels, maybe so people could read and compare breakthrough baseball autobiographies as they welcome in the new season.

We have a new minor league team in my town, starting this summer! The Cornbelters!