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Six Good Innings: How One Small Town Became a Little League Giant | 
 enlarge | Author: Mark Kreidler
Publisher: Harper
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.85
You Save: $12.10 (48%)
New (32) Used (9) from $11.79
Avg. Customer Rating:  41 reviews
Sales Rank: 44345
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.7 x 1.1
ISBN: 006147357X
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9780061473579
ASIN: 006147357X
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new, no remainder marks and ready to ship!
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Product Description
In the tradition of Friday Night Lights comes an unforgettable portrait of a small New Jersey town that became known throughout the world for the remarkable exploits of its Little League stars. Summertime in Toms River means two things: tourists and champions. The tourists head for the beaches; the 12-year-old Little League champions can be found on the baseball diamonds, where they win titles at the local, regional, and international levels. The Toms River dynasty began in the 1990s, when the team made it to the Little League World Series three times in five years and brought home a historic world championship victory in 1998. But with each passing summer in Toms River comes renewed pressure, as the latest collection of All-Stars strives to leave its mark on the town's imposing baseball legacy. In Six Good Innings, acclaimed sportswriter Mark Kreidler deftly illuminates the sometimes tense relationship between Toms River and the team that carries the town's hopes and dreams. Following the most recent juggernaut through one tumultuous All-Star season, Kreidler chronicles how the coach, John Puleo, works to strike a balance between healthy competition and bloodless ambition, and how the players themselves reckon with their own fleeting fame as they tumble headlong into adolescence. Puleo, a man with a gift for inspiring young athletes, commands a team whose recent string of successes has led to speculation that this might be the squad to extend the Toms River tradition of reaching Williamsport, site of the Little League World Series. But along the path to glory, Puleo's players will deal with unexpected injuries, a brutally difficult schedule of games, and the daunting knowledge that they have been identified throughout their region—and within the neighborhood blocks of their own baseball-crazy town—as the team to beat. With deep empathy, incisive reporting, and intimate access, Kreidler weaves the stories of the coaches, the parents, the fans, and the true boys of summer into a memorable tableau.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 36 more reviews...
 Six Good Pages September 18, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Mr. Kreidler opens his book with a six page description of a home run. This is worthy of comment in itself. Anyone can describe a home run in one page, or even a single sentence, but to be able to devote six pages to it is an accomplishment to be admired. Unfortunately, the rest of the book does not live up to this early promise. Problems are apparent from the beginning. The sentence structure is difficult at times. Some are almost magical but others leave you reading and re-reading, trying to make out who is the subject of the sentence, or what, exactly, is taking place on the field. Who is doing what to whom?
Baseball is an easy thing to love. It is in our blood from the time we are little. If Major League Baseball has become jaded and bloated on its riches, and shown disdain for what is sacred, Little League Baseball is untarnished, without taint and innocent of the sins of its bigger brother. But Mr. Kreidler somehow manages to make the game uninteresting and the youngsters who accomplished so much, unsympathetic. I found it hard to care, as I read, what happened. There is no magic in this account, and there should be.
I suppose my expectations were unrealistic. I looked for the poetry of Bull Durham or The Natural. If you look for the same, you will not find it here. This is more of a wordy newspaper article than the work of near-poetry the subject deserves. I hope you will get more out of it than I did.
 Doomed From The Start September 9, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Six Good Innings is an average book, and unfortunately for the author, it's about an average baseball team. The book was doomed from the start because of its subject matter, the 2007 Toms River Little League All-Star team.
Books like this succeed when one of two elements is present: (1) the team is outrageously successful and wins a championship; or (2) the team is made up of compelling personalities that drive the narrative. Six Good Innings features neither of these elements.
Without spoiling the plot, there isn't a whole lot to get excited about here.
And the personalities are either exceptionally bland, or the author has buried the personalities for the sake of his story.
Most significantly, what is missing, and what could make this a compelling book, is a discussion of at what price these teams seek success. Is this level of commitment, pressure, tension, and demand appropriate for a group of seventh-graders? Frankly, if the book questioned the role ESPN has played in this development, treating seventh-graders like another piece of content to fill airtime, that would have been interesting. Given the author's employment by ESPN, such a discussion seemed unlikely from the start.
The author also glossed over the role the parents played, and the lessons that were taught to these young athletes in this "win-at-all-costs" endeavor.
All in all, the book was an average read about an average team. Nothing more, nothing less.
The "Friday Night Lights" Of Little League? August 31, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
I live north of Toms River, so when this book was offered for review, I couldn't wait to review it. Kreidler is obviously going for a "Friday Night Lights" feel for his book, but one reason that book is such a classic is that you feel the effect of the sport on the town and how the people basically live their lives through the fortunes of the team. But Mark Kridler pretty much sticks to the various games themselves here, and the fact that he tends to jump back and forth through the years is distancing to the reader. But if you have a kid who enjoys/plays baseball, this is a good addition to their baseball shelf.
Easy Read! August 30, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Six Good Innings is a fantastic book that sheds new insight into the Toms River baseball dynasty. The backgrounds, pressures and blunt opinions of former coaches, current players and Toms River residents blends wonderfully to showcase how athletic success can lead to unrealistic expectations. A must read for any parent looking to get into athletics.
 Fun book and a good representation little league allstars August 29, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The book traces the story of a little league all star team that is gunning for the world series. I won't give away the ending. The setup is that several teams from this town in NJ have gone to the world series in the past and one even won it all. So its as credible a program as any for having a shot.
About 2/3 of the book is the setup -- background of the past teams that have made it, stories of their insane practice schedule and about little league. The last 1/3 is the post season play.
Although the book rambles in a couple places, it's a lot of fun for anyone who has had some experience with the lunacy of little league intensity. The stories and examples will surely resonate with stories of any local league. The writing isn't brilliant -- the "characters" aren't as developed as they could be for instance. But overall its a fun read about a national pasttime and institution.
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