The Pine Tar Game: The Kansas City Royals, the New York Yankees, and Baseball’s Most Absurd and Entertaining Controversy by Filip Bondy

Category: 50 Books

I usually read baseball books during the off-season, but this one grabbed my eye. I thought, “How on earth can someone write a whole book about one ball game?” I mean, magazine article, sure, but a whole book? One game? PROVE IT, FILIP BONDY.

It was great.
Admittedly, it’s about a bit more than just one ball game. Bondy takes us back to the mid-1970s to establish the history of the Yankees/Royals rivalry. It’s not a dry history either. I never found it draggy or boring. Full disclosure: I’m a Yankees fan, so even though I knew most of the history bits on the Yankees side (Steinbrenner/Martin) it was never boring because he keeps it short and sweet, plus, the Royals/George Brett history I pretty much knew nothing about, so I really enjoyed learning about that. And it’s not super-detailed, he hits the high points to keep the flow of the story going.

It’s about halfway or more through the book before you get to 1983 and the actual Pine Tar Game, but I didn’t have a problem with it. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. It was as entertaining as it was informative.

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