After reading through (what I later discovered to be) Dirk Hayhurst’s second book, I thought I would give this third one a try as well. I have yet to pick up the first. Anyhow, the blend of humor, insider anecdotes and introspection made Out of My League a hit in my books. I was hoping for more of the same in this one. So, did I get it?
In a word, no. The story starts with the same fun, playful, optimistic (but somewhat self-deprecating) mood that its predecessor does, but gets pretty dark and gloomy pretty quickly. Hayhurst goes through some real serious issues, including seemingly insurmountable physical and mental duress. The former makes sense: baseball players get hurt and suffer through long, painful rehabilitation processes. The latter also makes sense: mental illness and depression have come into the spotlight in recent years like never before.
I am not faulting the author for either. Nor am I faulting him for wanting to write about it. But I will say that he seemed about as self-absorbed and unlikable as some of his surly teammates that he spends ample time griping about.
It seemed to me that this book was an attempt at getting readers to feel the author’s pain and sympathize not only with him, but with the fragile, vulnerable side of all baseball players (and really, all humans in general). The problem is, first you have to care about the protagonist. I didn’t feel like Hayhurst did a good enough job of portraying himself as someone to root for.
In the end, though, I read it all the way through, and even found a few nuggets of wisdom in there. For those of you who are afraid of taking risks or trying something new or different from the crowd, this quote should at least get you thinking:
“But then again, living is a gamble. We all wind up and deliver our pitch, and what happens after that — strike three, home run, or shoulder injury — is out of our control. We can’t go back, but we can go forward with what we’ve learned.”
Kind of reminds me of a quote by late Hanshin Tigers pitcher Shigeru Kobayashi: “In the game of life, don’t go down looking at strike three.”
In the end, this one still left a less-than-satisfying aftertaste in my mouth. Yes, I plan on picking up the first of his three books (The Bullpen Gospels) but only because it was his first hit, and probably has more to offer than this one did.