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    Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life in the Minor Leagues of Baseball
    Unavailable
    Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life in the Minor Leagues of Baseball
    Unavailable
    Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life in the Minor Leagues of Baseball
    Audiobook11 hours

    Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life in the Minor Leagues of Baseball

    Published by Penguin Random House Audio

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    From the acclaimed #1 bestselling author . . . a riveting journey through the world of minor-league baseball

    "No one grows up playing baseball pretending that they're pitching or hitting in Triple-A." -Chris Schwinden, Triple-A pitcher

    "If you don't like it here, do a better job." -Ron Johnson, Triple-A manager

    John Feinstein gave readers an unprecedented view of the PGA Tour in A Good Walk Spoiled. He opened the door to an NCAA basketball locker room in his explosive bestseller A Season on the Brink. Now, turning his eye to our national pastime, sports journalist John Feinstein explores the colorful and mysterious world of minor-league baseball-a gateway through which all major-league players pass in their careers . . . hoping never to return.

    Baseball's minor leagues are a paradox. For some players, the minors are a glorious launching pad toward years of fame and fortune; for others, a crash-landing pad when injury or poor play forces a big leaguer back to a life of obscure ballparks and cramped buses instead of Fenway Park and plush charter planes. Focusing exclusively on the Triple-A level, one step beneath Major League Baseball, Feinstein introduces readers to nine unique men: three pitchers, three position players, two managers, and an umpire. Through their compelling stories, Feinstein pulls back the veil on a league that is chock-full of gifted baseball players, managers, and umpires who are all one moment away from getting called up-or back-to the majors.

    The stories are hard to believe: a first-round draft pick and pitching ace who rocketed to major-league success before finding himself suddenly out of the game, hatching a presumptuous plan to get one more shot at the mound; a home run-hitting former World Series hero who lived the dream, then bounced among six teams before facing the prospects of an unceremonious end to his career; a big-league All-Star who, in the span of five months, went from being completely out of baseball to becoming a star in the ALDS, then signing a $10 million contract; and a well-liked designated hitter who toiled for eighteen seasons in the minors-a record he never wanted to set-before facing his final, highly emotional chance for a call-up to the big leagues.

    From Raleigh to Pawtucket, from Lehigh Valley to Indianapolis and beyond, Where Nobody Knows Your Name gives readers an intimate look at a baseball world not normally seen by the fans. John Feinstein gets to the heart of the human stories in a uniquely compelling way, crafting a masterful book that stands alongside his very best works.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateFeb 25, 2014
    ISBN9780804192064
    Unavailable
    Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life in the Minor Leagues of Baseball

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    Reviews for Where Nobody Knows Your Name

    3.5/5

    56 ratings8 reviews

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    • 2/5
      A forgettable series of vignettes featuring former and aspiring minor leaguers.
    • 4/5
      This is the first Feinstein book I've read and after reading I may need to tackle more in the future. Feinstein follows the trials and struggles of various baseball players (and some umpires as well) trying to get out of the minors and show their skills on a major league field. Many people, even ones who follow baseball closely, are unaware of how difficult it is to come up through the minors and make a major league team. This book does a magnificent job of describing what certain players go through, chronicling the ups as well as the major downs that these guys experience. Probably the quote that sums up the book the best is uttered by former Triple-A manager Ron Johnson to players that complain about being in the minors: "If you don't like it here, do a better job."
    • 3/5
      Promising, but not completely absorbing even for this baseball fan. At the beginning Feinstein gives the impression of wanting to focus on nine particular baseball people (players, coaches and an umpire in the minor leagues), but he covers so many places and events and people that some of the storylines get lost. There's also a good deal of repetition; for instance, once you've heard one player express disappointment about not getting a call-up to the majors, it doesn't really add much to quote several other players saying the same thing, and focusing so much on veterans hanging on for one last shot means less variety to the stories. I would've instead liked more details about life in the minors -- I guess I was hoping for a book version of "Bull Durham."
    • 5/5
      I am a baseball fan. For years and years before I moved to a town with a major league team, I was a season ticket holder at single A, double A and triple A teams in the towns I lived in. There is nothing more fun than Used Car Night or bat night (well, bat night is really loud) anyway, John Feinstein made those magical nights come alive with the stories of the players. I've been a fan of his reports on NPR and his book is just as delightful. Many of the players who's stories he told have played in the major leagues so I was familiar with the names but many I was not. Oh and he also talked about the umpires in the minors and the broadcasters. It takes a village. I only with this book was twice as long. When I got to the end, all I wanted was more.
    • 4/5
      I love Feinstein's sports books. This one follows an approach he's used in the past in writing about a subject by following a cast of characters through the course of a season. In this case, he's doing Triple A baseball. And, as usual, it's a nice effort.

      AAA ball, the minor league level just below the majors, is a lot different than I expected. I'm a long-time baseball fan and consider myself pretty conversant on all baseball topics, yet I learned a lot from this book. Most of what I learned wasn't exactly baseball-related per se, but was more about the approaches and mind-sets the players, managers, and umpires have.

      As with all of his books, WNKYN is well-written, full of anecdotes and good quotes, and a quick read. If you're a serious baseball fan, you'll love it.
    • 3/5
      Promising, but not completely absorbing even for this baseball fan. At the beginning Feinstein gives the impression of wanting to focus on nine particular baseball people (players, coaches and an umpire in the minor leagues), but he covers so many places and events and people that some of the storylines get lost. There's also a good deal of repetition; for instance, once you've heard one player express disappointment about not getting a call-up to the majors, it doesn't really add much to quote several other players saying the same thing, and focusing so much on veterans hanging on for one last shot means less variety to the stories. I would've instead liked more details about life in the minors -- I guess I was hoping for a book version of "Bull Durham."
    • 3/5
      The story of 6 Ballplayers, 2 managers, and 1 umpire during the 2012 season in the International League at the Triple-A level. Well, there's actually a lot more stories than those 8, including one of my favorite players, Dan Johnson. I liked the attention to the little details, like that the name for the transactions column in the newspaper is "the agate" due to its type size! And, as always, I Believe in Stephen Vogt! (page 212)! My favorite quote in here is from Buddy Carlyle, "You know what I've learned through all the years and all the moves? The stroller never fits in the car when you've packed everything else. I've left a lot of strollers behind in a lot of different places." That, for me, sums up the message in this book.
    • 4/5
      "Where Nobody Knows Your Name" is about life in baseball's minor leagues, most often at the Triple A level where players and umpires are on the verge of finally making it to the Majors. Sadly, for some, this is as close as they are ever going to get to the Major Leagues. Even more sadly, many of these young men find themselves hanging around the high minors for a decade or so, refusing to give up their dreams despite the fact that everyone but them seems to recognize that they will never quite make those dreams happen.The author focuses on a handful of players, a couple of managers, and one minor league umpire who are all hoping to either reach the Majors for the first time or to return there so they can prove that they belong there...or, in some cases, STILL belong there after already having had decent careers in the Bigs. Baseball fans will recognize some of the names: Nate McClouth, Scott Posednik, Scott Elarton, and Brett Tomko all made their marks in the Major Leagues via one or more successful season before their skills suddenly declined and made them expendable to their big league employers. John Lindsey, on the other hand, had, when the book was started, played in more minor league games without being called-up to the majors than any other player in baseball history. And then you have umpire Mark Lollo and managers Charlie Montoyo and Ron Johnson, all of whom have stories of their own to tell.What all of these men have in common is their dream to play, manage, or umpire baseball games at the sport's highest level. Not surprisingly, it is a dream that is very hard for them to give up. All their lives, they have been among the top players in their hometowns, their prep schools, and their colleges. But now, suddenly, they are surrounded by other young men of equal, or even greater, ability than their own. It is easier for some than for others to give up on their lifelong dreams...those who hang in there for years and years, refusing to quit, are seldom rewarded with major league careers of note, however. This is after all the real world, and baseball is a business. Some few do get a sniff of the majors and are up for three or four years, mostly as support and bench players. But their stories are ones that have the respect of baseball fans all over the country. They represent people like us (even though we have nothing even approaching their athletic ability) in that they recognize how special an opportunity it is to play baseball at the highest level. We know that we would never give up, and we applaud them for doing the same.