This week I finally got around to reading Doug Glanville's The Game from Where I Stand. Glanville, a first-round pick of the Cubs, had a nine-year career in the majors, including five years spent with his boyhood team, the Phillies. Glanville, a native of Teaneck, New Jersey, who attended the University of Pennsylvania, was a favorite of mine, though he played with the Phillies in a gray, dismal time. His book, published last year, grew from the excellent op-ed column he has been writing for the New York Times. Not surprisingly, the book is as thoughtful, articulate, and insightful as the columns.
As its somewhat clunky title indicates, the book is a player's view of the game, from the struggles of living up to being a first-round pick, making it to the majors, toiling on losing teams, and finally coming to grips with diminished returns on the field. This is not the usual book by yet another entitled, self-absorbed player. Glanville casts a broader net, covering the trials, rewards, pitfalls, and inevitable decline facing all ballplayers, while lacing his insights with wit, humility, and humor.
Glanville's career coincided with the steroid era and his chapter on steroids and PED's is candid and balanced. (So is his take on the media.) It is refreshing to read that many baseball players were truly conflicted about PED's, whether it was about using them or supporting, ignoring, or opposing those who did. PED usage was a big issue in the game and Glanville takes it on with grace and nuanced reflection.
On the lighter side, his take on Montreal made me think I should have thought more seriously about going to graduate school there. And who knew that players have regular buddies when they play catch before each game? His account of his one brush with play-off baseball, with the 2003 Cubs, is poignant. In the end, the closest Glanville got to a championship was being tabbed by the Phillies to bring out the ball for the ceremonial first pitch in Game 5 of the 2008 World Series. Jim Bunning got the honor of tossing the ball but Glanville, once again a fan, was on hand days later for the dramatic conclusion of the game and of the series.
Doug Glanville was a solid major league player. He may be an even better writer. That's impressive. Baseball and writing are the ultimate humbling endeavors.
