Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Hannan / Sports John Feinstein, Sports Writings' Answer to John Grisham, Speaks in Nashville
Posted by Caleb Hannan on Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 2:00 PM
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Death and taxes ain't got nuthin' on John Feinstein. He is to sports writing what Stephen King is to the horror genre: a publishing cash-cow. Feinstein has cranked out a behind-the-scenes tome at the rate of one per year for the past two decades. Ever since his excellent Season on the Brink in 1986, the world's first official look at Bobby Knight the Bully and still one of the highest selling sports book of all time.
Unfortunately, this kind of mass production has its pit falls. Last year he brought the sports-public Living on the Black: Two Pitchers, Two Teams, One Season to Remember, a back-and-forth look at two of New York baseball's oldest and least dynamic pitchers: the Mets' Tom Glavine and Yankees' Mike Mussina. Quoteth the Washington Post, Feinstein's old editorial stomping grounds: "extremely short on baseball drama." Ouch.
That isn't to say Feinstein won't be worth hearing*. His 1995 look at the PGA Tour's qualifying tournament A Good Walk Spoiled remains one of the best books about golf (stop laughing) ever written. And writing two of the greatest sports books of all time is more than enough for most epithets.
The problem remains, however, that baseball players who hit at Feinstein's rate never make it out of Fall Ball. The guy will most certainly have his share of stories to tell. But he'd be better off if he stopped charging $24.95 for each one.
Especially since ticket sales for the March 11th appearance at Montgomery Bell Academy go to support Backfield in Motion, the entirely worthy East Nashville non-profit after-school program.
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