Glanville book keeps the game real

Posted Jun 15, 2010 by Bob D'Angelo

Updated Jun 15, 2010 at 05:22 PM

Many baseball books promise the reader the inside scoop about what goes on in the dugout and behind clubhouse doors. Disappointingly, few of them deliver true insights.

Doug Glanville is a refreshing exception to that rule.

A former outfielder for the Phillies, Cubs and Rangers from 1996 to 2004, Glanville shares his insights in “The Game From Where I Stand: A Ballplayer’s Inside View” (Times Books, $25).

With a career .277 average, Glanville had 1,100 hits in 1,115 games for the Phillies, Cubs and Rangers from 1996 to 2004. Glanville was no superstar, but he wasn’t a utility player, either. So we don’t see baseball from the perspective of a superstar, a la Alex Rodriguez; nor do we see the game from a journeyman, most famously advanced by Jim Bouton in his 1970 diary, “Ball Four.”

Much of Glanville’s observations revolve around how ballplayers act, particularly off the field. For example, he characterizes Montreal as “a never-ending bachelor party.”

He talks about his e-mail exchanges with model Tyra Banks, a relationship that began when Glanville made a flip comment about kissing home plate after a milestone hit. “If they put a picture of Tyra Banks on the plate, I might kiss it,” he originally said.

Glanville was always a level-headed player during his career, and he passes along that philosophy.

“Keeping it real can be a good thing,” he writes. “It allows us to stay grounded; it reminds us of where we came from, who we are; it keeps us centered.”

Glanville writes about being stalked by a female fan in Atlanta, and how his visit with a white woman (a friend, not a date) caused consternation among some of his teammates.

There are good baseball anecdotes in this book, too. Glanville writes about baseball’s true professionals, men like Ryne Sandberg and Cal Ripken Jr., and how they prepared for games. There also are funny stories involving Sammy Sosa. With an equally sharp eye, Glanville gives his perspective on the Steve Bartman incident at Wrigley Field in 2003 and writes about his encounters with basketball superstar Michael Jordan.

Through it all, Glanville shows that baseball players are just as human as the rest of us.

“Behind the bluster and bravado, they are as uncertain and fragile as any other human beings,” he writes.

This book should open quite a few eyes. The stories are rich and shows Glanville’s keen ability to sift through the romantic vision of how the public perceives baseball players, providing a more honest, balanced picture.