“You’re going up.” If your a baseball player trying to make the major leagues,those are the words you play for. Broadcaster Josh Lewin decided to go around and ask various players of not only today but of past years as well, to recall what thier first game was like.

The responses are vastly different,some players like Phillies lefthander Jamie Moyer had to pitch against Steve Carlton while others like Lou Pinella played 1 game then got shipped back down to the minors. Some of the memories are bitter..see Pinella and Manny Ramirez as prime examples while others are funny,famed Red Sox 2nd baseman/broadcaster Jerry Remy came in as a pinch runner….and promptly got picked off!
Many players got to play in front of thier parents and friends while other players recall how well they were treated and how they treated the nerves that often threatened to overwhelm them.
This is a pretty fast read but a book no serious baseball fan should pass up…

Highly recommended!

War. On the surface,its a cold unfeeling word or action. We watch it on the nightly news,read about it on the Internet or watch the past wars via movies or specials like the PBS series on World War II being shown now.

But war is far more then just images flashing by our eyes,its the ultimate personal experience. It showcases every emotion Man has….love,fear,hate,righteousness,cowardness,bravery,killer and victim.
Every day during a war,the best and worst are constantly on display. But while the average person remains untouched by war, so many others are not.

Andrew Carroll has wriiten one of the most searing war books ever in Behind the Lines. Carroll journeyed around the world collecting letters from soldiers to thier loved ones during times of war. Its a powerfully compelling read. But he doesn’t stop with just soldiers, he also collected letters from others who were caught in the middle of the fighting,from Baghdad to Dresden to Stalingrad.

Some letters are filled with rage at the terrible losses these people have seen,both as soldiers and as civilians. Others are to loved ones, letting them know they are safe only to learn later,thier loved one has been killed. The reader can’t help but be moved by the British parents during the Blitz who sent thier daughter to Canada to be safe from the German bombers. They wrote a welcome letter to her so when she got her new home,she would have a nice surprise. What the parent’s didn’t know was thier beloved daughter never made it,the ship she was on was sunk by a U-Boat and she (along with 300 others) was killed.

The letters between enemies seeking a middle ground for forgiveness is touching as well…and gives one hope that maybe one day our leaders will finally get it that war is the most human event.

Carroll’s book should be presented to every world leader with this in mind.