Welcome to the Circus of Baseball: A Story of the Perfect Summer at the Perfect Ballpark at the Perfect Time
(Libby/OverDrive eAudiobook)

ESPN senior writer and radio cohost McGee sets his wayback machine to 1994, when he served as a first-year intern for the Asheville (North Carolina) Tourists, who played at hallowed McCormick Field, where Ruth, Cobb, Robinson, and Clemente made appearances as players, and Cal Ripken Jr. served as a bat boy. McGee would bolt the team for a gig with ESPN before the season even ended--hardly making for a "perfect" anything--but readers will be charmed by the gallery of owners, players, coaches, groundskeepers, concessionaires, (fighting!) mascots, fellow interns, and fans McGee paints with such vivid colors in this account of one small, all-hands-on-deck, minor-league club back in the beforetime. For fans of the movie Bull Durham.

ESPN writer and radio commentator McGee recounts a sentimental education in the front office of a minor league baseball team. It was 1993, and McGee, fresh out of college and living with his parents, was desperate for a job. He auditioned for ESPN only to be dismissed by sports-journalism pioneer Al Jaffe. Nonetheless, McGee, author of The Road to Omaha and Sidelines and Bloodlines, was determined to find a career in sports, so he traveled to a "Baseball Job Fair" in Atlanta to make his case. He managed to sign on with the Asheville Tourists, who played in "a perfectly picturesque All American throwback minor league ballpark." Though only paid $100 per week, McGee was pleased with his new job, especially since he had enjoyed minor league baseball since he was a kid. The author's account opens with a very funny sideshow moment involving "Captain Dynamite," who, for $500, blew himself up in his "Exploding Coffin of Death." Among other colorful characters populating the narrative, McGee recounts the exploits of a 57-year-old former pitcher--turned-coach nicknamed Tomatoes for his florid complexion and known for "his legendary and unprecedented ability to eat an entire pizza while also gnawing on a plug of Red Man chewing tobacco while washing it all down with a beer." Most of the team could have come out of Ron Shelton's great film Bull Durham, with similarly grim chances of making it to the majors, while McGee himself chronicles his blundering from task to task, miscounting ticket sales here and cooking hot dogs there. Throughout, the author delivers entertaining set pieces, including an improbable dust-up between league mascots. Near the end, McGee has harsh words for the greedy MLB owners who, in 2021, cut 40 minor league teams "because they had been deemed unnecessary." A picaresque, funny account of a side of lesser-rung baseball too little represented in the literature. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

ESPN senior writer and radio cohost McGee sets his wayback machine to 1994, when he served as a first-year intern for the Asheville (North Carolina) Tourists, who played at hallowed McCormick Field, where Ruth, Cobb, Robinson, and Clemente made appearances as players, and Cal Ripken Jr. served as a bat boy. McGee would bolt the team for a gig with ESPN before the season even ended—hardly making for a "perfect" anything—but readers will be charmed by the gallery of owners, players, coaches, groundskeepers, concessionaires, (fighting!) mascots, fellow interns, and fans McGee paints with such vivid colors in this account of one small, all-hands-on-deck, minor-league club back in the beforetime. For fans of the movie Bull Durham. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews.

After finishing college, McGee (The Road to Omaha: Hits, Hopes, and History at the College World Series), whose lifelong dream was to become a sports announcer (and who now cohosts the ESPN Radio show Marty & McGee), interned with the Asheville Tourists, a Minor League Baseball team in North Carolina, for the 1994 season. He tells the story of the internship in this nostalgic memoir. While there, he performed a huge variety of tasks for the team, including handling tickets, manning concession stands, creating promotional materials, establishing good relationships with the local community, and running errands for the administration, especially the owner. When that season ended, he was hired by ESPN as a production assistant. In the nearly 30 years since then, he has risen in ESPN's ranks to become a senior writer, college football reporter, and five-time Emmy winner. This book is a hilarious yet endearing account of McGee's experiences during that 1994 season in Asheville. Readers who are baseball fans will enjoy the descriptive, picturesque scenes McGee paints. VERDICT Will likely appeal to and attract many sports fans and general readers. Highly recommended for public libraries and collections with a sports emphasis.—Steve Dixon