Seasons in Hell

Once you accept how bad the Rangers were, this book becomes delightful, and in some cases, laugh-out-loud funny. Hearing Whitey Herzog's evaluations of his charges are hilarious; Shropshire's account of Ten Cent Beer Night in Cleveland should be required reading for any student of the game. This book is not literature, but is a first hand look at the underbelly of the game of baseball as played by the underdogs--sort of like a cross between Ball Four and Hunter S. Thompson.

A perfect introduction to the "culture" of baseball.


Hitchikers Guide to Baseball   March 28, 2002
Quite possibly one of the funniest books I've ever read. I would look forward to coming home to read this and then I read it again. Images of Texans being "beaten to death with their own six pack" and Whitey Herzog/Billy Martin stories killed me throughout. I'm certain Mr. Shropshire is embellishing a WEE bit in certain scenarios, but that's ok. This is the best baseball book I've ever read. Hilarious and highly recommended.


Great premise; poor execution   June 2, 2001
 1 out of 3 found this review helpful

Being a life long Texas Rangers fan, through their ups and downs (and downs and downs and downs), I thought this book would be very interesting. It WAS interesting, but I found Shropshire's smart-aleck style of writing so annoying that I couldn't finish the book. Some of it was so smarmy and self-consciously 'witty' that I wanted to throw the book across the room. Many of the anecdotes ARE humorous, but not enough to make me recommend this book. The entire tone is like a smart-aleck sports article, which, of course, is what Shrop makes his living writing. I think part of the fault lies with the editor, because there are some good stories in here--Billy Martin, Whitey Herzog, etc. Parts of this would probably make a decent movie.


not too good   April 19, 2001
 1 out of 3 found this review helpful

Even before the start of spring training, Herzog had said, 'If Rich Billings is the starting catcher again, we're in deep trouble.' When that evaluation was passed along to Billings, he simply nodded and said, 'Whitey, obviously, has seen me play.' -Mike Shropshire, Seasons in Hell

Despite some funny moments, the presence of many colorful characters, and several infamous incidents, Mike Shropshire's account of several tumultuous years of early Texas Rangers' history just isn't terribly good. Sure, it's fun to see Whitey Herzog, Billy Martin, Rico Carty, Lenny Randle, and company in action. Yeah, it's amusing to relive 10-cent beer night in Cleveland and heartbreaking to see Texas ownership throw David Clyde into the fire of major league competition at age eighteen, just to sell tickets. But much of the rest of the book is either juvenile or self-absorbed, or worst of all, inaccurate.

The main influence on Shropshire appears to have been Ball Four; he seems to think the fact that ballplayers (and coaches and sportswriters) drink, swear, and chase skirts, is both newsworthy and hilarious. He is mistaken. (Though there is one piece of scatological humor that nearly makes the rest worthwhile : the letters in the name "Spiro Agnew" can be rearranged to form the phrase "Grow a Penis") He also apparently thinks that his own life is as compelling as the misadventures of the team he was covering. He is mistaken. Finally, in recreating his thoughts, circa 1973, he summons up memories of Attention Deficit Disorder, Leslie Nielsen as a comic airline pilot, and Victoria's Secret Catalogues. If he thinks these things would have been known to him in those years, he is mistaken.

Particularly given the material he had to work with, this is a disappointing book.

GRADE : C-