On Hanging in There

I've been doing a lot of thinking these past few days about the notion of optimism and yesterday's post may have betrayed my natural inclinations on the subject.

So it was good therapy yesterday to follow up on a tip that I caught reading Sports Illustrated in the waiting room of my doctor's office. When I got back to the house, I retrieved a bookstore gift card from last Christmas and purchased The 33-Year-Old Rookie. By the end of the afternoon, I'd finished it.

If the films Bull Durham or The Rookie resonated with you at all, I'd recommend this story without hesitation. Chris Coste (pronounced "Coast") spent 11 years in baseball's minor leagues. Normally a player who hasn't made the major leagues after 5 or 6 years in the minors starts looking at other career paths.

There are several refreshing aspects to this book. One is that Chris wrote it without the help of a ghostwriter. He also clearly appreciates how fortunate he is to play baseball for a living. He has faith in his ability, but he seems to do so without ego. And while baseball locker rooms and dugouts are certainly not repositories of good taste and polite conversation, Chris does a good job of keeping the vulgarities to a minimum without excessively sanitizing the atmosphere. I'm encouraging my 11-year-old son to read it.

And even though Chris doesn't play for the Angels, or even the Dodgers, I'll be rooting for him.