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Title details for Welcome to the Circus of Baseball by Ryan McGee - Available

Welcome to the Circus of Baseball

A Story of the Perfect Summer at the Perfect Ballpark at the Perfect Time

by Ryan McGee
Ryan McGee
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
A gloriously funny, nostalgic memoir of a popular ESPN reporter who, in the summer of 1994, was a fresh-out-of-college intern for a minor league baseball team. Madness and charm ensue as Ryan McGee spends the season steeped in sweat, fertilizer, nacho cheese sauce, and pure, unadulterated joy in North Carolina with the Asheville Tourists.
"A sweet and funny book that reminds us it’s not just the game itself that draws us. It’s also the people." —Tom Verducci, MLB Network, Fox & Sports Illustrated, and New York Times bestselling author of The Yankee Years
In the spring of 1994, Ryan McGee (new college graduate) bombed his coveted interview with ESPN—the only place he ever wanted to work. But he did receive one job offer: to work for $100 a week for the Asheville Tourists, a proud minor league baseball team in the heart of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. McCormick Field, home to the Tourists, had once been graced by Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and Jackie Robinson. What could go wrong?
Welcome to the Circus of Baseball is McGee’s hilarious, charming memoir of his first summer working in the sporting world. He has since risen the ESPN ranks to national TV, radio, and Internet host, but his time in Asheville still looms large. Among the many jewels of his experience. . . McGee recounts one of the most entertaining on-field brawls you’ll ever witness (between the fourteen league mascots who had assembled for the all-star game—an eight-foot-tall foam-costumed crustacean, a pudgy red fox, a giant skunk . . . and they were really fighting), as well as the nervous moment he oversaw the game-day entertainer known as "Captain Dynamite and His Exploding Coffin of Death." Most important, McGee details a magical summer of baseball, of learning the ropes, of the ins-and-outs of running a minor league team, and of coming to understand how the pulse of a community can beat gloriously through a minor league ball club.
Welcome to the Circus of Baseball is a baseball classic in the making.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 4, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593666678
      • File size: 253424 KB
      • Duration: 08:47:57

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Ryan McGee is an author who narrates his own work wonderfully. His memoir focuses on the year he was fresh out of college, when he worked for a minor league baseball team. The audiobook is a series of mostly laugh-out-loud moments, with McGee's creative turns of phrase equaling his narration. His welcoming Southern accent carries listeners from one episode to the next behind the scenes of a ballclub that requires all hands on deck all the time. From his serious tone when describing the ice cream and snow cone machines to his dealings with coaches and the stadium's cat, McGee provides his words with a clear narration that is heartfelt and humorous. Even those who aren't baseball fans will find this a fun listen. M.B. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      Starred review from June 10, 2024

      ESPN senior writer and radio cohost McGee smacks one out of the park with his memoir about the 1994 minor-league baseball season, recalling glory days complete with Dairy Queen Blizzards and a brief but spectacular mascot brawl. Fresh out of college in 1994, McGee interned for the Asheville (NC) Tourists, earning $100 per week. At historic McCormick Field, one of the oldest minor-league ballparks and a filming location for Bull Durham, McGee developed relationships with a rich cast of characters, including Grady Gardner, the head groundskeeper (who couldn't work Tuesdays because that's line-dancing night), James the Mountain Man (ball-retriever exemplar), and Julio, the ballpark cat. Listeners will be transported to the ballpark, soaking up a game on Thirsty Thursday or catching some entertainment from Captain Dynamite and his Exploding Coffin of Death--perhaps even glimpsing Michael Jordan or Macaulay Culkin. With his congenial Carolinian accent, the author's narration heightens the listening experience and provides a behind-the-scenes look at minor league team management. VERDICT This audiobook is an easy score worth the ticket price and a special treat for those yearning for bygone-era baseball or 1990s nostalgia.--Kym Goering

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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