Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America
    The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America
    The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America

    Written by Joe Posnanski

    Narrated by David Sadzin

    4.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    When legendary Negro League player Buck O'Neil asked Joe Posnanski how he fell in love with baseball, the renowned sports columnist was inspired by the question. He decided to spend the 2005 baseball season touring the country with the ninety-four-year-old O'Neil in hopes of rediscovering the love that first drew them to the game.

    The Soul of Baseball is as much the story of Buck O'Neil as it is the story of baseball. Driven by a relentless optimism and his two great passions-for America's pastime and for jazz, America's music-O'Neil played solely for love. In an era when greedy, steroid-enhanced athletes have come to characterize professional ball, Posnanski offers a salve for the damaged spirit: the uplifting life lessons of a truly extraordinary man who never missed an opportunity to enjoy and love life.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJan 28, 2020
    ISBN9781977366795
    Author

    Joe Posnanski

    Joe Posnanski is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including The Baseball 100, Paterno, and The Secret of Golf. He has written for The Athletic, Sports Illustrated, NBC Sports, and The Kansas City Star and currently writes at JoePosnanski.com. He has been named National Sportswriter of the Year by five different organizations and is the winner of two Emmy Awards. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his family.

    Related to The Soul of Baseball

    Related audiobooks

    Baseball For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Soul of Baseball

    4.5/5

    85 ratings10 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This book is about far more than baseball. Enjoy it.
    • 5/5
      It is simply a book that touches the soul and lets us see life and baseball through the eyes of the great Buck O’Neil. I truly believe God sent an angel to us and his name was Buck O’Neil.
    • 5/5
      Joe Posnanski’s The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America is a warm and wonderful ode to the Negro Leagues and to O’ Neil, one of the great advocates for the long overdue recognition of Negro League players, and one of the finest ambassadors of baseball itself. Posnanski, with his usual flair for storytelling and his evident love of the game, chronicles the year he spent crisscrossing the country with Buck on his goodwill tour. The book is filled with stories of the Negro Leagues, some hilarious and some somber, that capture the essence of what it was like to play ball in that era, shut out from competing in the Major Leagues until Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. Posnanski provides insight into O ‘Neil’s heart and soul. This is not quite a biography of the man, but it paints a beautiful portrait of him.
    • 5/5
      I recently watched the 10-disc Ken Burns series “Baseball” on DVD. In this series, my favorite interview person was Buck O’Neil. His enthusiasm was contagious, so I was thrilled to come across “The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America”. It was written by the sports columnist Joe Posnanski, who followed O’Neil in his travels throughout the 2005 Major League Baseball season. O’Neil, at 94, was one of the last players left from the Negro Baseball League. He was also the first African-American coach in the MLB. The Negro league flourished in the 1930’s and 1940’s, but petered out after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier when he signed with the Dodgers in 1946.
      O’Neil’s mission was to spread the word of how the Negro League really was. He believed the books written so far were too sterile, that the real players were not only some of the greatest athletes ever, but just as full of personality as any superstar MLB player today. Through over 200 event appearances a year, he promoted the induction of those players into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
      Baseball aficionados will love the reminiscences of games past and learn stories they’ve not heard before. O’Neil had a remarkable memory, and passed on many wonderful stories of his playing and coaching days. He tells of the racism and hard times the players endured, but never asks for pity.
      Posnanski captures the real O’Neil: his humor, heartaches, and wisdom.
      This is a rare opportunity to catch a glimpse of a time long past. With the passing of O’Neil in 2006, we may never have this chance again.
    • 5/5
      To begin with: if you are a fan of baseball, you should read this book.

      If you are a fan of Civil Rights, you should probably read this book.

      This book made me smile on one page and cry on the next. It made me completely indignant about all of the injustices in the world, all of the unspeakably horrible things that happen in the tiniest actions (or inactions), and yet it left me unable to be truly angry about them - because that is the lesson of Buck O'Neil: How not to be bitter.

      This book is incredibly well-written, and I am surprised I haven't heard (more?) about it before now. I have to applaud Joe Posnanski for his handling of the subject matter. I found it remarkable that he managed to introduce himself and his purpose at the beginning of the book, and then completely disappear from the narrative. It is essentially omniscient, unbiased journalism (as if such a thing existed; and anyway of course it is skewed in O'Neil's favor). And then at the end he reappears, as he should, representing the feelings of pretty much everyone with his indignation, and closing the book appropriately.

      And then there is the seamless way in which Posnanski occasionally incorporates the lyrics of the great jazz standards into his prose.

      Obviously I knew Buck was gonna die at the end of the book. I bawled my eyes out anyway.

      I am so glad that the New York Times published an article about the Negro Leagues Museum, and that I read it, and that I then planned a weekend (baseball) trip to Kansas City. Not sure when I would have gotten around to this book, if not for the trip. Not even sure I would have heard of it.

      This review isn't doing this book any justice. Just read it already.
    • 5/5
      Even if you don't know a baseball from a basketball and care even less about the distinction, this book is well worth the read. Buck O'Neil was an inspiration to people of all colors, shapes and sizes and proof that while age might slow you down physically, it is not an obstacle for the soul. He was fighting for what he believed at ninety-four, and his efforts to keep the history of the Negro Leagues and its amazing players alive, vibrant and relevant are still paying off and will continue to do so.O'Neil's stories, as told to Joe Posnanski, are alternately touching, reflective, and laugh out loud funny. But really touched me was O'Neil's quiet dignity. He wasn't about to forget the injustices done to African-American players before and for some time after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, but he wasn't going to let bitterness and rancor swallow him, either. O'Neil was adamant in viewing people as, well, people: shades of good and bad in every single one of us. He wouldn't get drawn into condemning others, whether it was exploitative baseball owners of old or steroid-using baseball players of today. I only wish I could have been one of those people who lined up to shake his hand at baseball events before he died, just before his ninety-fifth birthday.Joe Posnanski's words are a wonderful tribute to O'Neil, and he's a terrific story spinner in his own right. The book is immensely enjoyable to read. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      This is one of the best books I've read. Buck O'Neil was/is a true inspiration. What a marvelous man he was. In addition to wonderful tales of the Negro Leagues, this book really is about Buck himself. What he lived through, how he faced life. A tremendous character. I deeply regret not having made it to the Negro Leagues Museum before he passed away. We truly lost something precious when he passed. Highly recommended regardless of whether you're a baseball fan. If we all lived life as Buck did the world would be a better place.
    • 4/5
      My son, Jeremy, always gives me good books. He doesn't just pick up the latest best-seller, but takes the time to choose something special just for me. He hit a home run with The Soul of Baseball by Joe Posnanski. It's the story of an extended road trip Posnanski took with legendary Negro League player and manager Buck O'Neil. The lessons learned along the way are great ones for sons and fathers to share.Posnanski, an award-winning sports columnist for the Kansas City Star, chose not to write a biography of the irrepressible O'Neil, even though the story could bear to be told over and over again. Instead, he penned a moving memoir of the year he spent with the then-93-year-old O'Neil as he toured the country promoting the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City and the memory of those men who played the game in the days before whites and blacks could share the field. The trip takes them everywhere from Nicodemus, Kansas, to New York, New York, and O'Neil has a fascinating story to tell at every stop.He talks about Satchel Paige, Willie Mays, and Josh Gibson, names that will always be enshrined in baseball's collective memory. But he also tells the tales of forgotten men like Dan Bankhead, the first black pitcher in the major leagues, who would have been a great hurler if he hadn't been afraid to pitch fastballs inside against white batters.The key theme of the book is Buck O'Neil's spirit-lifting embrace of the best in every person he met. Despite years of back-breaking struggle, O'Neil never turned bitter, never condemned anyone for their prejudice, never had a bad word to say about the often ugly conditions the black ball players endured. Even when he failed to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Buck O'Neil refused to be angry about it. To make up for the egregious mistake, the Hall awarded him a Lifetime Achievement Award after his death.The lessons Posnanski drew from his experiences with O'Neil are well worth telling and the book he created from them is well worth reading.
    • 5/5
      A book to be read slowly and cherished. I didn't know anything about Buck O'Neil before I started this book - I picked it up because I recently became a fan of Joe Posnanski's blog. But the story of this man and how he lived life is a real treat.
    • 5/5
      Amazing story filled with anecdotes about an incredible individual who believed in baseball, but even more so, believed in goodness and light. Buck O'Neil is the type of person that makes a lasting impact.