Tales From the Dugout by Mike Shannon

Recently I read the book Tales from The Dugout by: Mike Shannon. This is a nonfiction book with many great baseball stories. Some of the stories take place in the dugout, on field, in the clubhouse, or in public. One of my favorite stories in this book is when the Cleveland Indians shortstop Mark Lewis is signing autographs for kids, then a grown man pushes through the kids and then demands his autograph. Mark Lewis signed but also wrote “To a rude man with no manners” that is why fans shouldn’t be mean or rude to others just to get an autograph. Another one of my favorite stories in this book is a story where Yogi Berra was in North Dakota playing in a golf tournament, knowing that North Dakota is one of the nation’s leading potatoes growing state. He said “You don’t have enough potatoes to fill my front yard” when the Red River Valley Potato Growers Association heard of Yogis remark they announced that they were loading an eighteen-wheel tractor trailer with 23 tons worth with potatoes and sending the truck of potatoes to Yogi’s home in Montclair New Jersey. Overall, I generally enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to any baseball fan.

I recommend this book to baseball fans or anyone who may be interested in baseball since it is a baseball themed book. I liked how there was a variety of different types of stories so you wouldn’t really get bored reading it. Although I liked everything else about the book except the way it was organized. I disliked that the topic kept changing from one thing to another. For example, they could be talking about autographs then switch to a story about an umpire and then the story after that would be a baseball player signing some kid’s baseball. What I am trying to say is that I wish the book was organized better. I really like how at the beginning of the book the author talks about how he is not the ex-St. Louis Cardinals player. I like how they have the same name, and they also knew each other, for one summer the author and Mike Shannon played on the same little league baseball team. When I really liked that part, I realized the book hasn’t even started yet this is just the preface. I the thought I am going to really like this book. In the end I did. So again, I generally liked this book and would recommend it to any baseball fan or anyone who may be interested in baseball.

Reviewed by Brandon N. Grade 7