Description
Book SynopsisClubbie is a hilarious and illuminating memoir about a starry-eyed baseball fan who accidentally became part of the Minor League system that exploited his heroes.
Trade Review"[A] well-written, realistic, and necessary addition to current baseball literature."—
Library Journal"Larson succeeds in bringing the reader right into the IronBirds' clubhouse."—
Cycle"Does what happens in the clubhouse stay in the clubhouse? No; Larson lets us into the Aberdeen Ironbirds’ inner sanctum. Prepare to spend two full seasons with the Baltimore Orioles' minor-league affiliate owned by Cal Ripken. It is not Disneyland. Teammates brawl, players quit in mid-game, and one-upmanship rules. Clubbie Larson, also a stand-up comedian, offers a truly hilarious view of Double-A ball."—John Vorperian, SABR Newsletter
"
Clubbie is bittersweet, but it throws a lot of strikes as far as capturing the malaise of minor league ball."—Jon Hart,
Stadium Journey“Greg Larson’s
Clubbie signals the arrival of an important new voice to American letters. . . .
Clubbie is more than a coming-of-age story told via America’s pastime: it is an elegiac requiem for all who fall short of the one million forms of the American Dream.”—Joe Jackson, author of
Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary“It’s easy to romanticize baseball. But from the inside, in the trenches of the Minor Leagues, the game is not so pure. With an excellent eye for detail, Greg Larson captures every tobacco stain and dirty sock in this memoir of life as a clubhouse attendant. It’s a well-written, heartfelt chronicle of growing up in a game that doesn’t want to.”—Brad Balukjian, author of the
Los Angeles Times best seller
The Wax Pack“Imagine Holden Caulfield washing jock straps in the clubhouse of a Minor League baseball team. Then imagine Jim Bouton revealing the secrets of dreamers who struggle to make it to the Big Show. Enter Greg Larson with a voice and secrets all his own. This stunning debut memoir is about baseball and love, about the double edge of dreams. Larson is a natural.”—Michael Pearson, author of the
New York Times Notable
Imagined Places: Journeys into Literary AmericaTable of ContentsPart 1
1. A Shooting Star
2. The Bottom Rung
3. Lottery Ticket Odds
4. Shadowboxing
5. On a Train Bound for Nowhere
6. The Baseball Gallows
7. The Boatload Mentality
8. Alexander the Great
9. The Dog Star
10. Nightshade
Part 2
11. Aphelion
12. A New Era Takes Flight
13. Started from the Bottom
14. Number 75
15. Selling Garbage
16. Lights Out
17. Children in the Outfield
18. Summertime Sadness
19. The Team of Destiny
20. IronNuts!
Acknowledgments
