Book Review
Diamond Presence-Twelve Stories of Finding God at the Old Ball Park
By Thomas Fischer - Contributing Writer
04/06/2006
For those who represent Baseball's Bull Durham fan club this book may be lacking the realistic look at baseball that they share. On the other hand to those who are true baseball romantics, those who are Field of Dreams fans, this book is truly inspiring and absolutely represents those feelings of apathy and longing for the days of not so long ago when fans didn't worry about steroid issues or hundred million dollar payrolls. The stories contained in Diamond Presence are terrifically written by men and women who are real fans of the game of baseball. These stories have stuck with them throughout their lives and have been compiled into this book.
While reading the book I became fascinated by the recurring theme from one story to the next. The experience that each storyteller relates is about finding a true revelation, an epiphany of spirit and enjoyment or maybe appreciation for the game. Most of the authors viewed this as God's revealing of some simple truth, the relationships surrounding the experiences. Ballgames attended with fathers, mothers, uncles, whoever. Playing experiences from youth baseball or even just playing in a pick up sandlot game. Something as simple as breaking a neighbor’s window revealed to one writer the difference between rumor and fact in addition to the realization of how true her friends actually were.
Each story left me remembering some experience I had as a child as well, and I was very intrigued that I had experienced similar things, albeit in somewhat different circumstances, but generally I very closely identified with each storyteller and it made me want to tell some of my stories. Although my stories may not be too different from some of these stories, I would like to share with other baseball fans like myself. Perhaps the most remarkable way of finding God at the Ballpark is reading books like this and sharing stories with friends and fellow baseball fans that do experience similar things and come to the realization that we are all connected by not only our love of sports but also our common humanity and shared feelings.
I have read many books about baseball, not only books about players or their lives but also stories similar to these where someone who was playing baseball or had played as a child found some lasting quality for their life and considered it as a revelation of spirit. This feeling could be compared to the basic concept of the movie The Sandlot. Movies about this concept of baseball spirituality have been made for years. The Sandlot was about a group of kids who played sandlot baseball, and loved and enjoyed every minute of every day they were together playing the grand old game. Looking back on his time with the sandlot gang the narrator gets nostalgic for those old days and remembers what it was like to hit a home run for the first time and also associated with that feeling the other feelings of being a kid and growing up with the game he loved.
If I could share with each of you my favorite parts of the book, I would have to copy the whole thing here but then I may be accused of plagiarizing the book so instead I will just say that my favorite part of the book was the very first story. Written by Patrick Hannon, The Banjo Man was a story about the author’s first trip to an A's game during a time in American history when war and civil unrest threatened to tear apart the country. In this ballpark where a "mascot" walked around with a banjo cheering people up, and helping people laugh and realize there are more important things in life than worrying about the trouble of everyday life. Enjoy the book. I highly recommend reading it whether you are a Field of Dreams fan or a Bull Durham fan, I promise you will enjoy the book tremendously.
http://www.actapublications.com/, then click on Sports.