Book Thoughts - Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero

Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think this book was a victim of expectations going in, and so, while I thought it was "just ok," a 2 star rating for Goodreads, I'm going to give it a three stars. Those expectations have to do with me really looking forward to reading this book. I've always been intrigued by Clemente's life, read about him a little when I was little, and was really looking forward to a good baseball book. In addition, I had always heard good things about Maraniss's work, so was amped to read this book.

That all said, the book got bogged down some time in the biographic details, and lacked the narrative quality that makes for really good non-fiction. The book seemed to lack the drama and passion that seemed so relevant to both Clemente's life and death. It catches the meanness and racism Clemente often faced, the difficulty of speaking a foreign language when dealing with media, and his significance to all future ballplayers from all over Latin America, not just Puerto Rico, but just seems to fall a bit flat considering the almost mythic quality that surrounds Clemente, particularly to a baseball fan like myself.

Solid writing and research, good biography, but nothing special in the end.



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