Jim Caple Has A Posse
Jim Caple’s first book, “The Devil Wears Pinstripes,” gets a glowing review in the Post-Intelligencer.
Given that Caple used to work at the P-I before he started hanging out with co-eds and dressing like Tigger, it’s not a shock that they liked the book. I’m sure that the positive review is an honest one, though, because Caple is a gifted writer. It sounds like he’s pulling no punches, either: the shots start with the title and continue from there. He calls Yankee Stadium “a garbage dump,” to name one example.
The one critical line in the piece echoes the only beef I’ve ever had with Caple’s work: the tendency to use quips as an end in themselves, thus hitting narrative high spots too quickly and without enough building. In reviewer John Marshall’s words, the book delivers “such an onrushing onslaught of one-liners that the reader’s funny bone suffers comic shock syndrome”
One quality I admire in Caple is his ability to tell the unvarnished truth as he perceives it. I will always remember the Baseball Prospectus pizza feed a few years back where, during a group Q + A session, I asked Caple who he thought the most likely Mariner prospect to make a real impact would be.
Caple gulped, considered his audience, and went ahead anyway with: “Well, I think they really should give a serious shot to Bloomquist.”
Sure, he was met with immediate sneers, harrumphs and gasps. But he knew he would be, and he said it anyway.
Caple’s a witty fellow who isn’t afraid to say what he thinks, qualities that I expect will make this book a good read — and possibly force him into the Witness Protection Program once Yankee fans get ahold of it.
Comments
7 Responses to “Jim Caple Has A Posse”
Yankee Stadium is a garbage dump? Uhh, no.
Actually, I always pictured Satan as a Braves fan.
Let’s see, owner is a media conglomeration egomaniac (although he isn’t quite Rupert Murdoch), they had perhaps the most offensive player since Cobb (John Rocker), the tomahawk chop is nearly as mind numbing as MTV, they get to broadcast every single game on TV (why could I get the Braves on two channels today, but couldn’t see the Mariners on one???)…
The Yankees are annoying, but I still have Atlanta more.
I visited Yankee Stadium last July and …well, it’s a historic stadium, but it’s not very clean or “nice”.
Hate, not have.
#2, I could’ve sworn Ted Turner sold the Braves to AOL/Time Warner. Not that that’s an improvement, but now it’s a faceless entity instead of one man.
Also the reason you could see the Braves on two channels and M’s on none might be that the M’s had no game today. Just a thought.
Matt Williams, Rocker is the most offensive player since Cobb? Yes, he’s an ignorant jerk who I hated even before the SI article showed his true colors, but his ignorance only stands out because of the relative enlightenment of the day. I expect Jackie Robinson (were he still with us) could point you to a myriad of players whose attitudes were more ingorant, hateful, and ultimately damaging than Rocker’s.
And Matt in #5 is right about the ownership. Turner sold the team a few years ago.
#3 – It’s not nice like these new stadiums, but a dump? Hardly. I’ve been to Yankee Stadium many times and think its a good place to watch the game. The atmosphere is unbelievable and the place, by not being so nice where you can eat off the ground, makes it almost better in a sense. It’s very New York.