content: there is a tendencey among well educated baseball fans to make this great game out to be more then it is. George Will is an extreme example of this. Much of this is overwritten,and overblown which is too bad, beacause the subjects written about{cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn and the overrated-underrated Tony La Russa}are quite interesting,though Mr Will turns this book, somehow into a polemic on American values,thereby losing any credibility. Strange. A far,far better example of baseball wriitng exists in Thomas Boswells collections or anything by Roger Angel. This is the equivalent of a $2,000,000 a year utility infielder:overpaid and not worth the money.