Playing Hard Ball: County Cricket and Big League Baseball

And it's always refreshing to see a double first at Cambridge put good old Anglo Saxon expressions in writing...

A good intro to the rival for cricket/baseball fans
Review date: 2003-07-11 Rating: 8 out of 10

Cricket enthusiasts who have watched any baseball will already know that the two sports share a lot more characteristics that simply hitting a ball with a stick. Most obviously, there is a shared obsession with statistics and tradition. This book lists those shared aspects, but also highlights the contrasts in the sports in an interesting and accessible way. It's a shame Smith did not ponder this fact though: the "brash" American sport has far more unwritten rules about behaviour on the pitch and not "showing up" the other side than the English gentleman's game. To show any significant enthusiasm after throwing a strikeout or hitting a home run is asking to be deliberately hit by the ball in the next inning (punishment beatings are an accepted and semi-sanctioned part of the game). In the so-called gentleman's game of cricket the players throw the ball in the air after a catch, shout and scream after a run out or for an lbw decision, and deliberately intimidate, 'bounce' and 'sledge' the opposition players. Baseball is nearly always played in a gentlemanly way, Cricket is (and has always been) brash. Ok, you get the odd punch-up in baseball, but those fights are nearly always because the unwritten rules of gentlemanly conduct have been broken. Nevertheless, Smith's book demonstrates quite clearly that any fan of one sport will almost certainly love the other.

Best introduction to baseball for an Englishman
Review date: 2002-11-08 Rating: 10 out of 10

First off I must declare a personal interest in this book. Ed Smith's father taught me English at A-level (a B grade, but I don't hold it against him) and Ed himself was a couple of years below me at school. Nevertheless I assure you this book is well worth the read, even from an impartial point of view.

I read it before a recent trip to California which happily coincided with the 2002 World Series - a rare all-Californian affair. Ed's descriptions of being in a World Series team's hometown during the event are very accurate (although sadly I never got to attend a Giants home game I did watch them with some fiercely partisan Giants supporters), not least in conveying quite what baseball means to Americans. Unlike one of the other reviewers I think Ed captured the human ties of the Special Relationship post-September 11 very well - the most evocative moment being when he tells of how the Star Spangled Banner had an unexpectedly emotional impact on him. The book is not just about cricket and baseball, early on Ed admits he bought into European anti-Americanism but as he spends more time understanding Americans through their national game he realises the error of his youthful ways!

Ed manages to bring baseball to life for those of us brought up believing cricket is a man's game whereas baseball is just glorified rounders. By drawing the many parallels between the two national games he achieves this in a way that makes it more accessible to an Englishman.

Promising debut - Better to come?
Review date: 2002-09-03 Rating: 6 out of 10

If Ed Smith writes a book about the County Cricket circuit, it could well be very good. Where he inhabits home territory in "Playing Hard Ball", the writing is compelling and natural. When he writes of Baseball, (which comprises the majority of the book) his efforts often begin to grind to the uninitiated reader. In seeking to compare and contrast the two games, Smith often tries too hard to find parallels and strains to keep the narrative flowing freely.
There are many deft touches and the scope of his own reading is impressive in a 25 year old pro sportsman. However, there are times when he seems out of his depth, particularly when dealing with Anglo-American feeling post September 11th.
With Simon Hughes now retired to the Analyst's couch, there is definitely a place for a contemporary cricketer to chronicle the domestic game and Ed Smith shows here that he has the skills required.

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