By Katya Cengel
Review by Susan Richards
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first opened this book and began to read...... a year in the life of three Minor League teams and one Independent League team in Kentucky?....not necessarily a first choice in baseball reading material for me but it turned out to be an excellent read... full of real baseball stories about real people.... and not a “super star” in the bunch.Ms Cengel does a very nice job of setting the tone for this book.... In her introduction she states; “In many ways, the story of independent and Minor League baseball in Kentucky is the story of baseball. It is a tale of dreams, history, and heartache”...... then she goes on to tell the stories of the “characters who populate” these teams.....from owners to managers to coaches to business people to the fans to politicians and finally of course, to the players...
“Character” is a good word to describe the people in this book, from the colorful president of the Lexington Legends whom we first meet at the organization’s national anthem auditions, where he is one of the judges, to a vast array of players with a wide range of abilities and background stories. It’s here that the reader learns the first rule of Minor League baseball.... that it’s all about entertainment. And throughout the book we see an amazing variety of ball park entertainment and promotional events - from mascot dancing to bobble-head nights and beyond.....
Some of the stories are sad...so many of the players will never make it to the Majors and for almost everyone, this is the goal...Some of them have been to the majors for just a few days and then returned to the minors.... never to get back to the “Bigs”.... most dream of getting there but never make it... We see in this book, just how hard it is to give up the dream of the Majors...
The book’s final section is devoted to the Florence Freedom, an Independent baseball team,...... not affiliated with major and minor league teams...... and we meet some of the “characters” in this organization as well... the woman who has been hosting young baseball players in her home during the season for multiple years and who cries when one of “her boys” is cut, along with the team manager who tried for years to make it to the Majors and somehow ended up managing an independent team in Florence.
The individual stories that Cengel writes about can be heartbreaking but they are also strangely inspirational as we see how “ordinary” men and women deal with the realities of low pay, junk food, low- budget transportation and motel living. Somehow the love of baseball seems even more impressive when it doesn’t involve a huge salary and an incredibly luxurious life-style.....
You can purchase a copy of Bluegrass Baseball at Amazon HERE.