It’s Throwback Thursday, where we talk about a book we enjoyed years ago! Today Tim, Digital Recording Specialist/Studio Manager for the library, takes us back.
Are you looking forward to warmer weather, outdoor activities, and longer days? I know I am! When I was a kid, one of the things that spring meant to me was – get out the bat, ball, and glove – we’re going to play baseball! Fast forward to Spring 2008, I’m one year shy of 50 and still playing, albeit a little more “leisure” version – softball. It’s April, and I’m in the Studio at the Iowa Library for the Blind with volunteer narrator David, recording the book Playing with the enemy: a baseball prodigy, a world at war, and the long journey home (DBC01551). We both got completely immersed in this book! This is one of the few books I have recorded in our studio, that at one point (later in the book) it had both David and myself crying – we had to stop the recording session and finish that chapter on a different day! I loved reading this book, and if you like baseball – even a little – and have some memories of the war, I imagine this book will also really touch you in a good way.
Two things really struck me after we finished this book – one, I had a lot of “forgotten” fantastic memories of how much I really loved baseball, and two – the “game” of baseball can really shape a person with many aspects of life – like supporting and encouraging one another, learning how to graciously win and lose, how to work hard and see positive results – even when “defeated”!
There is a reason baseball is often referred to as “America’s National Pastime” and I think in part because it inspires, it instills pride, and even it can even heal!
About the book:
Playing with the enemy: a baseball prodigy, a world at war, and the long journey home DBC01551
Moore, Gary W, (Gary Warren). Reading time: 11 hours, 58 minutes.
Read by David Saurman. A production of Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Iowa Department for the Blind.
Gene Moore was a country boy who could hit a baseball a country mile. He was so good that the Brooklyn Dodgers came calling. When Gene’s baseball career was interrupted by World War II, he joined the U.S. Navy, and in 1944, he found himself on a top-secret mission: to guard the German sailors captured from a U-505 submarine carrying an Enigma decoding machine. Stuck with guard duty, Gene taught the enemy how to play baseball. It was a decision that irrevocably changed his life… and maybe baseball itself. Inspired by true events. 2006.
Is there a book that takes you back?