Still needing a healthy baseball fix until spring training starts very shortly, I decided to download this on a whim from Amazon since it was included for free with audio in my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

If I’m honest, I’d never heard of Ron Blomberg when I downloaded the book, and after reading the book, I can kind of understand why. His only real highlight was becoming the first ever Designated Hitter, which was purely a result of coincidence as he happened to be playing in the earliest game scheduled on the first day the position was introduced and his team sent so many players to the plate in the first inning that he appeared in the game before the designated hitter of the opposing team.

The rest of Bloomberg’s career was pretty unforgettable. He was a highly touted and phenomenally talented player, but his career was besieged with injuries that prevented him from reaching his potential. I imagine that the most infuriating thing for him looking back is that the injuries that he had then are ones that are easily treatable nowadays with a short recovery time, but back then he was forced to play through the injury and it essentially robbed him of his career. Not to mention the fact that he was also drafted into the national guard early in his career, leading to a lot of time spent going back and forth between training for the guard and playing baseball.

The book read very well, it was mostly well written and fast paced, but the end of the book seemed a little strange. All through the book was very baseball oriented and then right at the end was a section about his personal life. I would have preferred it if this had been interspersed throughout the book, providing a nice juxtaposition between the personal and professional.

The book was also a good insight into the difficulties that Jewish ballplayers encountered. We often hear about the colour barrier and Jackie Robinson etc, but it was good to read about other baseball history too.

All in all a good read, but not quite as interesting as other baseball autobiographies that I’ve read, like Josh Hamilton or Dirk Hayhurst.