Ball Crazy by Harold Jacobs

Verdict: An excellent read for both the kid who is more than just a little embarrassed or annoyed by their parent’s behavior at their sports games, and the parent who just wants to reaffirm that they, in fact, don’t belong in asylum.

Ah baseball, the great American past time; a sport so deeply ingrained into our culture that one would be hard pressed to find a citizen that doesn’t understand its basic rules or know of a recent happening in the game.  Yet there is something about baseball that many people, myself included, may not have ever quite understood: the obsession with the game, even at the youth league level, that drives many parents (read: fathers) into a berserk fanaticism.   

Harold Jacobs’ Ball Crazy: Confessions of a Dad Coach, delves into this alien sensation and makes it easily relatable for the unfamiliar reader, highlighting the emotional highs and lows of watching and playing the game through both his own experiences playing sandlot baseball growing up in Florida and those of watching his son play in competitive, organized youth leagues.   

An excellent read for both the kid who is more than just a little embarrassed or annoyed by their parent’s behavior at their sports games, and the parent who just wants to reaffirm that they, in fact, don’t belong in asylum.  After all, displays of erratic behavior while watching your kids’ game are as time-honored a tradition as baseball itself.

Reviewed by Sam Dillard