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As They See 'Em
- A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires
- Narrated by: Charley Steiner
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
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Publisher's summary
Millions of American baseball fans know, with absolute certainty, that umpires are simply overpaid galoots who are doing an easy job badly. Millions of American baseball fans are wrong. As They See 'Em is an insider's look at the largely unknown world of professional umpires, the small group of men (and the very occasional woman) who make sure America's favorite pastime is conducted in a manner that is clean, crisp, and true.
Bruce Weber, a New York Times reporter, not only interviewed dozens of professional umpires but entered their world, trained to become an umpire, and then spent a season working games from Little League to big league spring training. As They See 'Em is Weber's entertaining account of this experience as well as a lively exploration of what amounts to an eccentric secret society, with its own customs, its own rituals, and its own colorful vocabulary.
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For 53 years, San Francisco waited. Waited for a team like the 2010 Giants to come along. Waited for a team that could end a title drought that started in New York and carried on for more than five decades after a move to the West Coast. Waited for that one magical postseason run that could unleash more than a half-century of pent-up frustration. At long last, the 2010 Giants hopped on that magic carpet and made it happen. San Jose Mercury News beat reporter Andrew Baggarly captured the 2010 Giants' incredible run through the regular season, playoffs and World Series in his new book.
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Relived that season!
- By jeff olson on 12-20-18
By: Andrew Baggarly
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The Captain
- The Journey of Derek Jeter
- By: Ian O'Connor
- Narrated by: Nick Pollifrone
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Every spring, Little Leaguers across the country mimic his stance and squabble over the right to wear his number, 2, the next number to be retired by the world’s most famous ball team. Derek Jeter is their hero. He walks in the footsteps of Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Mantle, and someday his shadow will loom just as large. Yet he has never been the best player in baseball. In fact, he hasn’t always been the best player on his team. But his intangible grace and Jordanesque ability to play big in the biggest of postseason moments make him the face of the modern Yankee dynasty, and of America’s game.
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Great book, terrible narrator.
- By Butter on 05-09-14
By: Ian O'Connor
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Ty Cobb
- A Terrible Beauty
- By: Charles Leerhsen
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Ty Cobb is baseball royalty, maybe even the greatest player who ever lived. His lifetime batting average is still the highest of all time, and when he retired in 1928, after twenty-one years with the Detroit Tigers and two with the Philadelphia Athletics, he held more than ninety records. But the numbers don't tell half of Cobb's tale. The Georgia Peach was by far the most thrilling player of the era: "Ty Cobb could cause more excitement with a base on balls than Babe Ruth could with a grand slam," one columnist wrote.
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Two Cobb Books, One Review of a Maligned Legacy
- By Jonathan Love on 05-17-16
By: Charles Leerhsen
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Summer of '68
- The Season That Changed Baseball - and America - Forever
- By: Tim Wendel
- Narrated by: Mark Ashby
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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From the beginning, ’68 was a season rocked by national tragedy and sweeping change. Opening Day was postponed and later played in the shadow of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s funeral. That summer, as the pennant races were heating up, the assassination of Robert Kennedy was later followed by rioting at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. But even as tensions boiled over and violence spilled into the streets, something remarkable was happening in major league ballparks across the country. Pitchers were dominating like never before, and with records falling and shut-outs mounting, many began hailing ’68 as “The Year of the Pitcher".
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Detroit Upsets St. Louis in 1968 World Series.
- By Matthew Tsien on 05-01-18
By: Tim Wendel
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108 Stitches
- Loose Threads, Ripping Yarns, and the Darndest Characters from My Time in the Game
- By: Ron Darling, Daniel Paisner - contributor
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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This is New York Times bestselling author and Emmy-nominated broadcaster Ron Darling's 108 baseball anecdotes that connect America’s game to the men who played it. Darling has played with or reported on just about everybody who has put on a uniform since 1983, and they in turn have played with or reported on just about everybody who put on a uniform in a previous generation. Like the 108 stitches on a baseball, Darling's experiences are interwoven with every athlete who has ever played, every coach or manager, and every fan.
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Meh
- By Amazon Customer on 04-13-19
By: Ron Darling, and others
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The Best Team Money Can Buy
- The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Wild Struggle to Build a Baseball Powerhouse
- By: Molly Knight
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2012 the Los Angeles Dodgers were bought out of bankruptcy in the most expensive sale in sports history. Los Angeles icon Magic Johnson and his partners hoped to put together a team worthy of Hollywood. By most accounts they have succeeded, if not always in the way they might have imagined.
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BOTH BOOK AND TEAM NEED TO BE BETTER
- By Ray on 09-06-15
By: Molly Knight
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The Year of the Pitcher
- Bob Gibson, Denny McLain, and the End of Baseball’s Golden Age
- By: Sridhar Pappu
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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The Year of the Pitcher is the story of the remarkable 1968 baseball season, which culminated in one of the greatest World Series contests ever, with the Detroit Tigers coming back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Cardinals in Game Seven of the World Series. In 1968, two remarkable pitchers would dominate the game as well as the broadsheets. One was black, the other white. Bob Gibson, together with the St. Louis Cardinals, embodied an entire generation's hope for integration at a heated moment in American history. Denny McLain, his adversary, was a crass self-promoter.
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Misleading Title
- By Paul on 01-25-19
By: Sridhar Pappu
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The Grandest Stage
- A History of the World Series
- By: Tyler Kepner
- Narrated by: Tyler Kepner
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The World Series is the most enduring showcase in American team sports. It’s the place where legends are made, where celebration and devastation can hinge on a fly ball off a foul pole or a grounder beneath a first baseman’s glove. And there’s no one better to bring this rich history to life than New York Times national baseball columnist Tyler Kepner, whose bestselling book about pitching, K, was lauded as “Michelangelo explaining the brush strokes on the Sistine Chapel” by Newsday.
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A wonderful book, filled with tidbits of great information. Essential reading for any fan of baseball history!
- By Shawn Kaufman on 01-23-24
By: Tyler Kepner
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1954: The Year Willie Mays and the First Generation of Black Superstars Changed Major League Baseball Forever
- By: Bill Madden
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Jackie Robinson heroically broke the color barrier in 1947. But how—and, in practice, when—did the integration of the sport actually occur? Bill Madden shows that baseball’s famous black experiment” did not truly succeed until the coming of age of Willie Mays and the emergence of some star players—Larry Doby, Hank Aaron, and Ernie Banks—in 1954. And as a relevant backdrop off the field, it was in May of that year that the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled, in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, that segregation be outlawed in America’s public schools.
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Acumen bugaboo
- By steve finkelstein on 04-25-21
By: Bill Madden
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Game Six
- Cincinnati, Boston, and the 1975 World Series: The Triumph of America's Pastime
- By: Mark Frost
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling author Mark Frost takes listeners back to the 1975 World Series in this thrilling account of the greatest baseball game ever played. The Reds and Red Sox endured three soggy days of inactivity to reach game six. But all that downtime could not prepare them for what happened when the skies finally cleared.
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For the love of Baseball
- By Al on 03-23-10
By: Mark Frost
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K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches
- By: Tyler Kepner
- Narrated by: Tyler Kepner
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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From the New York Times baseball columnist, an enchanting, enthralling history of the national pastime as told through the craft of pitching, based on years of archival research and interviews with more than 300 people from Hall of Famers to the stars of today.
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Attn authors: please use professional narration.
- By Mark Erickson on 07-10-19
By: Tyler Kepner
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The Chicago Cubs
- Story of a Curse
- By: Rich Cohen
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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For Rich Cohen and millions of other fans, the Chicago Cubs have always been more than a team: they've been the protagonists of a King Arthur epic, in search of the Holy Grail that is winning the World Series. A chronicle of the last few miraculous seasons as experienced through the prism of Cubs history, The Chicago Cubs tracks the famous curse, which was placed on the team in 1945 by the infamous owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, who was ejected from Wrigley Field when he tried to bring his goat into the grandstand for the fifth game of the World Series.
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just listen and it all happens again
- By Z. Kuhn on 10-28-17
By: Rich Cohen
What listeners say about As They See 'Em
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Bruce
- 11-28-09
Judging Umpires
With close to forty years of umpiring experience on the junior level I wanted to know more about what it took to be a professional at the highest level. Not sure I could have made the commitment. Anyone who loves the game will enjoy seeing it from behind the mask.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Everett
- 09-17-10
Fantastic!
Both veteran umpires and casual baseball fans alike will find much of interest in this book. It's well written, thoroughly researched, and the narration is perfect (it's always better when they get people involved in the subject to read – Charley Steiner is a veteran baseball broadcaster – rather than one of all those bland, dry "professional narrators"!). If you like baseball, even if you don't consider yourself a fan of the umpires, you will enjoy this book.
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3 people found this helpful
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- chetyarbrough.blog
- 12-29-14
BASEBALL UMPIRES
Bruce Weber creates a Plimpton’ like book about baseball umpires in "As They See ‘Em". True to Plimpton’s modus vivendi, Weber (nearing 50 years of age) goes to umpire school to conduct research on what baseball fans might call a dismal science.
In the end, one wonders why anyone would want to become a baseball umpire. If you reach the “bigs”, your income averages $200,000 a year. Not bad for a season’s work, but plan on ten years of wages that will not support a family. If you make it, you are among the elite of the elite but Weber tells two stories that show how rabid fans are capable of threatening your life and your family. Add disrespect shown by baseball managers, writers, commentators, and the general public, and it makes more sense to go to jail for ten years and be vilified as a convict than try to become an umpire.
Weber completes his book like Plimpton did when he entered the boxing ring with Joe Louis. He umpires a pre-season game. Weber explains the fear and thrill of calling a professional baseball player’s game. Umpires are gods of the game. The power of an umpire to control a game is revealed. Power is tempered by fear; i.e. mistakes made by not really seeing a play but having to make a decision. Weber explains how the strike zone is a myth and comes down to an umpire’s judgment more than a definitive description.
If one is an occasional, or fanatic baseball fan, "As They See ‘Em" is an eye-opening entertainment; well written, and nicely narrated. It is a must read for anyone seriously considering a career as a baseball umpire.
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Overall
- Roy
- 08-01-09
A Home Run!
Bruce Weber has written an entertaining, informative, and insightful book in "As They See 'Em." It is written well, filled with anecdotes, and wonderfully read by Charley Steiner.
This book provides a real education for the bleecher bums out there as well as those with little interest in baseball. For those with other interest, there are wonderful lessons on leadership, perception, geometry, history, negotiation, preparation, computer simulation and learning, contract negotiations, and about everything else necessary to the care and feeding of umps - volunteer and professional, little league, college, AA, AAA, and professional.
The game will never be the same for me and I'll watch it with different eyes. If in doubt, take this one out - for a listen.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Rick
- 01-24-17
My Biased Review:
I actually bought and read the hardcover in 2009, shortly after it was published. I was working as an umpire for the NCAA at the time and found this title to be right up my alley. I've long been a baseball fan, and admirer of the game and since my ambitions in baseball were far greater than my abilities as a player, calling balls and strikes allowed me the opportunity to be part of the game at a higher level than I could've achieved as a player. One of my biggest regrets as an umpire was never plunking down the tuition to attend the 5-week professional Umpire course outlined in the book. I almost did a few times but was making somewhat decent money ate the time and so never did so. This book gave me the insight into what I missed out on.
In 2009 I made a trip to Tucson for Umpire camp where I had the privilege of meeting former professional Umpire, and school owner, Jim Evans. Weber tells it like it is and depicts Evans exactly as what I experienced in the time I spent in AZ. Nothing is left out. I also had the opportunity to meet and work with many of those who were featured in the book, many of whom I worked college games with in 2010-2011. It was a great experience and this book is helps prolong that feeling.
The author is able to keep the reader turning pages with the countless anecdotes of those fortunate few who did make the decision to attend, and give (even the novice) a glimpse of what it's like to train as a professional umpire, and what it's like on the road, in the Minors, and Majors, and how the life of a vilified professional is endured. Keep that in mind the next time you're at the ballpark and think you could do a better job. It's easier said than done for certain.
And, you get Charlie Steiner as a narrator which adds not only to the story, but to the feeling that this is a sports book, and you're being read to by one of the sports best color commentators, and baseball analysts.
the 2017 Baseball season is right around the corner. Get yourself prepared for the season by learning how umpires are made. And then think to yourself whether or not you'd size up?
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1 person found this helpful
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- Bradley K.
- 09-19-19
great stories.
great book. Definitely a different take on baseball from a side that most people don't understand
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- Hal VT
- 07-04-14
Lots of insider knowledge here
What made the experience of listening to As They See 'Em the most enjoyable?
The author made me rethink not just how I view the umpires (and, as he points out, when they are succeeding, we don't view them at all), but how I view baseball. Lots of insight on topics you just don't really think about, like what exactly this mythical beast known as a "strike zone" is, or the labor issues these guys have had to deal with, or how a call that appears on replay to have been blown is sometimes, in protecting the game's integrity, the right call.
Who was your favorite character and why?
The umpires come out of this as larger-than-life characters, and they're almost all likeable.
Which character – as performed by Charley Steiner – was your favorite?
Steiner didn't do impressions, but his voice fits with what umpires should sound like: naturally jocular, middle-American guys with big voices who can convey authority and gravitas between the lines.
Any additional comments?
It drags a bit when the author describes the process of making an umpire: schooling, minor-league assignment, and the slow slog to the top. But it's worth getting over that early hump.
As someone who has played, watched, and coached baseball, I got a new perspective on a thing I've seen thousands of from many different angles: a baseball game. How many books can deliver that?
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Overall
- Ron
- 09-02-09
investigative sports journailsm at its best
Not enough has been said on this topic in the past. And everything that has been said has been from the outside looking in. Weber committed fully to this issue by becoming an umpire to give us another perspective. And it worked brilliantly.
Being Australian, I'm not a huge Baseball fan. But I am a fan of sports journalism and this story uncovers a thousand misconceptions. In doing so, it also illustrates a thousand paradoxes. Umpires are the most important people on the field but they are paid the least. They have the most important job on the field but they are the least respected, etc.
Not just thoroughly researched, but lived... This story is brilliant. Very well written as expected from a New York Times journalist. Funny, insightful, clever, enlightening. Very, very well done.
The only negative, is the narrator. I believe he was chosen because his "all-American passtime" voice represents baseball. But his speech is slurred and the page turning is very annoying. However, he did provide the narration with good character.
This is a must read for any fan of Sports, or journalism, or both.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Tony E.
- 04-29-15
Behind the Scenes with the Men in Blue
What made the experience of listening to As They See 'Em the most enjoyable?
Bruce Weber does a great job at humanizing the most hated men in baseball and was very fair to them. The reality that these men are working as hard as any ballplayer and do so in order to not make the career-ending mistake shows that it is part ego and part fear and gives a depth to the umpires that you won't ever catch by just watching them hammer strikes and outs.
Who was your favorite character and why?
It's not really a character book. There are talks with several umpires through some turbulent times that are painfully honest.
What about Charley Steiner’s performance did you like?
Listening to Charley Steiner is like watching a great baseball game on a lazy Sunday afternoon where you don't want it to ever end because of how much you are enjoying it.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The argument at the end of the umpire school, where both the author and the teacher, while acting, lose themselves in the performance and show great emotion that is only shown in moments of great stress and anger. It's so easy to fall into this situation which is a great warning to those who do umpire to always make sure to keep one's emotions in check.
Any additional comments?
Weber tells a great story that conveys the story that one should not complain about the officiating unless they have walked a mile in their shoes. Kudos to Bruce for doing so and I appreciate the new appreciation he has for umpires and the job they do.
If you like this, please also get "The Men in Blue: Interviews with Umpires" by Larry Gerlack. That is the best umpire audiobook currently available.
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- Greg Mamula
- 03-28-15
Informative but dry
A cool look I tot the lives of mlb umpires, protectors of the integrity of the game. It's a good bit of information delivered by a reporter in newspaper fashion. I liked learning about their training. I am disappointed to learn there is so much animosity between mlb, players, managers, and umpires. Performance is pretty dry.
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