And Joy Inside the Mind of a Manager

This was a mesmerizing read for me--someone who usually doesn't stay interested in most books. As an avid chess player, I often read chess strategy books and get engrossed in the mental challenges of the game. I have always tried to delve deeper into the mental aspects of baseball as I have gotten older. This book offered a great insight into how the game really feels and how difficult the decisions really are for a manager. Being a life-long Cardinals fan, this book was a no-brainer for me. But, Cardinals bias aside, the attention to detail and excitement of this book was there, whether or not you care about the Cardinals. Kudos to Bissinger who really knows how to write exciting sports books. A must buy for anyone who loves the mental game of baseball and wants a deeper look into the "x's and o's" of the game.

Buzz Bissinger is an absolutly fantastic writer. This book combines an indepth behind the scenes look at Larussa and others, but also gives a lot of inside info on players like JD Drew, Pujols, and others. I love hearing about the managerial strategy, what happens after the game, in the club house etc. I'm not a big reader, but once I started this book, I couldn't put it down.

The content of Bissinger's _Three Nights_ has been expansively glossed over now, so I'll just get straight to the point-no need for a Summary.

My interest in this book was sparked by Tony LaRussa, probably the most polarizing manager in baseball today. To some he's a master strategist, a commander pushing tactical boundaries (anybody else remember how he batted the pitcher 8th a few times to get McGwire more RBI chances?). To others, LaRussa is not nearly as smart as he acts and a poor manager of personalities. I can think of more than one player who left St. Louis disgruntled. He is also almost personally responsible for slow games from his unwavering reliance on matchups. Personally I placed myself in the He's Not As Good As He Thinks He Is camp. Still, from this book I wasn't searching for more reasons to criticize LaRussa the manager, rather I was hoping for a look at The Man LaRussa himself and an understanding of his motives. I wanted to see a human behind those sunglasses. Through the three-game series against Chicago, I was hoping to find reasons to like or respect LaRussa.

Under the general's mask is a man consumed by fear. Bissinger pulls away threads of LaRussa's wool armor, showing that behind every strength is a weakness, for every move a looming counterpunch. LaRussa has essentially left his family in the bullpen, which Bissinger is not judgemental about. Rather, this is presented as the downside to a passionate man. It's part of being a Baseball Man.

The most anticipated part of this book was LaRussa's attitude towards beanballs and brushbacks. Tony has, over the years, likely been involved in more beanball wars than any manager I've followed. It's part of what causes such polarizing views on him. Bissinger carefully details the conflicts that LaRussa endures when one of his players is hit. LaRussa is literally a "made" man in the dugout, adhering to the informal Baseball Man code of ethics, agonizing over what the consequences of his moves will be for his soldiers on the diamond.

Slightly less effective are instances when the book's focus strays from the three-game series. Specifically, on ocassion I feel that the editorializing about Modern Players is overbearing. The purpose of including the Modern Player discussion is to show another aspect of the game LaRussa must manage, but sometimes this discussion strays into Today's Players Aren't As Good As They Were in My Day arguments that have been made time immemorial. I'm not sure why "hit and run" is italicized; this is common parlance and suggests that Bissinger indeed fails to cleanly glove basic aspects of the game. And, why not just save us all the time and capitalize the "great" in "great Albert Puljols"?

What this book displays is that there is a human being behind those sunglasses, and that a manager's code of ethics leaves little room for sentimentality. LaRussa's faults aren't based on smugness, but rather his inability to transcend. His humanness rests in his imperfection, and in his attempts at forming graceful symmetry from an imperfect object. A Baseball Man is a wonderful thing, but every strength is made taught by the pulleys of weakness.

Three nights in August details a battle for first place between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs. This pivotal series was viewed through the eyes of probably the greatest manager in the game, Tony LaRussa of the Cardinals. This book shows that it is human nature, not necessarily statistics, that dictates the outcome of a ball game. The book gets into the decision making process which goes on in the dugout....when to bunt, when to steal, when to pull the pitcher who is starting to lose his stuff....and they are more than just decisions made by looking at statistics, but the author shows how instinct, logic, and emotion impact the game.

I picked this up because my beloved White Sox are playing great baseball and I'm becoming consumed by this wonderful season. I tore through the book and recommend it highly for anyone who loves the game and wants to swim in the lore and detail of it. It's a great job of reporting and a wonderful appreciation of how the game should be approached. I could nitpick about some of the moments that annoyed me, but they are miniscule, a pop fly in a 10-9 slugfest. I loved this book.

This book was written with the baseball fan in mind and the writer succeeded in getting the fan's attention, me being a Cardinals fan made the book even more interesting and is on the top of my list. The look from inside the clubhouse opened doors which until now have stayed shut and made Tony La Russa look more human to me and a lot of other people. The book also clarified the lonelines of the manager's job and how hard it must be to live without family and friends. Great read and highly recommended to all baseball fans, this book makes me wonder if Buzz Bissinger's other books are just as good.

I've always thought that managing, in general, is a skill much overrated by many baseball fans. My personal bias aside, though, this is an interesting book both in terms of the game, and in terms of the look inside the mind of a man considered one of the great managers of our generation.

This book will not impress the casual fan, or anyone reading it simply because they've like Bissinger's past work. There's a ton of detail about baseball that might cause many to tune out, but it's worth sticking with. Larussa is obviously an intelligent man, and that comes across in his discussions on several topics. He also possesses an obvious love for the game, which many fans will appreciate.

There's a reason why Larussa has won several managerial awards, beyond the fact that he's managed a number of talent-laden teams. He understands the game, and he strikes a good balance between the science of baseball and managerial intuition. He wants to win at almost any cost, but he also cares about his players and organization.

Love or hate him - and there are many in both camps - Larussa is a fascinating baseball character. This should prove of interest to any fan of Larussa, the Cards, or baseball in general.

I enjoy reading books about sports because of several reasons. First, I think it is a difficult genre to write effectively in without falling into play by play that is often difficult to translate into interesting narrative. Second, I'm often interested in the dynamic of team players and managers to see what breeds success. I picked up this book because I was interested to read about LaRussa and the success he's enjoyed.

However, several paragraphs in the preface turned me off so much that I could not continue reading the book and wouldn't recommend it to any thirtysomething. This is the term used to downplay any success a thirtysomething could have. According to the author, there is no way the thirtysomething could have passion for the game, or know the history, or even care about it. Despite the author's obvious success with Friday Night Lights, he feels compelled to disparage Moneyball, a book I am familiar with, but have not read.

If you think I've said thirtysomething enough times, I'm getting close to how many times he used it in the preface. Thirtysomethings have seen strike shortened seasons, watched the World Series canceled not because of a World War, but because grown men couldn't agree on what's best for baseball, seen arguably the best player ever bet on his sport, seen players pine tar, juice up, and rub baseballs with finger files so is it any wonder a thirtysomething may be a little skeptical of anyone's passion or commitment to the game?

I may pick up the book again, omitting the preface, but as some reviews have mentioned, it seems the diatribe continues. What is the motivation? Who cares? Not this thritysomething.

Friday Night Lights was a great book - this one is just ok. Bissinger uses unnecessarily flowery language to complicate a book that really doesn't need it. There's really no stunning revelations in here aside from LaRussa ripping some former players. The baseball strategy examined is beginner to moderate level, nothing too complicated.

It's an easy read, but certainly not a must-have for baseball fans.

Mr. Bissinger ("Friday Night Lights" - one of the best sports books ever written) takes us behind the scenes during a critical 3 game series between the Cards and the Cubs. It is geared toward the baseball purest ( such as discussing the strategy behind a pitch out) but should be fun for the casual fan. THIS IS A GREAT READ!!

I absolutely loved this book. I love the game of baseball and often wonder why someone does what he does in some situations. This book is a great insight into a great manager's thoughts and actions. It shows how the game has changed over the years, how the strategy has changed and how one split second can screw up an entire months worth of planning.

I love hearing what he saw in players as they came into the game, and what he thinks of them now in comparrison. A very informative book. Too short in my opinion but packed full of knowledge.

Which of course I am, but still. Any baseball fan should enjoy this book. The stories Bissinger tells gives you insight into how LaRussa manages different situations. The access Bissinger received throughout the 2003 season allowed him to write in-depth about LaRussa's relationship with many Cardinals from the last few years. You'll learn more about LaRussa, Duncan, Pujols, McGwire, Kerry Robinson, Stephenson, Ankiel, Kile, Matheny, Cal Eldred and many more.

Highly recommended.

This book proved a surprisingly good debut, for first timer DiNapoli. The character development was tremendous, the plot is a cliff hanger, and just like another recent book I read, "A Million Little Pieces", I could not put this book down.

Let's hope DiNapoli is busy working on a sequel, as I can't wait!

A well written book that provided some insight into the game, particularly the thought process of a manager. For that I give it three stars.

But '3 Nights' was neither as enlightening nor thought provoking as a 5-star sports book - such as 'The Game' by Ken Dryden, 'Beyond the Sixth Game' by Gammons, or Lewis' 'Moneyball'. At times, Bissigner's work came across more as a hero worship of La Russa than a study of the game, which detracted from the author's credibility to accurately assess what he witnessed and learned from the dugout.

An excellent look into the mind of Tony Larussa. Show's what a brilliant manager he is and how intense the game of baseball can be. If you love baseball you will love this book. Even the casual fan who may be a bit curious would enjoy this.

I saw this book recommended by Vin Scully. Since Scully is the greatest play-by-play announcer ever I decided to read the book. The author was given great access to the St. Louis Cardinals in places that fans will never reach. If you want to know the real thoughts behind the moves in baseball, this is the book.

This could have been such a wonderful book. The prose was elegant, the story was intense and everything came together well.

Except for the fact Buzz Bissinger has a vendetta against sabermetrics and sabermetricians. The attacks on the book "Moneyball" and the flipant remarks attacking others (like me) who love the game was sickening.

I would avoid this book and look elsewhere for that "summer classic."

Three Nights in August is a great, detailed account of what goes on with the Cardinals and specifically with one of the greatest managers in baseball history, Tony LaRussa. LaRussa is guarded and this book opens up his stragedies, his history in the game and the decisions that he makes. Bissinger has an amazing knack to pinpoint every detail of the game. We also take a look inside the Cardinal clubhouse and the heart-wrenching decisions that LaRussa makes everyday.

This book taps into the incredible baseball mind of Tony La Russa, who has managed three great teams - the White Sox, the A's, and now the Cardinals - and spent 40 years studying and absorbing the game. Bissinger is a great fly on the wall - Friday Night Lights is one of my favorite books of all time - and his inside the dugout view is informative, interesting, and occasionally very moving. The chapter about Darryl Kile had me in tears. Buy this for any baseball fan in your life.

This is another wonderful book by Buzz Bissinger. It is not only entertaining, but also enlightening. But what else would we expect from a collaboration between a top writer and one of baseball's best managers? "Three Nights in August" rates as one of my three favorite reads this 2005 season -- with "Hank Aaron and the Home Run That Changed America" and "The Luckiest Man Alive." All three are superb.

If you have played or managed baseball at any level, this book is for you. This book offers a great view of the game from the manager's perspective. Even if the reader has never managed a baseball team the author goes into great detail explaining (through Tony La Russa's eyes) that this game is won not only by statistics, it is won by the desire, the hart, and by having a winning attitude. Is a great book, I couldn't put it down.

... when you can't put a book down. This excellently-written and expertly paced story is one of those. A vast array of characters are introduced as the plot twists and turns (most importantly) in unpredictable directions. And although the story resolves itself so as not to leave the reader hanging, it definitely sets the stage for a sequel. Soon, I hope.

This is one of the best baseball books out there. Bissinger takes the reader to many levels of the game, and gives a lot of insite to Tony LaRussa as a manager and tactician. I strongly recommend this book for any baseball fan. It is a really great read.

This depiction of baseball was very interesting & insightful. Bissinger again scores very high marks after his success with Friday Night Lights. I am not a huge baseball fan but do enjoy well written provocative literature. I will wait anxiously for Buzz's next offering.

I thought this book was intellegent and I enjoyed reading how La Russa deals with being a manager, he talked about the loss of Darryl Kile. It shows TLR is a real sensitive guy and loving person to his team and family and he gets a long really well with the owner, a respectful guy, and a true hero.

If, like me, however, you found Moneyball intriguing and insightful, you will probably hate this book. For some reason, Buzz Bissinger feels that his insider scoop descriptions of Tony LaRussa need to be coupled with this weird defense of the "old-school" and a puerile attack on Michael Lewis' Moneyball and sabermetrician statheads in general-- as if the statheads didn't love the game or something. This makes little sense, as you have to ask: who would ultimately devote his intellectual life to the compilation and analysis of aracane baseball statistics but a real lover of baseball?

Sad to say, but Lewis writes/researches circles around Bissinger. Unless you're a die-hard Cardinals fan and have to lap up every available fragment of Cardinals literature, I wouldn't waste my money on this book. It's too bad that Bissinger has to pick this fight, because he could have written a perfectly acceptable, though fluffy, account of LaRussa and his OCD managerial style without it. Bissinger had all the aaccess in the world to the Cardinals and apparently all the time in the world, as he followed the team around most of the season in order to provide back-fill for the 3 days in August that form the timeline of the narrative.

Since he did pick the fight, however, Bissinger is asking us to take sides and to pick a winner. He loses. Badly. Like a Left-handed utility infielder flailing at a Randy Johnson slider. He is not as sharp, talented, or eloquent as Michael Lewis, or even Bill James for that matter.

Skip this book.

If, like me, however, you found Moneyball intriguing and insightful, you will probably hate this book. For some reason, Buzz Bissinger feels that his insider scoop descriptions of Tony LaRussa need to be coupled with this weird defense of the "old-school" and a puerile attack on Michael Lewis' Moneyball and sabermetrician statheads in general-- as if the statheads didn't love the game or something. This makes little sense, as you have to ask: who would ultimately devote his intellectual life to the compilation and analysis of aracane baseball statistics but a real lover of baseball?

Sad to say, but Lewis writes/researches circles around Bissinger. Unless you're a die-hard Cardinals fan and have to lap up every available fragment of Cardinals literature, I wouldn't waste my money on this book. It's too bad that Bissinger has to pick this fight, because he could have written a perfectly acceptable, though fluffy, account of LaRussa and his OCD managerial style without it. Bissinger had all the aaccess in the world to the Cardinals and apparently all the time in the world, as he followed the team around most of the season in order to provide back-fill for the 3 days in August that form the timeline of the narrative.

Since he did pick the fight, however, Bissinger is asking us to take sides and to pick a winner. He loses. Badly. Like a Left-handed utility infielder flailing at a Randy Johnson slider. He is not as sharp, talented, or eloquent as Michael Lewis, or even Bill James for that matter.

Skip this book.

First question: Did we really need another profile of Tony LaRussa, already the most over-exposed manager in major league baseball? Ever since he popped up in the early 80s, the media has fawned over his every move, evidently impressed by his ability to pull a double-switch and glower at the same time. Dude gets more ink than Brad and Angelina -- maybe they share the same publicist.

But if you're as big a baseball fan as I, it's only a matter of time before you succumb to the hype and purchase this universally praised account of (as the title suggests) three nights in August ... i.e., a feeble re-make of 'Nine Innings' spread out over three games so the writer won't have to concentrate as hard. I finished the book in two sittings, so I can't honestly sit here and say that it stank.

Or can I?

The central premise of the book is as obnoxious as its subject, namely the aforementioned manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, one Tony LaRussa -- attorney at law, in case you needed reminding. According to one Buzz Bissinger, LaRussa's an old-school throwback, a balls-out 'real man' in a baseball universe increasingly lorded over by timid 'thirtysomething' geeks who wouldn't know a jock strap from an iPod nano. Yeah man, those guys just sit in front of their computers all day, crunching numbers, but me, Tony L, I go by my gut! I've got 25 years of experience ovah heah, and I make my decisions the old-fashioned way! If the stats tell me to pull my starting pitcher, maybe I will, maybe I won't -- I'm going to walk to the mound and SMELL him first. Think those MBA Moneyball twerps know what a pitcher smells like? They don't even chew tobacco, mang.

Yeah, well, interesting theory. Trouble is, after taking cheap shots at such stat-head losers as Bill James and Theo Epstein, our man LaRussa gets praised for obsessively analyzing pitcher-hitter matchups. That's right -- the guy that every baseball writer hypes as a genius is making out his lineup cards based on some guy going 3-for-7 against Kerry Wood. What the *&^%? Per Bissinger, we shouldn't rely on statistics -- unless they're based on impossibly small sample sizes.

Another flaw in this anti-number, pro-intangibles screed is that we never actually see LaRussa go *against* his statistics. Seriously. I mean, if the whole purpose of the book is to illustrate that you have to look beyond the numbers and size up the player himself, shouldn't there be some instances where Big Tony plays a hunch that goes against all logic and pays off huge? or where T straightens out a player with a bad attitude, or picks up a guy in a slump? You'd think so, wouldn't you? Yet such instances are strangely absent.

Why? Because LaRussa's an arrogant jerk who doesn't relate to his players. Hell, he doesn't relate to his *family* either, as one of the book's better storylines makes plain. The book confirms the prejudices held against LaRussa by his detractors: namely, that he's a paranoid madman who micromanages his teams to defeat. This negative nutcase appears deathly afraid of *not* making a move, of being second-guessed by the press... or by himself, perhaps? Bissinger relates his relentless fretting about the #8 hitter on the opposing team possibly getting a hit, thereby allowing them to have their #1 hitter lead off the following inning. It's a mildly instructive bit of insider baseball, but LaRussa treats the issue as if he's launching the Market Garden offensive. Dude, it's the fifth inning and there's still fifty games to go! Pop a Paxil or bolt down some Jim Beam -- you're begging for this guy to relax!

But Big Tony never relaxes -- and his players never will either. Bissinger notes approvingly that LaRussa routinely expects his guys to play as if it's the seventh game of the World Series throughout the 162-game season. As such, his players are forever under the gun, terrified their manager's going to freak out when they fail to advance the runner to third, even if they're playing the Pirates in June. His players will always press, and ultimately, they'll always lose. That's another major flaw in the book: The author presents LaRussa as the ultimate authority on all things baseball, while side-stepping the little matter of his failing to win the big one. He's managed for 25 years and has won the World Series exactly once; he's also lost it on three occasions, getting swept twice. Fittingly, he lost the 2004 series to a team that famously embraced the very stat-conscious maxims that Bissinger aims to debunk. Chew on that, Buzz. (Blaming the loss on a late flight into Boston? Sell it somewhere else, bub.)

The writing, you ask? Let's just say that Boswell and Angell can rest easy. Bissinger's swinging for the fences (!) on this one, desperately throwing in highbrow references regardless of whether they fit. A spate of ill-placed phrases ranging from the Maginot Line to the Hammurabi Code culminates in the downright bizarre description of a blooper as "the kind of existentialist hit that would keep Camus or Sartre in the money." Overwrought much? I half expected to spot Vladimir Lenin Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers behind home plate. Add in a surprisingly irritating decision to italicize the phrase HIT-AND-RUN each and every time it appears -- imagine a Neil Young biography that wrote about all his FOLK ROCK BALLADS or a book on Bush that discussed the WAR ON TERROR -- and you have a sad case of a writer getting in the way of his own story. Bad Buzz, Bad.

What was that story again? Oh right, here it is: Tony LaRussa's a genius because he doesn't rely on statistics like those other guys, except when he does, and you can tell he's sharp because he wins, except when he doesn't.

Did I mention the author gives LaRussa a pass on the issue of steroids, even though Tony's teams benefited disproportionately from turning a blind eye to the problem? It just goes to show you: Never read a book recommended by Tim Russert, the man who ate Mario Cuomo.

.His writing is excellent, Bissinger left off with a high point at the end off very chapter that makes you read more of it. It is enjoyable and fun to read. This is a very great book by a great writer. A-lot of people should read this book because it is a great book about baseball.

This was an incredible book! The writing is excellent and now I finally understand why baseball managers make some of the decisions that they make. It was hard to put down once I had started reading it. I highly recommend this book.

If you believe that Tony LaRussa invented baseball, this is the book for you. Otherwise you will find Buzz Bissinger's take on baseball's most overrated manager to be a trite piece of [...].

A detailed description of Tony LaRussa and the Cardinals going through a 3 game series with the Cubs in 2003 is the focus of the book. The author attempts to show two things. First, how great Tony LaRussa is and secondly how complex managing a baseball game is. The author succeds on the first point as he fawns completly over his subject. On the second point, he fails greatly.

Bissinger details each and every managerial decision that LaRussa makes as if he is building a space shuttle by himself. Baseball fans completely understand the decisions that LaRussa (and Dusty Baker) are making in real time and do not need them dumbed down for them as Bissinger does in this book.

However, that is not the worst part of the book. Bissinger goes out of his way to knock anyone using statistical analysis (read the Moneyball crowd) to evaluate players while praising LaRussa for be able to utilize statistics. The reader is left to belive that Bissinger did not understand this paradox because he does not understand the game of baseball particulary well.

The book also includes a significant amount of complaining about the money that the players of today are making for their efforts. This is amusing since LaRussa is among the top compensated managers in the game. Based on the fact that Super Manager LaRussa is 5-12 is World Series games and 1-3 in the World Series (In each series his team was a significant to prohibitive favorite.), Bissinger's arrows about being overpaid are shot at the wrong target.

If you are a baseball fan who wants to learn something about the game, there are plenty of GOOD to GREAT books out there. Three Nights in August is not of them.