George
Plimpton was an author best known for participating as an amateur in
sporting events and writing about his experiences. His perspective and unique writing style
exposed an entire new genre of sports journalism. Although he passed away in
2003, his influence remains, as evidenced by Jon Hart’s Man
Versus Ball: One Ordinary Guy and His Extraordinary Sports Adventures (University
of Nebraska Press, 2013).
In a very Plimptonian way, Hart documents a number of
experiences he has had in the sporting world. These include working (for years)
as a vendor at major league baseball games; playing semi-pro football; amateur
caddying; working for several years as a ball boy at the U.S. Open; and
professional wrestling.
Hart’s most interesting venture is his vending, which began
as a writing assignment but continued well past that as an actual job. The
politics of the trade, along with the little things most people would never think
of when buying a hot dog or cotton candy at a game (taking time to find proper
currency to give to the customer may increase the likelihood of simply being
told to keep the change).
It may be a matter of self efficacy but Hart spends much
more time discussing the challenges he faces when working with each experience
than the successes. In particular, his time as a player for the Brooklyn
Mariners, a semi-pro football team, and his foray into wrestling did not come
naturally to him.
In most cases, instead of using real names, Hart comes up
with nicknames for the people he interacts with during his adventures. This
proved a little difficult to keep up with who was who but ultimately didn’t
detract too much from the stories. It would have also been helpful to have a
bit more insight into his professional writing and how much that impacted his
decisions to immerse himself in these experiences.
A lot of people casually dream about participating in
sports, professional or otherwise, but seldom go to the lengths Hart did to
find out what all the fuss is about. He writes in an easy style that engages
the reader, and acts as a conduit to let us all know what it’s like to do such
things as sling hot dogs in Shea Stadium or get clotheslined in a wrestling
match. I’m more than happy to let him experience them for me but am also
entertained by reading about how he came to have such an eclectic résumé.
********************************
You can check me out on Facebook or follow me on Twitter @historianandrew
No comments:
Post a Comment