Nikodemos reviewed The Final Season by Tom Stanton
Review of 'The Final Season' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Also available on my blog at http://dfculver.mlblogs.com
Stanton’s The Final Season took longer for me to complete than I anticipated, however this was due to my own busy schedule, more than anything on his part.
Stanton dances between memoir and documentary as he chronicles the Tiger’s last season at Tiger Stadium (Navin Field, Briggs Stadium) before moving over to Comerica Park.
Part of the power his tale is how Stanton delves into his family’s rich history with the Tiger’s organization. From his grandfather, to his father, himself, and finally on to his sons. Baseball, and in particular Tiger’s baseball, has been a part of all of their lives and a way for them to bond. Stanton reveals a reunion at the ballpark between his father and uncle who had not seen each other in almost three decades.
While at times I envied Stanton for being able to attend all 81 …
Also available on my blog at http://dfculver.mlblogs.com
Stanton’s The Final Season took longer for me to complete than I anticipated, however this was due to my own busy schedule, more than anything on his part.
Stanton dances between memoir and documentary as he chronicles the Tiger’s last season at Tiger Stadium (Navin Field, Briggs Stadium) before moving over to Comerica Park.
Part of the power his tale is how Stanton delves into his family’s rich history with the Tiger’s organization. From his grandfather, to his father, himself, and finally on to his sons. Baseball, and in particular Tiger’s baseball, has been a part of all of their lives and a way for them to bond. Stanton reveals a reunion at the ballpark between his father and uncle who had not seen each other in almost three decades.
While at times I envied Stanton for being able to attend all 81 home games at Tiger Stadium, I also empathized with him at times when he missed out on family events due to conflicting schedules (I silently cheered when he left a game during the 4th inning to be there for a son’s birthday).
His family supported him in writing this tale, and I have to say that he did not disappoint them by pushing out a mediocre history of a final year. The love and devotion he gives to his family in these pages as well as to the Tiger’s team overall deserves to be honored.
Overall, this is one of the better baseball books I have read so far this year and it comes from someone who was outside of the inner-workings of baseball.
I’ll be looking to pick up some of Stanton’s other books in the near future, starting with The Road to Cooperstown, in which he takes a trip to Baseball’s Hall of Fame with his older brother and father.