[ARETE] Mark Noe, Kornhauser, Jacob. The Cup of Coffee Club: 11 Players and Their Brush with Baseball History.

[Duncan Jamieson]

All, Please find below and attached Mark Noe's review of

Kornhauser, Jacob.  The Cup of Coffee Club: 11 Players and Their Brush with
Baseball History.

Thanks

Duncan

Kornhauser, Jacob.  The Cup of Coffee Club: 11 Players and Their Brush with
Baseball History.

Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2020.  185pp.  $32.00.



Reviewed by Mark D. Noe



            While Little League is meant to teach lots of lessons, the one
that perhaps hurts the most is the one that tells a kid, “You’ll never play
in the big leagues.”  That may be a rude awakening to some; others may
labor on in spite of it, hope springing eternal and all that.  It often
becomes a question of whether that disillusioned Little Leaguer feels more
admiration or envy toward those who actually reach the majors.  Jacob
Kornhauser’s stories of eleven ballplayers (actually, more than that, with
a few particularly touching cases added in a final chapter) who made the
bigs but played in just a single game tends to temper any tendency toward
envy.

            The eleven case studies range from 1958 (Charlie Lindstrom) to
2008 (Matt Tupman).  Some names could have led to baseball dynasties
(Lindstrom, Larry Yount, Stephen Larkin).  Others remained in the dugout
but with a different perspective (Rafael Montalvo and Jeff Banister in
coaching and managing roles).  Some used the knowledge gained through
professional careers to make a living related to the game (Lindstrom and
ballpark lighting, Jon Ratliff and orthopedic implants, Sam Marsonek and
his baseball ministry oriented especially toward Latin American kids).  But
they all played in just one game.

            Any collection of stories like this will fascinate the typical
baseball fan, who (if I’m any example) must sit with Baseball Reference
open on the laptop while reading.  Each case study includes an interview,
bringing the player into the narrative, providing a firsthand account.  The
reasons these players fail to get into a second game vary, ranging from
timing to injury to manager’s dislike to, frankly, self-inflicted stupidity.
Results, too, vary, with most players ultimately accepting their
cup-of-coffee status, though never getting over their wonder at what might
have been.

            *The Cup of Coffee Club* is an interesting take on a quirky
sidelight of baseball history.  For a fanatic, it’s a dish of candy worth
dipping into.  Though doing so doesn’t allay any of those Little Leaguer
regrets.






Remember to smell the roses as you recumber past

Duncan R. Jamieson, Ph. D.
Professor of History
Book Review Editor
*AETHLON: The Journal of Sport Literature*
Ashland University
Ashland, OH  44805
USA
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ku.edu/pipermail/sport_literature_association/attachments/20230502/5a41859c/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Noe, Kornhauser.docx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Size: 25065 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.ku.edu/pipermail/sport_literature_association/attachments/20230502/5a41859c/attachment-0001.docx>