Bunts: Curt Flood, Camden Yards, Pete Rose, and Other Reflections on Baseball

by George F. Will

In this New York Times bestseller, Pulitzer Prize-winning author George F. Will returns to baseball with more than seventy finely honed pieces about the sometimes recondite, sometimes frustrating, yet always passionately felt national pastime. Here are Will's eulogy for the late Curt Flood ("Dred Scott in Spikes"), Will on Ted Williams ("When Ted Williams retired in 1960, a sportswriter said that Boston knew how Britain felt when it lost India. Indeed, Britain felt diminished, but also a bit relieved"), and Will on his own baseball career ("I was a very late draft choice of the Mittendorf Funeral Home Panthers. Our color was black"). Here are subjects ranging from the author's 1977 purchase of a single share of stock in the Chicago Cubs to the memorable 1998 season, which is discussed in an all-new essay.
For fans of Men at Work and Will's other baseball writings, this book is as pleasurable as a well-executed bunt.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, Essays, History

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1995

About the author

George Frederick Will is an American newspaper columnist, journalist, and author. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winner best known for his conservative commentary on politics. By the mid 1980s the Wall Street Journal reported he was "perhaps the most powerful journalist in America," in a league with Walter Lippmann (1899–1975).

Will served as an editor for National Review from 1972 to 1978. He joined the Washington Post Writers Group in 1974, writing a syndicated biweekly column, which became widely circulated among newspapers across the country and continues today. His column is syndicated to 450 newspapers. In 1976 he became a contributing editor for Newsweek, writing a biweekly backpage column until 2011.

Will won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for "distinguished commentary on a variety of topics" in 1977.[6] Often combining factual reporting with conservative commentary, Will's columns are known for their erudite vocabulary, allusions to political philosophers, and frequent references to baseball.

Will has also written two bestselling books on the game of baseball, three books on political philosophy, and has published eleven compilations of his columns for the Washington Post and Newsweek and of various book reviews and lectures.

Will was also a news analyst for ABC since the early 1980s and was a founding member on the panel of ABC's This Week with David Brinkley in 1981, now titled This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Will was also a regular panelist on television's Agronsky & Company from 1977 through 1984 and on NBC's Meet the Press in the mid-to-late 1970s. He left ABC to join Fox News in early October 2013.

Reviews

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

The one word description of George Will’s “Bunts” is quaint. “Bunts” is a collection of Will’s short articles on baseball taken mostly from newspapers and magazines, written between 1974 and 1997. I found them quaint for two reasons. One is that they come across like small town newspaper columns, like Will likely read in hometown Champaign, Illinois when he was growing up. They came across as very conversational and matter-of-fact, even though they were in national publications like Newsweek and the Washington Post. The pieces repeat a lot of details, and a lot of opinions. Apparently readers forgot what Will wrote in his previous columns, or grew comfortable with repeatedly reading about the same odd stats, such as the St. Louis Browns home game attendance during the decade of the 1930s being below part of a season’s attendance of many modern clubs. If this stat is mentioned fewer than a dozen times, I’d be surprised. Will is big on the business of baseball, as well as the traditions. You do get to see his rethinking some traditions over time, like the designated hitter, which is pilloried in early essays and grudgingly accepted by the end. And his documenting of a tradition I didn't realize was a tradition - the smug superiority displayed by Cardinal fans - was quite humorous and pretty much spot on. (Like Will, I also grew up in the land between the Cardinal network and the Cub network, and my heart also leans toward the ivy.)

The second reason I found these quaint was that Will tried repeatedly to explain how player’s statistics were getting so much better in the eighties and nineties. He came up with plenty of reasons, but really didn’t touch on the use of steroids beyond two of his earlier essays. It was like he was trying to ignore, to will away, what we now know, that juicing was relatively widespread. These essays read like they are from an earlier time, and so they are.

Despite all that, I enjoyed the short articles and found a lot of interesting thought had gone into them. The pictures were also a welcome addition to break up the stories and remind me of some of the players I had forgotten.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure if this book is still in print. I saw it at a thrift shop and bought it for some light summer reading. If anything is light reading from George Will. But his writing is as clear and concise as his verbal political analyses on TV. And he has a deep love of baseball, especially its history, which is shown in "Bunts ...". The book is essentially a collection of essays, derived from columns he wrote on the subject over a period of years. He has an appreciation for the legacies of those who were engaged in the sport, especially during the "Golden Era" of baseball from 1903 to 1954.

The book itself can be thought of as a sort of legacy, having been written in the late '90's, so it doesn't contain stories or analyses of more recent players or teams. It is suffused with Will's deep belief that baseball is America's greatest sport. The years since the book's initial publication haven't been as kind to America's relationship to it. Yes, MLB is alive and well, and is the source of endless sport entertainment but I don't think its fan base has continued to expand, especially in the age of the internet. Will also has spent much time lamenting the decades of disappointment experienced by himself and other Cubs lovers over the team's many failures to produce a winning season, not to mention a World Series (of course the team would end that drought after 108 years, with a World Series win in 2016 and more postseason participation since then).

George Will makes some of the clearest analyses of the personalities and issues that have shaped MLB. One of my favorite articles of the more than 70 contained in the book, was his precise, non-blinking critique of the off-field behavior of Pete Rose. This book may be a period piece now but it continues to be relevant as a source of informative and entertaining writing, and as a repository of some of the best baseball quotes of all time.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is made up of a series of newspaper columns on baseball by political commentator George Will, stretching from 1974-1997. They provide an interesting look into baseball and the personalities of baseball from that era. The articles are generally well-written. Some shine, while others aren't as good. There are a couple of negatives to the book. Since Will grew up in Chicago and lives and works in Washington, most of the articles pertain to either the Cubs or the Orioles. Also a number of articles touch on the common theme of free agency (Perhaps because Will is a libertarian?), and as such a number of the same arguments and comments appear repeatedly in different articles. Read as they were meant to be read, as individual newspaper articles, this is not an issue. But put back to back in a book it starts to feel redundant. He has written a couple of longer pieces especially for the book which are quite good. An interesting book for fans who remember the players of that era or who have an interest in the business of baseball and how we got to where we are today.

[Terry Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a jewel of a book. It is a collection of newspaper columns written by Will over a number of years. Will is a very witty and erudite writer. His love for baseball is evident in every article. There are lots of statistics and stories about ball players from earlier generations. He has a very clear-eyed view of the problems in the modern game and reasonable solutions for those problems.

[Coleman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Almost a 3.

It got repetitive.

I also think George Will developed a confidence complex following the criticism of his book by Donald Kagan. The articles following this criticism did not have the same playfully nostalgic air of the first grouping of articles. I feel this is where the book took a decisive turn away from 3 stars.

It recovered a bit toward the end but although the articles re-gained their lightheartedness, they became much more boring and borderline political.

Nonetheless a decent chunk of this book was relaxing and enjoyable. I recommend it only to hardcore baseball fans who love a bit of history.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a 3.5 so I'm rounding up. A collection of Will's writings on baseball from throughout his career.
I'm torn. I agree 100% with him that the DH is the worst rule in sports and that the owners can't get out of their own way and make the game better. However, he is an awful right wing GOP hack and a huge Cubs fan so there are 2 major strikes against him.
Most of the essays here are short and interesting but he repeats a lot and relies on the same few stats over and over. I get it, they were written over decades but lumped together it gets annoying.
Anyways, 3.5(rounded to 4) because he clearly loves baseball and how can I argue with that?

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting reading this book quite a few years after it was written as some of the things her writes about, inter league play, salaries cannot continue to increase so rapidly have come about. He definitely has a National League bent, he hates the DH loves the Cubs. Didn’t find it nearly as good as Men at Work. Basically a copy of his political columns where he wrote about baseball rather than politics.

[Peter Stangel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable read. Will is such a gifted, intellectual writer and puts a nice perspective on baseball. As a collection of articles, there is some repetition but the stories and stats are so so good, it didn’t matter. His passion for the sport shines through. Wish he had another baseball book.

[Matthew Burgess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting to read some of your the older names mentioned. Since these were a collection of essays written over a period of time, there were several references repeated multiple times. This reputation took away from the reading experience for me.

[Bart · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a collection of essays and columns about baseball, George Will's Bunts was not as good as his large and cohesive baseball book Men at Work. Still, Will is one of the most authoritative writers America has, and so anything he writes is probably worth reading.

What was most striking about Bunts was Will's authority at a young age. Writing before his thirtieth birthday, Will took so many chances and wrote with such unvarnished belief in his own superiority of reason and craft. By his mid sixties, where he is now, writing two weekly political-opinion columns for the Washington Post, Will is still among the very best at what he does - but he's no longer so much better than others of his age and experience. Others have caught up to some degree.

Because this book comprises essays written in the seventies, eighties and nineties, it gives Will a chance to revisit many of his favorite subjects. Oddly, for a conservative, Will regularly celebrates the power and effect of baseball's union, the MLBPA. He also insists that the brand of baseball played today is much better than it was in any supposed "golden era." Hardly the sort of strict-constructionist thinking and writing his columns tend to celebrate.

Will also writes convincingly about the pace of play, gently leading a reader to a fairly obvious, and timely, conclusion: To speed up the game, grow the strike zone.

Finally, though, Will's treatment of the 1998 season and the accomplishments of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa hasn't aged well at all. In an earlier essay from the eighties - about Pete Rose and gambling - Will gives a tortured explanation for why cheating is so abhorrent. But fifteen years later, when there were suspicions aplenty about a lot of players and steroids, Will prefers to treat the overall growth of Americans in general.

Bunts remains an intelligent treatment of a thinking-man's game, just the same.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is exactly what it advertised itself as. A collection of Will's essays over a period of roughly 30 years that ends in the late 1990s. Unfortunately, that model results in a book full of dated essays that repeat themselves.

Will has a way with words that can result in some great turns of phrase (I particularly liked his quip that Cardinals fans will be the first ones drafted to man Soviet prison camps) but can just as often come across as pretentious. I fell asleep trying to read this book three nights in a row. If that's not a good enough reason to give up on it, I don't know what is. By the time I gave up on this book, I was about 2/3 of the way through and had already read Will recap his experience growing up as a Cubs fan at least four times, Judge Landis' background three times, and Will's disdain for George Steinbrenner twice. He also wrote several columns first defending and then excoriating Pete Rose and repeatedly reminded us that he is in fact a political conservative.

Overall, if you really like Will's brand of writing and want a decent collection of his columns, check this book out. If you're interested in it for a taste of the times in which he wrote, I'd recommend a more focused book.

[Brock · Rating 2 out of 5]

While there are certainly interesting thoughts and stories told in in this collection of baseball articles, I was generally underwhelmed. First of all, there did not seem to be much of a rhyme or reason for the order of the selected pieces, which meant that reading this book for any extended period of time felt like whirling through a baseball tornado. You get a piece about a specific player (some of my favorite texts), followed by a retrospective on an entire team, followed by a collection of thoughts of the game itself. By the end of each session, I commonly found myself forgetting what I had just read. Secondly, while George Will is undoubtedly a fantastic writer (and his style truly does work well in many of the pieces), there were far too many times I felt like I was reading the baseball opinion of King George VII. Many, many thought and opinions were made through sheer eloquence of language, with absolutely no recognition of any competing views. Even as a very dedicated baseball fan, I found myself sick at times of the blind reverence of seemingly everything related to "base", a certain game of ball (as I'm half sure George would like us to keep calling it).

[Chuck McIlhenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I'm not always in agreement with his politics, George Will has a passion for baseball that often makes for fun reading. His way with a phrase is often engaging and amusing at the same time ("these guys could hit rice pudding 400 feet"). Sadly, there seemed to be quite a bit of repetition throughout the book, especially in the realm of detail and statistics - and I do understand that this is a compendium of his columns written on baseball, as opposed to a completely new book on the subject. It just felt as if there could have been some consolidation and editing to make the journey less daunting. I had also forgotten that this was written in the late 90s, and therefore doesn't feature any of his insights on PEDs or the continued expansion and, in my mind, homogenization of the pro game itself by Bud Selig.

Overall, a decent, but not great, glimpse at a particular window in time within the world of baseball...and yes, George, we KNOW you grew up a Cubs fan...sheesh...

[Red Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Combine one of the more insightful men around with America's pastime, and you can't miss the magic.

The truth is that, as a carpenter once said to William James, "there is very little difference between one man and another; but what little there is, is very important."

"Hemingway said the first requisite for a writer is an unhappy childhood. The world of letters will have to fend for itself, looking for no help from the boys who spend their summers on the American Legion field."

Giamatti saw baseball as the Odyssey - the batter is on a perilous journey.

I don't know if this is true of not, but Will claims that in 1941 sacrifice flies counted as at-bats, and without that rule, Williams would have hit .419.

[Tom Gase · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was okay, but not what I was expecting and I should have read the inside jacket before buying. Unlike Will's great book, Men at Work, this book is not focused on one time period and just a couple of players. Instead it's a collection of stories he wrote for magazines and newspapers in a 30-year span.

My problem with the book is that it was kind of repetitive. He talks about his love for the Cubs a little too much. Two stories in his book are a response to his last book by another writer and then his response back. I don't really care about that stuff. And most of his stories are really, really short and just when they seem to be getting somewhere interesting, they end.

I guess I just liked Men at Work a lot more and would recommend that book before this one.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars out of respect and love for baseball!
But, nonfiction and short stories/collections is my least favorite combo (ever), so that shows how much respect and love I have for baseball.
I enjoyed Will's analytical approach to the sport. At first. By the middle of the book, it grew a bit repetitive and tiresome. And predictive, as his opinions/views don't exactly evolve (except for his coming around on the AL's DH, which was appreciated). And while he obviously harbors a deep love and passion for baseball, his intellectual approach started overwhelming that passion and I didn't connect with him or the book by the end.
Still. God bless baseball. And god bless the Yankees.

[Tom Pintong · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of essays on baseball, its joys, its troubles, through the eyes of George Will over many years. What I found remarkable is how prescient some of Mr. Will's observations about the game were when reflecting on his essays in hindsight. For the most part, the works included in the book are enjoyable. If I had any complaint about it, it was that some of his baseball facts were used quite often and repeatedly in his essays. It stands to reason that over the course of a long period of time, that certain facts would arise again or end up as recurring themes, but when reading a collection of essays written over years in the span of a few days, the repetition tends to stand out more.

[Jim]

While George Will and I don't see eye to eye politically, his insights about baseball are wonderful. This is an older book that I picked up so it allows a person to look back and see just what did happen during some of his speculative moments. If you like baseball, you'll love this book.

[Lee Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loaned to me from a friend and totally enjoyed this read. It was fun to look back and see the predictions (at the time observations) made by George Will about baseball's future and past. This is a series of quick articles that come together to make a fun book. I may have to dust off Men At Work and spend a little more time with George this summer.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you like baseball and great writing, and who doesn't, this book is for you. Althought I doubt George Will could hit a baseball as well as my mother, he has an eye for the game and a flair for highly literate writing

[Lane · Rating 2 out of 5]

an interesting book as it is a compilation of Will's columns. I read it from start to finish which meant there was a tremendous amount of repeated material. Would have rated higher but for this and there is no flow to the material.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of stories and essays by a great baseball fan about the game. Particularly memorable essays include why the Cubs are so bad for so long and the "Oriole" way of Earl Weaver.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

"A collection of his essays over many years about baseball. Gets a little tiresome, but probably good for the baseball lover!"

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection of baseball related essays and stories.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Will's style.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and poignant.

[Len Knighton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like George Will's love for baseball. I rated this 3 stars because I didn't think BUNTS was as good as MEN AT WORK.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

So good that you don’t mind hopping over the same factoids over and over and over

[Joseph Matuch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Best to skip around this one and read the essays and articles that really interest you. Reading straight through, you encounter too many of the same types of pokes at the Cubs.

[Marty Acks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice stories. A few Bob Gibson mentioned and nice story about Curt Flood. I felt the treatment of Pete Rose was dead on.