Springtime and baseball go hand in hand. But what about baseball and female fans? What is the dynamic between females and the great American pastime? Two newly released books examine the female fan and offer some fun and insightful perspectives.
Actress Alyssa Milano Writes First Book, Safe at Home
Fans know her best as an actress on such hit TV shows as Who's the Boss and Charmed, but now Alyssa Milano can add author to her list of accomplishments. With the 2009 release of her first book, Safe at Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic, Milano manages to reintroduce herself to the public as a die-hard Dodgers fan and lifelong baseball fanatic.
Milano's book features a forward written by Dodger's manager, Joe Torre, and her introduction hits a chord with all baseball fans. In it she proudly proclaims her love for "the boys in blue" but also her unshakable passion for the game itself. There is hardly any doubt that her passion is anything but sincere.
She shares her story with readers, about how she first fell in love with the game as a young girl and how over time the game has "loved her back" and "changed her life". Milano offers her readers a book that compares life and baseball, and how the two have come to overlap in meaning for her. It's a book that any baseball fan can relate to, and Milano does an excellent job of crediting the female fan with all of the enthusiasm and loyalty as any male fan.
An excerpt of Safe at Home can be read online.
Jane Heller's Confession of a She-Fan Tackles Author's Love for the Yankees
Like a lot of New Yorkers, Jane Heller is a Yankees fan, for better or for worse. She gained public notoriety in 2007 when she published her first of two op-ed pieces in the New York TImes whereby she declared in black and white that she wanted to divorce her favorite sports team, the NY Yankees. Several months later, she followed up her initial piece by writing another one in which she once again falls back in love with her favorite team.
Confessions of a She-Fan reads a lot like a relationship memoir. Heller recounts the emotional roller coaster ride that she experiences while following the NY Yankees for half the 2007 season. Mixed in between reflections of different games is the author's witty and sometimes crude insight into the players (her nicknames for players she dislikes will make even the toughest male fan blush) and her love for the game. There is no doubt, after reading this book, that Heller is able to provide readers a peek through the eyes of one die-hard female Yankees fan that is both charmingly honest and brutally funny.
Excerpts from Confessions of a She-Fan can be read on the Heller's blog.
This spring pick up Milano's book and fall back in love with the game, then read Heller's book for a good dose of laughter. Both books would make perfect gifts for any baseball fan.
Book Stats:
1. Safe at Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic by Alyssa Milano
ISBN# 0061625108
WIlliam Morrow, 2009
Hardcover, 256 pages
2. Confessions of a She-Fan: The Course of True Love with the New York Yankees by Jane Heller
ISBN# 1594868980
Rodale Books, 2009
Hardcover, 272 pages
Lisa Rufle - If I had to describe myself in one word, it would easily be: curious. So as a natural extension of my curiosity, reading is my life's ...
