Hi, Brett..I am currently upto
the final few pages of your book and it is by far the best book I have
ever read. I myself, am currently playing high school baseball and your
book, is not only inspirational but really gives you the inside life of
minor league baseball,which is something I am very intruiged by....Like
you said, there's just something special about Minor League Baseball. -
N.
I am writing to you to tell
you how much I liked your book Minor Players Major Dreams. I thought it
was a really great book. I think it is really cool that you spent a year
in the minors and then decided to write about it. This book gave me a very
good understanding of what it was like playing minor league baseball. My
favorite parts of the book were when you wrote some of the guys on the
team. I found it interesting to read about them and their struggles in
trying to reach the major leagues. In closing I would just like to say
I thought it was a great book, and I think you should think about writing
a sequel. - C.A.
I received this marvellous
book for Christmas, and not only enjoyed it immensely but envy you a great
deal. I wish "I" had a baseball card...- D.D.
I bought your Minor Players
Major Dreams book then, but never read it until this past month (my stack
of books to read is still way too large). Anyway, I absolutely loved this
book! Was a great read, and I have to say, I got annoyed at the end of
the book, wished you had stuck around for a second season and wrote about
that, too. - J.S.
WOW! What a great book. For
an old-timer such as myself, it was really great being able to experience
with you what a season in the minors was like. To be able to live your
dream just had to be a great experience....Thank you for your very forthright
view of baseball in the minors. You answered a lot of the questions that
I had, but would have never asked. - L.S.
I enjoyed your book so much.
I appreciate your honest, and at times terribly funny, appraisal and portrayal
of your teammates and coaches. Someone else could have very easily made
this a hatchet job or an overly sympathetic account, but you were fair,
honest, funny, tactful, yet direct and to the point. Brett, you've painted
a very clear picture and I thank you for that....I decided to visit the
baseball section in the library and that's where I ran across your book.
I think I've fallen in love with baseball all over again.- D.P.
I just recently finished your book, Minor Players Major Dreams. At the
invitation of your web site, I just wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed
your book....Congratulations on managing to keep your day job and still
live your dream. Albeit only vicariously, I enjoyed being on that bus with
the Raptors. - V.M.
I like you book so much I've added a review to your book's site at amazon.com
and I recommend it in one of my taglines. Hope you don't mind. I'm looking
forward to rereading it, but I lent it to a friend. Guess I should have
told him to go buy his own copy! Your book was intriguing, just the premise
of it. Who hasn't wanted to toss aside their job (especially when you work
in the public sector) and pursue a fantasy life? And it was well written,
well constructed, with good, telling details. The "characters" were interesting;
I was hoping that Doug O'Neill and Brett Smith would advance through the
system. I wanted to smack the manager, more than once. Some of the people
in the book have stayed with me; you painted true portraits. - L.W.
Thank you so much for your book.
Great job!
Enjoyed every page. - G.K.
I read your book. I bought it about a month before the draft because
I thought I could learn some things just in case I was drafted. Well, fate
had it's way and I ended up in Medicine Hat, unbelievable....Great book.
- B.F.
Hey I would just like to thank you for writing this book. I am a minor
league player in the Red Sox system. I just finished rookie ball in the
Gulf Coast League. I think people do not understand the life we live and
the ups and downs. Thanks again. - W.S.
I recently finished reading your book, "Minor Players, Majors Dreams"
and had to tell you how much I enjoyed it. It should be required reading
for anybody who dreams of being the next J.D. Drew, a little reality check
for them. - L.W.
I have just finished reading your book....Needless to say, I enjoyed
it thoroughly. You developed this almost like a novel, but it was real
life. And better than a novel, because you lived a dream, and the reader
was able to see how the endings are usually not so sweet. I go to minor
league games as often as possible. I attend with my Mom. We both agree
that we'd pick the minor games over the big leagues any day (both of us
grew up just outside Chichago, and we still hail from suburbia). I don't
go to catch a glimpse of a guy that might make it to the show (although
it's always nice if they do), I go to see some real baseball. Guys my own
age out there having a good time. Playing a game they love for practically
no money at all. Not exactally a wise career choice, but life's not about
money. Thanks for a great book. - K.A.F
I just finished your book and wanted to congratulate you on a great
piece of work! I read about your book in Philadelphia Magazine and my wife
gave it to me as a birthday present. I really related to it, being a huge
baseball fan and having grown up and living in the Philadelphia area. The
way you wrote about your experience made me feel like I was in the Raptor
dugout or on the bus. Your portrayal of the season seemed very realistic,
not glorified. I played many years of baseball up until I was 16, and now
play softball, and you got to experience for a summer what I have always
dreamed about. Great job on the book, it was excellent and made for some
great off season reading!!! - C.M.
While surfing the net one nite looking for a new book, I discovered
your webpage, I was very impressed with your dream, so off to my local
bookstore I go, after about three weeks they were able to track it down
for me, I could hardly wait to get started, well!!!! it was awesome!!!,
I could sit here and type for days telling you about how this book made
me feel and made me dream of doing the exact same thing. - P.R.
I just finished reading your book, I thought it was great. I was very
jealous of your experience....I am a major fan of minor league baseball.
I follow it very closely and even try to find minor league baseball cards.
I will have to look at the ones I have to see if there are any of the players
in your book....I loved the line that you were the worst professional baseball
player when you signed your contract. I also must admit I skipped forward
to see what happened with Brett Smith. I was hoping he might still be playing.
I never though about how hard it must have not getting to play. I am competitive
and love to play sports, I guess it would drive me nuts too. I though the
end of the book was very sad. I felt sorry for the players who finally
had to stop playing....I was also glad to see that you earned an appreciation
of independent ball. A lot of people around here think all these players
suck because they aren't affiliated and have no shot to play in the majors.
I try to set them straight....Great book thank you for writing it. - T.H.
Your book was great, I read in 72 hours, couldn't put it down. I think it is a wonderful thing that you've done for minor leagues and baseball. And what a thrill it obviously it was for you!
People just do not appreciate the value, excitement and intimacy of
minor league ball. Those of us hanging around get to meet quite a few up
and coming players from teams all around the majors. It might be the only
time to get close and touch them. - J.P.
I received your book as a birthday present earlier this month and I
loved it. It was excellent. I couldn't put it down until I had finished
the entire book. I now find myself attached to your teammates so I can
only imagine how you feel. Besides my appreciation for your book, I am
also extremely envious of you. I would have loved to do something like
that! - M.M.
I had a hazy idea of what life might be like for people who are in the
minors but after reading your book, I didn't come close. I read it for
two days straight and rarely put it down. It had me alternating between
laughing at your antics with each other and happy times to crying for you
all because of the frustration and upset as well as enduring all the verbal
abuse from the managers/coaches....Thank you so very much for taking the
chance to write the book and inform the rest of us. - C.B.
I recently wrote to you asking about your uniform. I have since read
the book and enjoyed it very much. You really captured the minor league
feeling as I had perceived it to be. Great job! Good luck in the future.
- J.M.
Your book put into direct words what I have seen. I have worked for
a minor league team as an usher for four seasons now, and every summer
I meet players who enthusiam and dedication and dreams are played out in
a competitve fashion every night. Thanks for the book, I loved it!!!! -
J.M.
Just finished your book. Sorry to say, I did not purchase it...I checked
it out from the library. Pretty damn good, though. - L.F.
Brett has vividly portrayed life in the "bushes". It is hard to describe
the long bus rides, poor food and agony of being cut. Minor Players, Major
Dreams exposes you to the real sacrifices young men make just to fullfill
a dream ! A must for any baseball fan's library ! - M.D.
As a fan of minor league baseball, I was eager to get my hands on your
book when I first heard about it. I just finished reading it and let me
tell you that I was not disappointed. What a great idea! You convey life
in the minors quite truthfully and eloquently. - P.H.
I just finished Minor Players, Major Dreams Thanks for writing it. I
was particularly pleased that you didn't over-romanticize it. I think the
tendancy many of us have is to paint a wonderful picture of the minors
and the people involved in them without acknowledging that it is a business
and that there are a lot of people associated with it who are less than
nice. As a kind of preparation to your book I reread Roger Kahn's Good
Enough to Dream which provides a good counterpoint to your book. Although
both books are factual, I had a harder time with Kahn's book because his
team goes on to win the pennant. It gives it a kind of Mighty Ducks (the
film, not the team) ending. (Ragtag team, in spite of insurmountable odds,
goes on to win it all...)....once again thanks for your terrific contribution
and I have it sitting with the very best of my baseball books. - D.S.
You probably don't remember me, but I worked for the Raptors in 1994
(Speed Pitch Operator) and I just recieved my copy of the book you wrote.
I must admit I found it quite fascinating and intriguing reading, I finished
it in two hours. - R.C.
I wanted to tell you that Daryl LOVED the book - your first (maybe)
rave review. He said he wanted to write you a note about it, but that could
be months away, so I thought I'd send you a quick note and tell you now.
I will definitely be ordering more copies because as I tell people about
it, I find more and more people who are interested - maybe you should hire
me as your publicist! - B.M.
I'm at around page 70. If that seems slow to you, it's not because I'm
not enjoying the book. I read slowly because I just read a little before
bed each night. I am really enjoying the book. You tell the story well
and in a way that really makes you feel for these guys. Congratulations
on a job well done. - Y.H.
Hey, I like it! I couldn't put the book down, I read it cover to cover the first night I got it. - T.S.