Saw your post  on the minor league baseball life and wanted to refer a book to you, which you may or may not have already heard of / read.  It’s called The Bullpen Gospels by Dirk Hayhurst.  Hayhurst has written a blog for Baseball America for the past five years or so and it was always been very entertaining and informative.  He finally synthesized those into a book which turns out to be a very interesting read.  The book provides some keen insight into the life and mind of a minor league player trying to make it both mentally and physically to the Show.  Interesting read if you have some time.

– Jeremy, via email.

I finished The Bullpen Gospels a couple weeks ago and I’ve been looking for an excuse to write it up, so I’m glad Jeremy provided one. It’s a terrific book.

Hayhurst’s prose is entertaining from the start. It quickly becomes clear he can tell a story and has a lot of witty insight about baseball.

A few chapters deep, though, I was still skeptical of the lavish praised heaped upon the work by a bunch of analysts I really respect. I figured jaded baseball writers were just enthralled by the idea of a contemporary ballplayer actually saying all the funny and interesting things he’s thinking, and thus waxed hyperbolic.

But as the book continues and Hayhurst reveals more about his home life — if you could call it that — readers begin to understand why someone might call The Bullpen Gospels “one of the best baseball books ever written,” as Keith Olbermann did. Hayhurst details the psychological journey that accompanied his trek through the Minors, but manages to stay funny and avoid provoking any pity parties.

In the end, readers come away with a colorful picture of Minor League life and valuable insight into the mindset that keeps players like Hayhurst — non-prospects, Quadruple-A heroes, organizational soldiers, etc. — relentlessly pushing forward.

Would I put The Bullpen Gospels among the best baseball books ever written? I don’t know; I honestly haven’t read enough baseball books in my adult life to tell you with any confidence. But I can state for certain that it’s a really, really good book, and a book likely to make some dude you might never have even heard of into one of your favorite baseball players and favorite baseball writers.