Book Review: Fantasyland: A Season on Baseball’s Lunatic Fringe
May 19, 2006 by alex
A few weeks ago I finished Wall Street Journal writer Sam Walker’s new book, Fantasyland: A Season on Baseball’s Lunatic Fringe but never got around to writing a review. I’m trying to figure out the best way to put together concise, informative “reviewlets”. Here goes…
Walker is able to join Tout Wars - an uber-experts only fantasy baseball league that has been around for 20+ years - and wants to see if he can use his press credentials to gain a fantasy advantage. How would it affect his team if he were able to actually go talk to Alfonso Soriano and find out why he’s stopped stealing bases or what David Ortiz thinks of being traded for the afore-mentioned recently conservatice Soriano. Could he get an inside track that even the experts didn’t have since he was able to hang out with his players in their clubhouse, reward them (with his team’s t-shirts) when they succeeded and inquire about their off the field well being when they start to slump?
Since this is also Walker’s first real fantasy sports experience, you get a great glimpse into the obsession that it truly can become. Walker uses his resources to assemble a 2 man front office - one who’s in the old school, use your gut, scout mold and another who’s married to the idea that the truth can always be found in the numbers. He does a great job at showing the two sides to this popular argument in a way that doesn’t feel at all dogmatic.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who plays fantasy baseball (or fantasy sports in general) or is at all curious about what it’s all about.
Tags: books
Posted in Entertainment
May 19th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
The really wonderful thing about this book is that Walker accurately describes the obsessive feelings of running a fantasy team. And since he seems to be a bit of an addictive personality, he gets fully immersed in the most socially pathetic habits for which fantasy owners (myself included) are famous. I laughed out loud on the bus minimum 5 times while reading this.
May 22nd, 2006 at 4:58 pm
i’m not ready to accept that i’ve become that guy, which means i cannot read this book. but it’s really not until this year that i find myself truly becoming obsessive over this fantasy madness. playing in multiple bands, i hang out w/ a lot of musicians, and guess what’s not cool to other musicians? discussing what a pleasant surprise the closer on the arizona diamondbacks turned out to be.
May 22nd, 2006 at 5:12 pm
i still need you to trade me a closer. i know you won’t, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s what i need.