Highs and Lows

As a hardcore Braves fan who cut my teeth on baseball during the first year of the streak and truly embraced the game during the epic pennant race of 1993, I've been waiting for a book chronicling the 14 year streak of division titles for quite some time.



It isn't so much that the story is bad, it is more that I can see things that could have made it better.



The best parts of the book are the earliest chapters when men who played big parts in the streak were profiled including: Bobby Cox, John Smoltz, Leo Mazzone, Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones and others.



The season by season recaps that follow are an interesting idea but always left me wanting more. More quotes from those involved looking back or even more quotes from articles written at the time. The book is at it's best when those involved comment and lacks something when it is a recap of batting orders, statistics and scores. More clubhouse anecdotes might have helped to break up the stream of numbers.

It is also a bit repetitive. You're going to hear things like 18 rookies, Smoltz, Cox and Mazzone being the only ones to be involved in all 14 years of the streak and other nuggets several times throughout the narrative.



The best part of the audiobook is Kyle Tait's narration. If you didn't know that he had play-by-play experience before listening to the book, the way he approached the narration would have made it obvious. He just has the cadence of a play-by-play man. As a result, listening to lineups, scores and stats wasn't as laborious as it might have been reading them in print.



My criticisms aside, I enjoyed listening to this book. There was a lot of 'hey, I remember him', 'I forgot he passed through Atlanta' and 'that loss still hurts' thoughts that ran through my head.



The book is a decent overview of the highs and lows of the 14 year streak of division titles and the profiles are quite interesting. But I just can't say this is the definitive word on everything that happened. Perhaps someday someone will write an epic oral history? We can only hope. But Braves fans should enjoy the audiobook, except for the part that it will remind them of each post season failure.



I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.