Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Why Does He Make It So Damn Easy?

Everyone's favorite neurotic ball player is now a published children's book author: according to the New York Daily News, yesterday marked the release of Out of the Ballpark, written by Alex Rodriguez. Illustrated by Frank Morrison, who got the gig because of his illustrations for Queen Latifah's book, Out of the Ballpark follows the story of a second baseman named Alex, who commits a costly error during the playoffs. His team rallies and makes it to the championship, while young Alex practices obsessively to make sure he can overcome the rising pressure not to fail again. The best part, though: at the end of the book is "a Rodriguez "scrapbook," featuring photos of A-Rod as a baby, a Little Leaguer and even one of him preparing for his first school dance in junior high."

Is it precious? Of course it is. It's also indicative of the author's state of mind about baseball that he chose this particular topic as the subject of his book; you might say the strain of playing to disappointed New Yorkers is starting to get to him. I wonder if the original draft of the book featured Alex (the character) seeking out Jim Fannin for help?