Brosnan was an average reliever for the Cubs,Cardinals,Reds and White Sox in the late 1950's and early 60's and was best known on the field for his 1961 season as the "fireman" for the surprise National League titlist Reds.
Off the field,Brosnan was best known for his two books released during his career-diaries of the 1959 season,"The Long Season" and "Pennant Race,Brosnan's look at the miracle run of the 1961 Reds.
Brosnan's book were the first real look at the inside of baseball and were predictably bashed by many in the game.
Brosnan's book were a little more whitewashed than later books,most notably Jim Bouton's Ball Four as Brosnan deleted any talk on sexual issues and Brosnan cleaned up much of the language of the locker room to tame the subject a bit,but the books never seem to be sifted through by censor.
Brosnan simply took out things that he didn't feel was needed for any potential young readers to read and I can respect that decision.
Brosnan wrote an inside the game look that could be read by all ages and I loved reading those books,yet I didn't actually own them until a reprint a few years back.
Brosnan told the truth and named names,which is half the fun of reading such books.
I remember reading the Dirk Hayhurst minor league diary and being disappointed because he created pseudonyms for players.
I understand the wanting to have players keep some privacy,but by not doing so,Hayhurst took away the readers potential connection to the subject and his work suffered for it.
Brosnan didn't and like Bouton,you feel a connection from the word for players that are represented by just a statistic or a baseball card.
As a result,you feel like you "know" the manager with a bias like Solly Hemus or a player that isn't your kind of guy like Fred Talbot or even Brosnan or Bouton themselves for being more intellectual than most in the game.
Baseball,for all the fun it can be,is still a job to be worked at,like we all have and whenever there is a job to do and you don't control all the surroundings,there will be people that you don't always like.
Brosnan's book was the first one that show baseball as just another job and opening that up made people feel closer to the game (at least for a while until salaries went out of control for the average person) and look at them as real people,not just people on card.
One side effect of reading Brosnan's book and later Bouton was me getting very excited about getting common cards of players that were on teams that were featured in those books.
Few of those players were stars as the only one's that come to mind in Long Season or Pennant Race were Stan Musial and Frank Robinson,but I remember being thrilled finding cards of players like Joey Jay and Marshall Bridges just because of their appearances in the book,let alone if I could find an actual Brosnan or Bouton card!
Jim Brosnan stepped into my life as a young child with these books from the library.
I bet I checked those books along with Jim Bouton's more times than I can count.
My family emphasized reading without telling me what to read,so from day one,my love of reading allowed me to gravitate towards sports,which was the one thing that I had in common with my father.
Looking back,whether I realized it or not,I was searching for something to be able to have in common with a man that was often at work or emotionally unavailable and sports was the only avenue that I had.
Don't get me wrong,I love the games or I wouldn't be doing this today,but there has always been more to me than just sports and I haven't always done a sterling job of letting people know that.
I mean,I've always prided myself on being multi-dimensional,yet often unless I get to be good friends with someone,the easy way is to just look at me as a sports guy.
I've always loved reading not just sports though.
I also love biography,history,space,politics and the list goes on as my enjoyment of reading has never stopped.
Reading has always been a friend to me,a friend that is always available and only leaves me when I'm dumb enough to not bring something to read.
I wonder if the next few generations will have the same attachments to reading when so much will be digital?
Jim Brosnan's books capture a period of time in baseball history as the time begins to turn towards the more modern ballplayer,yet they still show that no matter the time period,this game is still played by people of a certain age and no matter the advances in the social world,people of that age group is still a certain type of person-often untouched by failure and filled with the answers that only age makes one realize is truly fools gold.
I think I'm up for re-reading,even if you aren't a baseball fan,maybe you might enjoy it too.
Even if it's just for the time holding a book in your hand.
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