Fail Better: Why Baseball Matters

Kingwell, a philosophy professor at the University of Toronto and prolific author (Measure Yourself Against the Earth), dramatically veers off the template of traditional baseball books, which will dismay readers looking for a straightforward book about the sport. In this collection of previously published pieces and new essays, pitchers and catchers mingle with musicians and philosophers, and Kingwell mixes his thoughts about baseball with numerous other topics, including colonialism, justice, and The Simpsons. He writes, for example, that “Baseball is a game that teaches us much about justice, but usually by way of its absence,” leaving the point to be mulled over rather than developing it. He is at his best when focusing on baseball, not going off into “sportspace” in an effort to prove that the game is bigger than the sum of its parts and demonstrate how much he knows about it. “The game means so much to me,” he writes, but the average fan may find it difficult to relate to his overwrought explanations and observations. He seems to know, however, that he runs the risk of alienating all but the most cerebral of baseball lovers, and clearly feels it’s a risk worth taking. (Apr.)