Bottom of the 33rd by Dan Barry

This book subtitled Hope, Redemption, and Baseball's Longest Game tells the story of a minor baseball game between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings that began on April 18th, 1981 and ended on June 23rd of the same year. Along the way the game has gone 33 innings, 32 of those between the evening start on April 18th and just after 4 AM the following morning.

The book however tells us much more. We learn about the players and people involved in the game. We see Wade Boggs and Cal Ripken two future hall of famers. We see members of the 86 Red Sox heartbreak team such as Marty Barrett, Rich Gedman and Bruce Hurst. Perhaps most tellingly we learn about Ben Mondor the owner of the Pawtucket Red Sox, a man who saved the Pawtucket team and made the franchise one of the strongest minor league affiliates, a model for others to follow. We meet Dave Koza, the prototypical 4A player returning to the Pawsox year after year and never getting a chance. We see what the end of his career does to him and check on him thirty years later to see how he came out the other side.

In 1981 baseball went through a mid season strike and when this game resumed on June 23 it was a national news story. Dave Koza was a hero that day. It was perhaps the beginning of the end of life as he knew it and expected it however.

Fathers and son, lonely people, batboys and clubhouse attendants. We meet them all. If you love baseball and love the game as much for what it stands for and the meaning everyday people give to it as much as the prowess of any individual player this book is a treat.