Product Description
"In men like Traveler and Alcazar we find the beating heart and struggling soul of baseball..."
-Jeff MacGregor, Sports Illustrated; author of Sunday Money

Howie Traveler never made it as a player-his one major league hit and .091 batting average attest to that. He was
cursed with that worst of professional maladies, the ill fortune of almost.

Now after years of struggling up the coaching ladder, Howie's finally been given his shot: as manager of the Cleveland Indians. But America's pastime has changed. Whether Howie can spot a small flaw in a batter's swing won't matter if he can't manage his superstar outfielder Jay Alcazar, a slugger with enormous talent (and an ego to match).

No crisis on the field fazes Jay and no woman off the field ever rejects him. But one night at the hotel Howie sees something at Jay's door he wishes he hadn't...and it leaves Howie with an impossible choice.

From six-time National Sportswriter of the Year and NPR commentator Frank Deford comes a richly detailed, page-turning tale that takes you deep into America's game. From the dugouts to the tabloid scandals, from the lights of the field to the glare of the media, The Entitled is the great novel of baseball's modern era.

"The Entitled is a baseball masterpiece, like The Natural and Field of Dreams; the difference is the plot and the characters depict the true inside world of baseball. Frank Deford writes like he played in the majors for ten years. If you have a passion for baseball, this is a must read."
-Mike Schmidt, Baseball Hall of Fame

"Frank Deford is not just an immensely talented sportswriter, he's an immensely talented American writer. The Entitled is his wise and pleasurable portrait of a Willy Loman-like baseball manager finally getting his chance in the Bigs late in his career."
-David Halberstam

"Engrossing...Readers are exposed to a richly textured understanding of baseball and, no less, of estrangement, ambition, mendacity and the search for one's destiny-notwithstanding the cost in human or financial terms."
-Library Journal

"I loved The Entitled and could not put it down. It was a great read from start to finish with characters that reminded me of the many people I've known and played with-pure baseball."
––Lou Piniella, Manager, Chicago Cubs

" The Entitled contains all of the keen insider knowledge one expects of America's premier sports journalist. It also displays Frank Deford's gifts for dialogue and intricate plotting and his poignant grasp of character. It proves once again that Deford can play at the highest level in any league."
-Michael Mewshaw, author of Year of the Gun

"Deford scores another hit with this novel of athletes behaving badly...tackles timely and provocative issues without flinching."
-Publishers Weekly

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 24 reviews)

Male characters and baseball are awesome, but rape plot is repulsive

I love baseball, and I enjoy listening to Frank DeFord on NPR, so this book looked promising. When it comes to a great insider's knowledge of baseball, the book delivered on its promise. It was also a great character study of Traveler, the manager, and his relationship with Alcazar, the star player.

Where the book goes horribly wrong is with the rape plot. What woman who has been raped would hunt down the only witness and tell her story matter-of-factly? What lawyer would let her? And worse -- what second woman who had been raped in the past and not told anyone about it would go talk to the accused rapist unemotionally -- and believe him to the extent of convincing the only witness not to tell the cops what he saw in return for an old-boys wink-wink agreement that gets witness a job? It is astounding to think that someone of Frank DeFord's depth of observation about men in sports would see this plot as legitimate. And why does every major female character in the book have to be a victim of rape? Yes it happens, but come on, this is a big cliche.

I wish the plot had been different because I really did enjoy DeFord's knowledge of baseball and all the male characters (like the pitcher who speaks of everything in terms of the weather, and the team owner who subjects everyone to his complaints about being tall). But the rape plot and treatment of female characters was so ludicrous as to be patently offensive. I simply couldn't get past this enough to enjoy the book.

June 25, 2008

If You Are a Baseball Fan....

If you are a baseball fan, you are likely to find this moving, action-packed book the best of its kind you've ever read. In addition to the main plot, the author skillfully carries along about three sub-plots, every one of which would grace a well-written story with any other background than baseball.
April 27, 2008

Minor league effort

"The Entitled" is a novel written by Sports Illustrated contributor Frank Deford. While Deford is a fine sports writer, this book is not the best representation of his talent. It starts out with a promising premise of a former player and now manager who after years toiling in the minors finally gets a break as a big league manager. When Deford writes about baseball situations on the field and off it's thrilling, funny, enlightening and enjoyable to read. But half way through the book the story goes astray and it's main focus becomes one about a possible rape by his star player Jay Alcazar,& baseball is merely used as a backdrop. Situations like a fan jumping on the field and threatening Alcazar with a gun seems too absurd and not very well realized, the death of the manager's son is mentioned only in passing while it should have been written with more emotion, and lack of a climactic ending to the book is unforgiveable. To summarize, the first half of the book was enjoyable and the characterizations and dialogue between the players were the strong points but what started out as a baseball story with potential quickly went astray like a foul ball that left the field, and then the game was called because of rain. What a bummer.
March 24, 2008

Certainly More Than Just a Baseball Book. . .

I'm a huge sports fan, and for quite a long time I considered myself to be a huge major league baseball fan. But I never read sports books. Something about them just feels too close to what the rest of my life is about - attending games, watching games, reading follow up and fan opinions to games on a daily basis.

So I was surprised when I was drawn to this book at the airport during a recent trip. Would I really start, and finish, a book about baseball? (Note: many people on here will tell you it's not about baseball, and while I agree that there was a lot more beyond just the game, you certainly feel drawn up in the game and those who play it by the rich details of the way the game works, told through Howie's experiences. Shoeless Joe, the basis for Field of Dreams and one of my all-time favorite books, on the other hand, was a story about faith and passion. Baseball was a character, but not the setting. I'd definitely consider The Entitled to be more of a baseball book than that. The setting is undeniably baseball.)

All that aside, I was immediately enthralled with the book. I loved Howie's thought process, the random wisdom of his life and his time in the game really coming alive for the reader. How left handed pitchers always got a second look, much like blondes, whether they were worth it or not. That was one of my favorites. The first two thirds of the book were fascinating. I was excited to see what would happen, and also very caught up in what was an incredibly unique look into the mind of a manager, how he balanced the game, his life outside the game, and the times when the balance inevitably came undone.

The end of the book lost me, however. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it. It just fell short of all the anticipation I felt in the beginning of the book - because I really loved reading it. Although I must say, the ending probably won't change my overall opinion of the book. I'd probably read it again in a few years, and I certainly want to pass it along to my friend who has grown to like baseball even more than I once did. Overall, I enjoyed The Entitled very much and was more than a little relieved that I could read a baseball book. Think what you will about that. The characters were interesting. The plot was enticing. But it was the details about baseball that drew it all together, and I feel that because I had knowledge of baseball as a fan, that those details meant more to me.
March 22, 2008

We sometimes forget

that athletes are also people. The Entitled does a wonderful job of digging into the life of a star baseball player. Anyone may have personal issues that affects their ability to focus at a particular job, however, athletes make more than the average person so we tend lose the sympathy for them. The Entitled goes beyond baseball, its a story of life, a story of a man and his struggles to overcome his past, with a twist in the present. I put myself in Alcbazar's shoes and lived his moment. However, the ending to the book left alot to be desired. The reader is left assuming part of the outcome. Great story period.
January 23, 2008

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