Having checked in on Tim Ellsworth's blog semi-regularly over the past year and with spring arriving, I felt a biography on a baseball player would be a good change of pace to my usual academic and church leadership book reviews. Though I had given up hope the book would arrive, it did eventually come. Unfortunately, I cannot say it was worth the wait.
By all accounts, Albert Pujols is not only an exceptional baseball player, he is a God-honouring man, father, baseball player, and philanthropist. His faith in Christ and clarity about his Christianity - in an age where everyone "thanks God" for their success - is refreshing. Likewise, there are many aspects of his life story/journey which are inspiring, encouraging, and laudable. Where skepticism (legitimately) abounds about any high-profile person and their faith and others-focused lifestyle, Pujols is above reproach and exemplary.
Pujols - More than a Game, gets the above message across very clearly and thus is commendable. However, as a biography, this reader found it lacking in story-telling, personal anecdotes, and general flow. Frankly, each chapter seemed like a "summary article" of the previous season, baseball achievements as well as charitable activities. Yet it didn't really flow and tell a story or give Pujols (or anyone else's) "stories." There were enough quotes intermingled that it seemed like the authors had access to various people who may have been able to fill in the story, yet it was absent. The final chapter was perhaps the best expression of this flaw as it reviewed the 2010 season and then in the final page (literally) indicated that we'll see what 2011 holds and after that Pujols is a free agent so many things could happen. No epilogue. No summary about a relationship with St Louis Cardinals fans and what this could mean come free agency. It just ended.
Furthermore, the authors seemed to go awkwardly out of their way to intermittently "proselytize," making sure that a reader knew specifically the "salvation message" of Pujols' Christian faith and "preaching" at the reader in a clarifying, almost patronizing way.
Overall a disappointing biography of a truly amazing baseball player and a fine Christian role model.
This book was provided free for review by ThomasNelson Publishers through the "BookSneeze" review program.
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