Hard Balled Egg Ed

By Ged
January 1 2005

Ed Smith, Middlesex�s star signing of the off-season, has written two books in his spare time. In the first of two book reviews, Ged (himself the author of a couple of spare time page turners) reveals his impressions of Ed Smith�s Playing Hard Ball.

The one thing I know for sure about Ed Smith�s signing for Middlesex is that our Ed will have thought about it before he signed. He will have thought about it a lot. Our Ed is a thinker all right and he is also very capable at putting his thoughts in writing. His first book, Playing Hard Ball, written while in his mid twenties, is a truly excellent debut.

Ed found a fascinating subject in comparing Major League Baseball with First Class Cricket. Like many cricket lovers, he had a slightly snooty attitude towards baseball until he actually saw it for the first time, in 1998. Then he was converted, at least as a spectator. The book mainly focuses on his time in the States post-season in 2000 and then (once he�d hit upon his idea for the book) several visits to the New York Mets in 2001. 

I think it helps to know a little bit about baseball in order to appreciate this book, but it is not essential as his points about baseball are well explained. I don�t claim to know much about the game, but I probably do know more than your average English cricket-lover. 

Ed draws several very interesting comparisons. I�ll give a couple of examples. One example is the role of the coach. In baseball, the coach plays an integral part in the on-field tactics. His role is more or less equivalent to coach and captain in cricket. Moves to increase the role of the coach in cricket (Bob Woolmer is a major advocate of this) have not found favour with the ICC, although I have noticed Graham Smith and Ray Jennings pushing their luck a bit in the 2004/5 test series. Interesting and topical.

Another example, hardly completely original but very well told in this book, is the notion that the batsman�s role is strangely comparable with the pitcher and the bowler�s role strangely comparable with the hitter. The reason is that wicket taking is the �rare thing� in cricket, whereas run scoring is the �rare thing� in baseball. So the �don�t give it away� pressure is on the batter/pitcher.  The �big push to get one or two� pressure is on the bowler/hitter. Ed explains it at more length and better. It is compelling reading.

One chapter talks about the importance of statistics in baseball, probably even more important to that game than statistics to cricket (read it and believe it). Ed reveals his true colours as a bit of a �stat boy�, which will do little to dispel his image as slightly nerdish or, as I like to call him, �Egg Ed�.

There are some brilliant chapters which I can only commend to you rather than elucidate at length here. Ed�s take on 9/11 and the impact it had on the Mets and baseball in general is extremely well told. His chapter on the cricket projects in Compton and South Central Los Angeles (yes really) has been much reported and is worth the price of the book alone. I also enjoyed the bits where Ed has a go at baseball hitting, but I do wonder how much value to place on the polite praise his hitting receives! Ed is not built like a baseball hitter.

He falls down a little in my view when he talks about the literature of both games. To talk about baseball literature without mentioning either Malamud�s The Natural or Roth�s The Great American Novel� suggests to me that Ed is not overly familiar with the genre and certainly not too sure what has and hasn�t crossed the Atlantic. He also ignores the extent of fine cricket writing beyond England, although I accept his notion that sports writers in America are held in higher regard than are their opposite numbers in England.

But I don�t want to quibble too much. This is a superb first book and I truly hope that Ed has a lot more fuel in his writing tank. It is widely known that Ed has a double first in history from Cambridge, but not everyone in the �double first league� can write readable books for the general public.  Ed clearly can. 

I do hope Ed finds some more truly fascinating subjects to write about, and soon. For example, I�d love to read a book by Ed on the way cricket is changing and is changed by the social fabric in Southern Asia, a subject I know is dear to his heart. As long as the writing projects don�t put him off his Middlesex game. Steve Waugh told Ed Smith that keeping a diary for a book actually helped his batting. You�ll read more about my thoughts on that matter in my review of Ed�s second book On and Off the Field.  For now, I highly recommend Playing Hard Ball.

To order a copy of Playing Hard Ball: County Cricket and Big League Baseball by Ed Smith, from Amazon, priced �6.39, Click here.

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