What follows is a review of Baseball Cop: The Dark Side of America's National Pastime by Eddie Dominguez with Christian Red and Teri Thompson. I received this book free for review and did not purchase my copy.
As the subtitle says, this book takes a look at the "dark side" of baseball, and you should not pick it up looking for a light or happy read. You won't find that here. What you will find is some truth, and also some inspiration in the story of Dominguez and his battle with pancreatic cancer, the most beautiful part of the book.
We can assume that the "artful" portion of this book is shaped by professional writers Red and Thompson, both writers for the New York Daily News with a background in stories that reflect the dark underbelly of sports, which is likely how they came to be familiar with Dominguez, a detective who came to work for baseball. The book is readable, but is not what I would call well-crafted; it jumps around on the timeline, annoying for a linear thinker like myself, and tends to wallow in criticism of the various miscreants, players and commissioners alike, involved in the dark doings. The book works best and rings truest when focusing on the often gripping stories of Dominguez's exploits.
Dominguez was a Boston PD detective who got into doing some security work for the Red Sox on the side, then eventually into the new Department of Investigations that came out of the Mitchell Report on the prevalence of drug abuse in baseball. Doninguez tells stories of investigating drug dealers in the U.S. and abroad, and also those who try to take advantage of Latin American players in various ways. Dominguez was especially useful in this work as a Cuban refugee and native Spanish speaker. Bilingual is helpful on the mean streets.
These tales of the gritty work of investigations alternate with the developing resistance of the baseball establishment to having their dirty secrets exposed. Players like David Ortiz certainly do not like having those in their entourage under investigation for shady dealings, but baseball officials grow to dislike having their multi-billion dollar business brought into a bad light. In time all the investigators are fired, apparently for doing their jobs too well.
The retelling of the work of the DOI investigators rings true. The book is at its best when Dominguez following up evidence, tracking down leads, and attaining a measure of justice. It's maddening when he is prevented from doing so. Don't read this book if you want a happy story, but you can read it if you want a good one. posted by Shawn Weaver at 11:20 AM
