It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium

“Every time an artist showed you his work, he was really asking you a question, and the question was always the same: ‘Am I any good?’” (Big Ed Stanton page 261) John Ed Bradley asked that question many times in this work. While he may not be convinced, the answer to his questions is a resounding, “Yes you are!”

I watched John Ed Bradley and Big Ed Stanton and many other personalities in this book play or coach. I know many others vicariously as characters familiar to some I’ve known. Even the title rings nostalgically for me because there was a good while for which it seemed to hold (mostly) true. The proper time to play a game in Tiger Stadium (aka “Deaf Valley”) was 7 or 7:30 p.m. after the usual humidity laden air had dropped its precipitation for the day.

His use of interlaced vignettes pulls one into the story better than most novels ever do. We learn to know his parents, schoolmates, towns folk and teammates friends and admirers, and especially Coach Mac. John Ed Bradley shares the usually closed space behind the mask of masculine emotions, especially the doubts about measuring up to potential; to duty. ( )