The Fat Lady's Low, Sad Song - Book Review

The Fat Lady's Low, Sad Song by Brian Kaufman takes you inside the minor league baseball world that grinds on, chewing up young hopefuls with major league dreams. Kaufman tells the story of a couch potato, Parker Westfall, a washed-up minor league baseball player that suddenly gets a call from the Indie League team, the Fort Collins Miners in Colorado. Parker is elated with the new chance to prove himself as a baseball player. He has one mind-blowing career stat, a .400 batting average, and that’s an impressive stat that few major league baseball players can boast of. Westfall’s twilight season isn’t only one more chance to be discovered as a serious baseball player but also the chance to see if he can get to first base with a gorgeous knuckle-ball pitcher, Courtney Morgan who is trying to break into professional baseball. Westfall’s good-luck continues as he is asked to make sure that this lone female member of the team is made to feel comfortable with her male comrades.

Kaufman brilliantly creates a cast of bizarre baseball characters and takes readers through the ups and downs of a grueling season with players competing with cutthroat intensity for the ultimate prize of being discovered by the Major League. You meet the team’s toxic manager,  Grady O’Connor, who wants his team to play what he calls “Grady Ball” which is simply playing baseball by the book as Parker Westfall finally tells him. It also consists of a lot of yelling and frothing of the mouth if anything goes wrong.

The team’s twenty-year-old pitcher Courtney Morgan gives third baseman, Parker Westfall, another reason to clean up his life and make a go of it. He is infatuated with her and has a major problem even talking to her; he finds himself always saying the wrong thing. He also wants to really help her be a pitching success because he knows how minor league players are quickly cast aside when they no longer excite the crowd. He is her mentor; he even helps her learn the art of autographing baseballs for the fans.

Readers who frequent minor league ballparks will find Kaufman’s book is an unsentimental portrait of the bush leagues. The Miners actions on and off the diamond realistically mirror the adolescent antics of minor league celebrities and Kaufman illustrates the many obstacles they confront in trying to achieve those lofty dreams of the big league. He paints a realistic picture of the games, the constant traveling and locker-room tales of the teammates who would struggle for the glory of winning its league’s title. 

 As baseball reads go, Kaufman's book is up there at the caliber of the coveted “400 home run club.” It captures with rare perfection the gritty essence of our national pastime. So, grab a hot dog and a cold one, sit back with a copy of the “The Fat Lady's Low, Sad Song”  and enjoy a trip to the Minor Baseball Leagues with the Fort Collins Miners.