Book Review

Daniel Coyle. Hardball: A Season in the Projects. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1993. Pp. 317. $22.95 (cloth).

Louis wasn't exactly a key member of the First Chicago Near North Kikuyus, a Little League team which played on Carson Field, near the Cabrini Green housing project. He struck out a lot, and his teammates weren't always kind about that. But in another realm, the 26-team LBL (Louis Basketball League), Louis was the main man — the commissioner, owner and TV analyst, even the spectators and players. With the aid of his Commodore SP-9000, Louis kept track of the standings and point totals, the home towns and salaries of every player in the league. The games were played with a Nerf ball and a laundry basket. The Commodore computer, which he'd received as a Christmas present, was the repository of the LBL's records, and Louis was the record-keeper.

Louis was also commissioner, owner, players and spectators in the FSB league, a combination of football, soccer and baseball, played with a sock and an orange plastic bat. The Commodore was crucial here, too, though Louis's record- keeping was complicated by the fact that coaches in both leagues were unscrupulous, buying players at will from other teams, "just like real life" according to Louis. Louis was a musician, too, playing the organ at a number of neighborhood churches, but he was modest, so his Kikuyu teammates didn't know about his talents.

Alonzo, a fellow Kikuyu, was also a sports executive. He was commissioner, general manager, all-time pitcher and star of the Memory Playground League, an operation that used a toy bat, a balding tennis ball, creative ground rules and younger neighborhood kids to provide Alonzo with opportunities for heroic deeds, like his 714 home runs. He had a way to go to match his father's record 1,900 homers, Alonzo admitted, but he intended to pursue it after he passed Hank Aaron's record.

The stories of Louis and Alonzo's secret lives — their hopes and dreams as well as the harsh realities they face in Cabrini Green — help give Daniel Coyle's account of the Kikuyus' 1992 season its major impact. Coyle was one of many young professionals who volunteered as coaches in the Near North Little League/African American Youth League, the only Chicago Little League based in a housing project. Coyle was an editor of Outside magazine, and his coaching colleagues were insurance executives, sales

representatives, stockbrokers and real estate managers. Their season-long efforts to turn Louis, Alonzo, Demetrius, Jalen, Rufus, Nathaniel and the other Kikuyus into a responsible, competitive team are reported in detail; but the lives of the players are what stay with you after the story of the last game is told.

Coyle's account of the administrative tensions which threatened the league's existence is also a fascinating story. Bob Muzikowski, a hard-driving, born-again insurance salesman, was one of the league's founders, and Al Carter, a longtime youth activist, was the other. Carter had given his life to the neighborhood, working in gang relations for the city's Department of Human Services and administering sports activities through the Al Carter Youth Foundation. Muzikowski offered to secure corporate support and coaches if Carter would provide the kids, and their uneasy alliance got the league going, although not without conflicts and power struggles.

But just as the games themselves pro-vided some structure and discipline in the players' lives, so did the league's activities overshadow the flare-ups of administrative politics and egos. As Coyle reports, the Kikuyus learn valuable lessons from their wins and losses and from a trip to Iowa, where they play a few games and encounter some things they've never seen before. And the coaches learn, too, coming to understand their players and the hopes and dreams they keep alive, even in the face of daily threats and frustrations. Although there are no facile triumphs here, on or off the field, Hardball reminds us that games can be important, even if they're only interludes. Coyle's clear and straightforward story demonstrates that while mere games can't make life safe or fair, they can at least create some space where Alonzo and Louis, like kids forever everywhere, can test their skills and feed their dreams.

Rich Shereikis is professor emeritus of English at Sangamon State University. He is currently engaged in freelance writing and serving as movie reviewer for Illinois Times. 

32/August 1994/Illinois Issues