Spring begins this week and that brings to mind certain things- spring training for major league baseball, and spring break for teachers and students. Two wonderful debut novels feature many characters sharing their stories in those settings in this month’s Book Report.



Baseball fans are settling in for the start of a new season, and Emily Nemens’ debut novel, The Cactus League is set during spring training for the fictional major league Los Angeles Lions. Nemens tells her story through the lives of several characters, all of whom have an interesting take on their spring in Arizona.



Jason Goodyear is a former league MVP, one of the best ballplayers in the league, with a reputation as an all-round good guy. He’s handsome, kind to his fellow players as well as fans, with a Derek Jeter-like reputation.



But something is off with Goodyear this season. His two-year marriage to his schoolteacher wife is over, he is withdrawn, and his personal and professional life seem to be spiraling downward. He is hiding something big from everyone, something shocking.



Other people get to tell their own stories- the pitcher recovering from Tommy John surgery trying to hide that it did not work, the batting coach not yet ready to retire, the team owner with a secret, the woman who has a relationship with a different ballplayer every season (think Annie Savoy from the movie Bull Durham), the players’ agent, the agent’s young assistant, and the overhyped rookie who has discovered that he is not as good as he was in high school.



Nemens weaves their stories together to place the reader smack in the middle of a fascinating spring, and each character is so well-drawn, a remarkable feat as there are so many characters. I was completely captivated by this book, and it is a must-read for baseball fans. Nemens is clearly a lifelong baseball fan and it shows. It would make a terrific limited television series.



Other good novels with a baseball theme include Stephanie Evanovich’s The Sweet Spot, Linda Holmes’ Evvie Drake Starts Over and Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding.

Emily Nemens’ “The Cactus League,” a novel in interrelated stories, looks at the behind-the-scenes lives of players, coaches and fans at the beginning of one spring season in Arizona for the fictional Los Angeles Lions baseball team. Linked by the musings of a recently unemployed sportswriter, the stories explore the marital issues, financial woes, health problems and romantic yearnings of a cast of characters who then briefly appear in other stories (similar to the structure of Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge books or Tom Rachman’s “The Imperfectionists”). I enjoyed this structure a lot—the stories (packaged here as “innings”) felt complete on their own and if there was a character or plot line I wasn’t crazy about (I’m looking at you, Tami!), it wasn’t long until a new character and story took over. Each of these smaller narratives, however, contributed to the novel’s overarching storyline of Lions phenom Jason Goodyear, whose seemingly perfect life is spiraling out of control, and this narrative through line gave “Cactus League” a sense of momentum and continuity that kept me engaged throughout. If you’re looking for some light spring reading to get you in the mood for baseball, “The Cactus League” is a great choice.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

Not a person who follows baseball II wasn’t sure about reading this book.I picked it up was drawn right in it is about so much more then baseball.The characters come alive it’s full of so many storylines so many threads to follow..I enjoyed all the character all the drama highly recommend.#netgalley#fs&g

I’m not sure there’s anything I like much more than when a book takes me completely by surprise and that’s exactly what happened with The Cactus League. Books that are actually connected short stories typically have me running the other way. I hadn’t realized that was the case with Nemens’ new book until I finished the first chapter and began the second, but oh, I loved that first chapter. From start to finish each of the nine chapters in The Cactus League presented a new character who beautifully drove the story.

Throughout the book Nemens delivers characters connected in someway to The Los Angeles Lions and their star player Jason Goodyear. It’s the spring of 2011 and his world is starting to fall apart. Each story gives a little more information about what really might be going on with Jason. At the same time the reader gets the more personal stories of others connected to the team: an aging out batting coach, teammates, an owner, Jason’s agent and ex-wife, a baseball groupie, and many more. The individual stories were beautifully written with real depth in a small package.

A down and out reporter, who’s been around baseball a long time and knows where to dig, tells the stories. Before each new chapter he links a little bit of Arizona’s geological history with baseball. At first this threw me a bit, but I came to look forward to each new geology lesson and how it would lead me to a new person’s story. Getting to know each character and their connections to baseball and to Jason turned out to be a very special reading experience. Whether you’re a fan of baseball or not, The Cactus League is a book well worth reading!

“But this isn’t a story about my career trajectory or how much I miss my wife. This isn’t about the downfall of newspapers or why my son won’t go ahead and make me a granddad already. It’s about Jason, and all the improbable things that got him to us – to this very instant, to right now.”

Note: I received a copy of this book from the Farrar, Straus and Giroux (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux on February 4, 2020

Cross Bull Durham with Desperate Housewives and you’ll get the flavor of The Cactus League. The story is filled with characters who have the kinds of problems that fuel melodrama. Players gamble or party or cheat on their wives. Employers boost their sense of power by treating employees with disrespect. Cougars prey on young talent. Wives complain about their husbands, the cougars, and the burdens that accompany marriage to an athlete who won’t be making Major League money forever.

The chapters have the feel of related stories rather than the building blocks of a cohesive novel. The musings of a retired sportswriter tie the chapters together. He used to write a sports column, “half human interest, half old man opining,” in the belief that his was the kind of writing a big-market paper needed, right up until he was fired. Now he’s hanging around a newly built stadium, enjoying the swirl of spring training.

The sportswriter eventually tells the reader that the book is about Jason Goodyear. The reader will figure that out long before the sportswriter announces that the book’s purpose is to recount “all the improbable things” that brought Goodyear to his destination, simply because Goodyear is the only character who is common to nearly every chapter. Goodyear is a star, a stud, a clean-living MVP who graces magazine covers, but his gambling (poker and craps, not sports betting) has gotten out of control. His wife, a first-grade teacher named Liana, can’t deal with it, but when she gives him a choice between gambling or her, addiction drives his choice.

Many of the players have two homes, one in Los Angeles (the home city of the Major League team for which they play), another in Scottsdale that is convenient to spring training. Their wives and ex-wives tend to renew bonds in the spring “like friends from summer camp — rambunctious, beautiful girls who were briefly the most important people in the world but now remembered in dull colors and with vague edges.”

An early chapter spotlights a cougar who, much like the Susan Sarandon character in Bull Durham, latches onto ball players in the belief that she can improve their game while getting laid. She spends a fateful evening with Goodyear after his separation, resulting in a criminal charge that could lead to the loss of an endorsement contract.

One chapter focuses on the housewives, only some of whom are desperate. One focuses on an aging batting coach whose Arizona house was trashed while he was with the team’s Triple-A club in Salt Lake. One focuses on Goodyear’s agent and the agent’s troubled assistant. One focuses on a team owner who befriends and betrays one of the team’s established players. A pitcher whose Tommy John surgery isn’t working out stars in a chapter, while a rookie who won’t make the cut stars in another. Even the new stadium’s organ player gets a chapter.

All of this is interesting as sort of a gossipy version of Inside Baseball. It’s disappointing that with so much attention given to characterization, nearly every character but Goodyear disappears (save for occasional cameos) after the chapters in which they are featured. If the point is to show us all the factors that shaped a year in Goodyear’s life, I can’t say the novel succeeds. The organ player waves at him. Other characters have a bit more interaction with him, but a majority of the chapters seem less than formative. The disappearance of those characters is even more disappointing because they are more interesting than Goodyear.

The story sort of fizzles away at the end, reinforcing that Goodyear is a decent man at heart while resolving nothing. Most of the chapters end the same way, with no real resolution of the problems that develop in the supporting characters’ lives. I guess that’s a microcosm of life — a bunch of intersecting people who lurch from one trouble to the next — but I can’t say it’s a satisfying approach to a novel. Still, the characterization is so strong and the scenes of life at spring training are so sharp that I feel compelled to recommend The Cactus League, even if it left me wanting more.

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The description didn't make clear that this was short stories connected by one character. That's not really my genre. However, I love baseball and was interested in the behind-the-scenes of spring training. The first chapter had me very interested but I lost interest in chapter 2. I could have read more about Michael! The third was interesting again but I never really felt compelled to keep reading.

You don't have to like baseball (or even know the game really well) to appreciate this interesting debut which circles Jason Goodyear, a star at spring training in Arizona. You learn his story, more or less, through a series of 9 (get it?) interconnected portraits of other associated with the game. There's a coach, an agent, a rookie, a sportswriter, a woman has been married to two players, and so on. And last of all is Jason. It's less about the game than it is about the people. Nemens has done a great job of capturing the feel of spring training - especially in the desert. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. I enjoyed this debut and look forward to more from Nemans.

This book came highly recommended and the glowing reviews made me excited to read it.

I'm 20% in and still couldn't get into the story or the characters. I don't think I'd want to continue at this point. Maybe some time in the future when I'm in the right mood for it.

For now, it's going to be my DNF. Definitely not the author's shortcomings. It's just not for me at this time.

Thank you Netgalley and FSG books for the free earc of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

Less the story of a single player and more a series of glimpses into the lives that make up the ecosystem of one baseball team at spring training including the agents, organ player, owner, and women looking to hook or hold onto a player. We get to see the ambition, jealousies, desperation, victories, and kindnesses from those who circle the game,some out of love for the sport and some just wanting a piece of the magic. At the center is Jason Goodyear, the star player in crisis, and what he represents to them all.

I will admit to finding baseball boring. I would honestly rather clean my house than watch a game. However this book introduced to me characters that I will be thinking about for a long time. I didn't love the ending but the rest of the book was so strong that it will be at the top of my list recommendations.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Nothing is static. "...not a man's career, especially not a ballplayer the first weeks of spring. His batting average, his ambition, his hopes: all is in flux." Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Arizona was a 12,000 seat stadium, the new spring training home of the Los Angeles Lions, a Cactus League team. In February/March 2011, within the span of six weeks, a player could make a team, get sent down or get sent home. An unnamed sportswriter, without press credentials, jobless since his newspaper's demise, was determined to follow Jason Goodyear, the league's best outfielder. "...as much will happen in parking lots as on the field, as much in backyards as in deep left."

Jason Goodyear, left-fielder, "...has an arm like a rocket launcher." He had won Golden Glove Awards and had lucrative product endorsements. He was very competitive. "I just can't turn it off...I always want to win..." Why does "Goody" drive a battered old Jeep? Interesting...his California house was on the market.

Michael Taylor was the batting coach for the Los Angeles Lions. Early spring was sixty-nine year old Michael's busiest time of year. The players "...have to get recalibrated to major league pitching... he understands the mechanics of a swing better than any...slo-mo camera or instant replay." Why retire?

Tamara Rowland, married and divorced from two baseball players, was in her mid 40's. During a ballplayer's time of uncertainty, she was ready to offer "reassurances". Upon meeting her, "Like flipping a switch [the ballplayer's] vocabulary nose dives into baseball jargon." He might, arguably be "putty" in her hands.

William Goslin, a rookie first baseman was in awe of Jason Goodyear, so much so, that he blindly offered support to a sports "hero".

In nine chapters, "The Cactus League" by Emily Nemens is a character study of not only Jason Goodyear, but an aging batting coach, a rookie, a divorced groupie, baseball wives, baseball agents and life in Scottsdale, Arizona during spring training.

Author Nemens shares her knowledge of The Cactus League having attended spring training with her dad. "We didn't go every year, but we returned to The Cactus League often enough that as I grew up I got a sense of the desert and the weird and wonderful culture that had developed around spring training baseball." An excellent debut novel.

Thank you Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The Cactus League".

There is a rhythm to the game that those who are familiar with it can sense. The flip to start the double play, the throw back to the catcher, the tapping of the dirt off the cleats… Nemens captures much of the game in nine emotion -filled chapters.

The characters run the gamut of the baseball world. There’s the superstar whose game is at its peak, but whose home life is filled with conflict. The rookie and the aging batting coach. The women who wait at the player’s gate and the rookies who don’t know what to do with their newly acquired disposable income. Each character is drawn with skill. I didn’t mind meeting new characters as the story progressed because it made me excited to see how they would be woven into the plot.

Speaking of… it’s definitely hard to start to describe the plot. I think it’s best to stick to generalities and just say that this story is one of spring. Beginnings: new season, new opportunities… and endings: possible retirements, break ups, and a change of status on the depth chart.

Just a bit of a forewarning… This isn’t a book that’s action lies between the lines. The drama is off the field, in the clubhouse or the desert condo. And the only criticism I have is that the author uses a storytelling device by where the story is being told by a reporter. At times it’s a bit distracting from the central story.

Recommended for those looking to read a very good novel about the lives of people around big league sports.

4 out of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Press, and the author for an advanced copy for review.

What an amazing read. At first glance, I thought a book at baseball, probably not for me. However, after hearing more and more about it, I knew I had to get my hands on a copy. Even though this book centers around baseball there is actually very little baseball in this novel.

This book is written in 9 chapters (innings), and centers around Jason Goodyear who is a star MLB player for the fictional team LA Lions. But, Nemens wrote this from the perspective of many different people taking an outside look on Jason. While Goodyear is the character that interconnects each chapter, these are really individual stories. This very much felt like Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.

You will hear stories, from rookies, batting coaches, groupies, ex-wives and more. Nemens wrote each chapter to really stand on its own. Some of these characters she could write entire books about.

This is literary fiction at its core, because it is so character driven. I can’t say how much I enjoyed this book. This book definitely could havebeen written as a double-header as I just did not want this one to end.

Thank you NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was surprised at how caught-up I was in this story of players (baseball and others) during a spring training season. It’s a varied cast with a range of motives and addictions. Let’s just say that MLB will not be promoting this novel in any gift shops. Loved this debut.

Back when The Art of Fielding came out and everyone and their brother were recommending it, I kept saying, "A book about baseball? No thanks." And, I kept hearing, it's about so much more than baseball. Eventually, I just picked up the book . . . it was amazing.

In 2020, I'll be the one telling everyone else . . . it's about so much more than baseball, just pick up the dang book.

A great debut.

I'm not huge into baseball, but I'm a big fan of this book (and the Lions, if they exist). The author does an excellent job of showing you characters from the inside out (and occasionally from the outside in) so you feel like you know them in the space of a few paragraphs. I was instantly absorbed by the characters and their world. I felt like I'd been to the games they were talking about, like I knew this team. I recommend this book not only to baseball fans, but also to anyone who likes a good story.