If you've been reading EEEEEE! over the last few months, you know that Hank Greenwald has a book out called This Copyrighted Broadcast. If you've been paying attention in general, you also know that Jon Miller has a book out called Confessions of a Baseball Purist. If you're a Giants fan, you must read both books.

It's interesting that Greenwald's book comes out so closely on the heels of Miller's, but it's fair to say that Broadcast won't have quite the wide-ranging audience that Purist has, as Miller is, for all intents and purposes, a "national personality," while Greenwald is beloved more on a local basis.

Each book, as you might guess, covers the author's broadcasting career and touches quite heavily on his personal life. Each book is chock full of funny stories. Each book discusses strong opinions about baseball. Each book has pictures, some of which are humorous. But these books are far from interchangeable.

Both Miller and Greenwald are interesting, entertaining men with a lot of years behind them in broadcasting, with Greenwald being older by about 20 years. Neither author professes to have been a Rhodes Scholar, and indeed, Greenwald was nearly booted out of Syracuse University for copying another student's test paper.

Miller is less shy than Greenwald in discussing his early life -- Hank, for instance, tells us that he took his first name from his idol, Hank Greenberg, but he doesn't tell us what his given name is. (It's Howard. I saw this in a newspaper article years ago, and Mike Sadek once addressed him as such during a broadcast, to which Hank replied, "Shhh! Don't go giving away any secrets." I think he truly would've preferred to say something a little more specific.)

Hank discusses his children at length, especially his daughter, Kellie, who was born with Down Syndrome. Possibly in the hope of acting as a source of optimism for parents of similar kids, Hank spent a lot of time talking about both the good and bad elements of raising her, and I feel that he did a service by tearing down some myths. He's obviously very proud of both his children, and I'm sure he's thrilled that his son, Doug, is a professional baseball broadcaster.

Jon isn't as forthcoming about his family life. He sort of notes that he has children, and that he's been married a couple of times, and he mentions, only in passing, that one of his children is buried in Baltimore, but only in the context of showing how hard it was to leave that city. I'm a parent, so my heart sank when I read just that one sentence, but I thought it was odd that Jon offered no further elaboration. On the other hand, I'm not sure he needs to, and I am sure that it wouldn't be easy to write about.

To reach their ultimate professional destinations, both men took varied, interesting paths. Greenwald became best known as Bill King's partner on Warriors broadcasts for many years, while Miller concentrated mostly on baseball and had jobs with at least four major league clubs before coming to the Giants. My first memory of Greenwald is as an A's television broadcaster in the mid- to late 1970s, but strangely, he never mentioned it in his book. (Or if he did, it zoomed by so fast that I didn't catch it.)

I don't have any particular criticisms of Miller's book, which is mostly anecdotal and rarely strays from the topic of baseball. Greenwald's, however, delves into his interest in General Douglas MacArthur and his experience living in Australia, neither of which grabs me, as a reader, though I certainly understand that they're important to him. I was also a bit surprised that if he said anything about his consecutive baseball-game-broadcasting streak of 2,798 games, that whizzed right on by me, too.

But the main difference between the two books is tone. Miller sounds happy to be where he is -- not thrilled about the way things went down in Baltimore, but not bitter, either. Greenwald is a different story.

Broadcast first received notoriety in the press for Hank's rather scathing criticism of Larry Baer, currently the Giants' Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. (He was also tough on Barry Bonds, but then, everybody is; he didn't say anything about Bonds that hasn't been said -- not that I particularly doubt him.) Evidently the Giants' front office expects some sort of loyalty from Hank, who no longer works for the team, so they imposed a gag order on the book in the form of not allowing Giants Dugout stores to sell it. That'll hurt sales some, but probably not much.

Greenwald justified the comments by saying, more or less, "This is my story, told my way." Who could expect less?

He clearly dislikes Baer, and I'm not so sure what's wrong with that. Do the Giants want to be seen as one big happy family? How about KNBR? Hank tells some rather nasty stories about Bill Dwyer, the program director at the time he left for New York.

And by the time he retired, he'd clearly become so disenchanted with baseball -- not just the ceaseless travel, missing his family, etc., but the prima donnas (players, executives, umpires), the head games, everything else. In fact, in 1997, when he filled in for Miller for two games, he took the mike and said, "I thought I was supposed to be retired." I mean, he attempted to sound jocular, but he didn't. He didn't sound as if he enjoyed the experience at all.

Miller doesn't seem to have any kind of ax to grind. In short, he comes across in his book as feeling "blessed," happy to be where he is; Greenwald seems upset with the way things shook down.

My dad had the same take, which is sort of a relief, because I thought maybe it was just my perspective. But this difference doesn't make Greenwald's book any less interesting or enjoyable than Miller's. Both men are funny and engaging, both can spin a yarn, and neither seems to think of himself as just the most fantastic human being ever. They're both "sympathetic characters," guys for whom you'd wish the best.

I don't want to provide too much detail about either book, though -- I really feel that both should be read, and not necessarily with the idea of comparison in mind. I plowed through them in two sittings apiece, so tough were they to put down. I'd happily read them again -- and, probably again. And maybe again after that.

Copyright © 1999 by Gregg Pearlman

Gregg Pearlman, gregg@EEEEEEgp.com

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