Book Review: The Wax Pack

Every once in a while, you see a concept for a book and go, "Man, I should've thought of that."

That was my reaction to Brad Balukjian's The Wax Pack. I mean, just look at the freaking cover.

As a kid Balukjian, collected baseball cards. He delighted in the old Topps wax packs with their stick of pink, teeth-shattering bubblegum. Once he reached his mid-30s, he decided to buy an unsealed pack of 1986 Topps cards and then track down the men whose cards he found inside.

It's such a clever conceit for a story, and this nonfiction book serves as a road trip adventure and a jolt of baseball nostalgia for fans of a certain age. Published in 2020, Balukjian tells the stories of 14 men inside his pack (the 15th card was a checklist)--a mixture of stars, everyday role players, and a few "now here's a guy" names.

Image via Indianapolis Public Library

The narrative reveals a tremendous amount about the individual players--even the ones he fails to meet in person--and the author himself, as he grapples with his own insecurities and travails. While Balukjian's vivid account is aimed squarely at baseball fans, I think it's accessible for all readers.

The players featured in The Wax Pack:

• Don Carman
• Jaime Cocanower
• Vince Coleman 
• Al Cowens
• Carlton Fisk 
• Dwight Gooden 
• Richie Hebner
• Lee Mazzilli
• Rance Mulliniks
• Gary Pettis
• Randy Ready
• Rick Sutcliffe
• Garry Templeton 
• Steve Yeager

Many of the former players are more than willing to talk to Balukjian, some of them even inviting him inside their homes for a family event, such as Cocanower, who hosts him for July 4. Rick Sutcliffe comes off as particularly warm and likeable, sharing stories of his pro career and many comebacks.

All of the players Balukjian meets in person have something to offer--lamentations of untapped potential, stories of distant fathers and tough childhoods, or insights into the toll the game takes on a soul. 

Many of them have stayed attached to the baseball, whether as broadcasters, coaches, minor league managers, or consultants. Don Carman, one of the author's favorites as a kid, turned his baseball life into a career as a sports psychologist who works with super-agent Scott Boras and serves as a sounding board for struggling players.

You'll find the requisite stories of life on the road, marriages that didn't last, and the daily grind of playing 162 games in a season. The men share stories of draft days and signing bonuses and the unbreakable bonds they forged with teammates. Balukjian visits the hometowns of many of his subjects as he crisscrosses his way from California to Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, and Las Vegas, putting thousands of miles on his faithful Honda Accord and consuming an astonishing amount of coffee.

The author and players tend to shy away from their career-defining moments, as most of those have been covered ad nauseum, such as Mazzilli's postseason heroics for the 1986 New York Mets during their championship season. Balukjian said he could offer no further insights into such moments, although fans unfamiliar with them may need to consult Google (I had only a vague recollection of the '86 Mets, for example).

Readers will even glean some insight from the players who don't meet with Balukjian. Cowens died in 2002, well before Balukjian's cross-country trip. A phone conversation with Cowens' son reveals how his father's late-life struggles led to a personal religious revival and a tragic end. 

Fisk, sort of a looming background antagonist in the piece, comes off as a less-than-flattering figure, using surrogates to rebuff the author's attempts to contact him and suggest Balukjian's project is beneath him. At one point, Fisk's agent calls Balukjian and rattles off a long list of reasons Fisk couldn't possibly spare an hour to share a story or two. It made me perceive the Hall of Famer as trite and out of touch.

Doc Gooden, who had agreed to meet with Balukjian as long as he got paid, ghosts the author during their planned time together. It's heavily suggested that Gooden, whose meteoric rise led to a sudden descent into drug addiction, may have suffered a relapse around the same time. Some demons are inescapable.

Also, if you always thought Vince Coleman was a jerk, Balukjian finds nothing to dispel that notion.

The Wax Pack is an insightful read filled with heart and humor. Highly recommended, even for those who aren't baseball fans.

Book Review: The Silence

If Don DeLillo is an acquired taste, I have yet to acquire it.

This short novel--it's more of a long short story or a novella--follows rapid societal collapse after all electronics stop functioning on Super Bowl Sunday in 2022. I can see why this would come up as a "quiet apocalypse" novel for my work-in-progress as it specifically involves a significant disaster on Super Bowl Sunday.

It follows a handful of characters who gather in a Manhattan apartment to watch the big game. Two of them are late arrivals after something happens at the end of their flight.

Image via the Indianapolis Public Library

The world's electronics go dark. There are no phones or tablets or televisions to serve as distractions.

I found the whole thing intensely bizarre. The characters spend much of the novel delivering monologues that sound nothing like real people. Just long strings of dialogue full of existentialist nonsense.

I'm just glad it was short. The Silence is definitely not my cup of tea. Unrealistic, inhuman characters aren't my thing.

Book Review: A Children's Bible

Like Leave the World Behind, A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet is another novel that comes up for those seeking quiet apocalyptic fiction (we are LEGION).

The title, taken from the discovery of a Bible found by one of the young characters, is literary fiction with a YA-friendly hook. On a surface level, the book revolves around a group of adults and kids who take over a summer home. The adults use this as an opportunity gorge on alcohol, drugs, and sex. They take away the kids' cellphones.

The children, mostly adolescents with a few kids thrown in there, have drifted apart from their parents. A rift forms between the two groups, with the kids blaming their parents for the state of the world, which is undergoing rapid changes--a radical, quiet, background environmental apocalypse. The kids are disillusioned at the adults' lack of care for the world in which they live and the future of that world.

The point of view character is Eve, a teen who narrates the novel. The world is filtered through her observations and interpretation of events. She is very close to and protective of her younger brother Jack. Eventually, a powerful storm arrives, forcing the kids to flee and separating them from the adults, who really don't seem to care all that much?

Image via Indianapolis Public Library

Jack comes across a copy of a book called A Children's Bible and tries to understand its teachings. At one point, he and another child begin collecting animals, just like Noah. This is not the only subtle/hit-you-over-the-head biblical allusion/allegory, but it is the one shown on the cover and most obvious by extension.

Eventually, the kids end up on a farm stocked with food and supplies. This appears to be the perfect place to seek refuge and the groundskeeper, Burl, is kind and allows them to live there as long as they adhere to the ground rules set by the absent property owner. For a time, the kids appear to thrive, but then a group of armed men descend on the farm, ravage the supplies, terrorize the kids and Burl, and generally despoil what could have been an idyllic place to live.

I found this to be a relatively quick read. Like Leave the World Behind, some readers will find it moody and uneventful. I liked Eve and her relationship with her brother. I also found the adults' lack of care and responsibility haunting--they were incapable of dealing with the reality their decisions created and simply chose to abandon it.

It's hard to get a read on the "world" of A Children's Bible. The parents are wealthy people of privilege, yet we also encounter Mad Max-type ruffians who hoard resources and delight in cruelty. The focus is narrow, although intentionally so, I suspect. The novel also has some biblically inspired occurrences and characters. And for as much trouble as Eve and her friends get into, it seems like there's always someone there to bail them out.

For the most part, I enjoyed this one--probably more than I liked Leave the World Behind. It think it's more accessible for reader. But again, your mileage may vary.