A Damn Near Perfect Game

Reclaiming America's Pastime

By: Joe Kelly, Rob Bradford - contributor

Narrated by: L.J. Ganser

Baseball’s most outspoken fireballer brings the high heat—calling out the hacks, cheats, and ridiculous rules that have tarnished the game—and pitches A-plus stuff on how to make baseball pure, fun, and damn near perfect.

Baseball has an image problem. The chorus of nonbelievers gets louder every year, and the Major Leagues have made an art of tuning them out. Enter Joe Kelly: a walking, talking, fastball-throwing embodiment of why baseball matters. He and his All-Star team of athletes and celebrities have some things to say about what’s gone wrong with our once great game and how to fix it.

A Damn Near Perfect Game is the loudest insider’s exposé of the laws and culture of Major League Baseball since Jim Bouton’s classic Ball Four. From Kelly’s perspective as a two-time World Series champion and baseball’s most memeable player according to ESPN, he takes listeners on a house-cleaning tour of the clubhouse, the field of play, the bullpen, the front office, the commissioner’s office, and a ballplayer’s restricted life off the field. Kelly has something to say about baseball’s rule changes (pitch clocks, limiting defensive shifts, the designated hitter); hacks (overused analytics, sign-stealing); stale promotion to new fans; and encouraging players’ emotions (let them fight, bat-flip, and talk sh*t!). Plus, he details how he aired his complaints in an illuminating meeting with commissioner Rob Manfred.

And to show what happens when baseball has some piss and vinegar, Kelly gives the inside scoop on his legendary exploits—starting a bench-clearing brawl with the Yankees’ Tyler Austin, his famous “pouty face” scene when calling out the notorious sign-stealing Houston Astros, and wearing a mariachi jacket to visit the White House with his World Series champion LA Dodgers.

©2023 Joe Kelly (P)2023 Audible, Inc.

Great but...

I loved Joe's part of the story, very solid and entertaining. What I didn't like was how they added a bunch of short stories by other people at the end. It was a little too much and felt like they were just padding the book.

Loved every minute of it!

I’m a lover of baseball, almost addicted to it. Joe Kelly’s perspective is so accurate and his narrative was fun to listen to. L J Ganser did a great job; he’s a natural!

Could use a better narrator

Didn’t love the narrator, but great book overall. I think Joe shows he has a great perspective on the game of baseball.

Like baseball

Like baseball the book has great highlights interesting facts, and it’s slow sometimes. I thought some areas needed more depth. It would’ve made the book more interesting. Overall it was a nice presentation concerning today’s baseball game. I’m suffering Mets fan since the beginning, and I love the sport. And my team. Let’s go Mets!

Baseball isn’t boring!

Loved Joe’s stories and also all of the stories & perspectives of other baseball lovers. This is a fun, easy read that reminds us that America’s game is so much fun! Get it today.