Book Scouting Report:

In this engaging and spirit-lifting book ... O'Neil spreads the gospel of baseball as well as his own life-affirming mojo. ... Posnanski's writing strikes a lovely overall tone ... it seems an instruction for how to live.
                                                       Sports Illustrated

A moving elegy for both the Negro Leagues and one of the game's biggest personalities.
                                               Entertainment Weekly

Posnanski writes in a big-hearted memoir of a friendship...At its best, The Soul of Baseball riffs like a piece of baseball jazz.
                                                               USA TODAY

Few could have written this book, and made the language dance with grace, poetry and humanity as .... Posnanski has done. It was as if "The Soul of Baseball" was meant to be....Also (it's) the story of Joe Posnanski's own journey. This is the secret and beauty of the piece...It is when we feel Joe's love, Joe's pain, Joe's wonderment that we, the reader, get hooked in, get a lump in our throats.
                                     Barry Wittenstein, MLB.com

Pair one great storyteller with another great storyteller and you have a pretty good idea of what you are going to get: A bunch of great stories..."The Soul of Baseball" isn't just a great book; it's also a strong reminder of the greatness of the game.
                                                     Baseball America

Throw all of your self-help books into a dust bin. Want to live better, live longer, know What It's All About? . ... This book is flat-out terrific. Tuesdays With Morrie? Every day with Buck. If Gandhi had played baseball, he would have been Buck O'Neil.
                                                          Leigh Montville 

A beautiful tribute to an extraordinary fellow...(O'Neil) remember a lot of great stories about the players he championed, and many of the best of those stories are included in the book. But they are framed by Mr. O'Neil's telling. They live as they never would have without the gentle humor of his voice and his determination to draw from them widsom untarnished by regret.
               Bill Littlefield, Only a Game/WBUR-Boston

I read it in three days, and it kept me up too late at night. ... so many great names, great stories, told by a great baseball man in an easy-to-read style by Posnanski.
                            Terry Pluto, Akron Beacon-Journal

If "Soul of Baseball" doesn't rank as the best baseball book I've read when we flip the calendar to 2008, then I can't wait to read the book that does. This was a can't-miss proposition from the start - one of the most engaging people in the history of baseball and one of the best columnists working today - and it is one of those rare gems that lives up to expectations. ... This book is a treasure - one of those rare reads that I didn't want to end.
                              Scott Miller, CBS Sportsline.com

Posnanski is arguably the best baseball writer in the business and O'Neil was full of charm and stories about the Negro Leagues and about life, so I shouldn't have been surprised that "The Soul of Baseball" was a great book. ... You don't have to be a baseball fan to enjoy "Soul," and it's both poignant and humorous.
                                     Jim Callis, Baseball America

How good is his book? It's right there with Robert Creamer's The Babe or Mark Winegardner's Prophet of the Sandlots. ... A word of caution. This book should not be read on an airplane unless you want a flight attendant offering you Kleenex and asking why your shoulders are shaking.
                                            Bob Elliott, Toronto Sun

I appreciate your thinking of me and sharing your memories of one of the great legends of America's pastime. Buck O'Neil's commitment to excellence and to preserving the history of the Negro Leagues will stand as a lasting and important legacy in our society. I was honored to recognize his talent and accomplishments with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
                                        President George W. Bush

For a stirring read ... The book vividly illustrates how O'Neil, a former player and manager in the Negro Leagues and scout and coach with the Cubs, was one of the great ambassadors in the sport's history. 
   Ken Rosenthal, The Sporting News and Fox Sports

I cherish every moment I ever spent with Buck O'Neil.  I'm sure readers will cherish "The Soul of Baseball" because Buck was every bit of that, and because Joe Posnanski is a very talented and lucky man.  Imagine, a year spent with Buck O'Neil ... you don't have to imagine it, it's all here.
                              Bob Costas, NBC and HBO Sports

It's just an amazing read. I don't say that about a lot of books, there are not a lot of baseball books that grab my interest or teach me anything. But more importantly, this book really made me feel.
                              Will Carroll, Baseball Prospectus

Posnanski saves his best work for O'Neil's spirit. ... Buy it for the inspiration inside, a perfect baseball book for spring.
         John Caniglia, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Even if you're not a baseball fan, but especially if you are a baseball fan, this is a book you should read. It is a lovely little book about a lovely man. It is "Tuesdays with Morrie," only more believable and more affecting.
                                Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch

In our beautiful memory
We were all handsome.
We all could sing.
We all had the heart
Of the prettiest girl in town.
And we all hit .300.
                     
                   Buck O'Neil

                
 
 
 

This book is The Old Man and the Seamhead, and what makes it compelling is that, in so many ways, Buck O'Neil was the worst kind of unlucky....I had no idea it would be so moving. If your eyes don't get moist by the end, perhaps the air is too dry in your casket.
                      Michael Rosenberg, Detroit Free Press

Insightful, touching  and, ultimately, uplifting. It's a beautifully done work worthy of its subject.
                                              John Donovan, SI.com

Posnanski is one of those rare writers who can make us feel the absurdity and injustice of life, but also allow us to savor its beauty and goodness.
                                  John Lowe, Detroit Free Press

The best book I've ever read about the game and the men who played it in that parallel universe known as the Negro Leagues.
                  Ken Burger, Charleston Post and Courier

I don't care what your troubles are: This book WILL make you smile. Joe Posnanski, a brilliant observer and gifted writer, has found a wonderful subject in Buck O'Neil, Negro League baseball legend and world-class philosopher -- a man who always found a way, no matter what life threw at him, to have happiness in his heart. 
                                                                 Dave Barry 

Should be on everyone's summer reading list.
                    Roger Mooney, Bradenton (Fla.) Herald

And that's why when I read "The Soul of Baseball," the fantastic new book that takes author Joe Posnanski across America for a year with Buck, I couldn't help but miss him.
                                       Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports 
                 
Posnanski may be the best sports columnist in the country right now, and in his hands this is a tale that would move anybody.
                    Dan Graziano, The Newark Star-Ledger

You won't read a better baseball book this year.
                                             Ken Davidoff, Newsday

Buck O'Neil lived with such savor-the-moment gusto. ... This 273-page gem delivers on that hollow promise associated with movie-advertisement blurbs, about how you want to laugh and cry at the same time.
                       John McGrath, Tacoma News Tribune

If you need something to read while you're waiting on hold trying to buy (Detroit Tigers) tickets (or any other time), I strongly recommend "The Soul of Baseball" ...  even though I had the privilege of meeting O'Neil many times, I never felt I knew him until I read this book.
                       Danny Knobler, Advance Newspapers

Sadly, Buck O'Neil has passed, but happily he comes alive in page after page of this loving, lyrical effort by Joe Posnanski. One of the most original and winning baseball books in recent years.
                                                        Harvey Frommer
                
Posnanski lucked into a story that positively cried out to be told. Buck O'Neil ... was a man who loved the game with a burning passion that never lessened in intensity. ... For baseball fans, the book is a treasure trove of history, full of names that remind us of an older time--Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks--and stories that make us laugh, even as we wonder if baseball has changed too much ever to feel like it once did. Stirring, moving, and more than a little sad.  
                                            Booklist (starred review)

Captures O'Neil's rhythmic voice … painting an uplifting portrait of a man who was without bitterness despite long experience with racial discrimination … The final scenes are moving tales.
                                                    Publisher's Weekly 

 O'Neil reminisces about his days in black baseball, his years as a scout, and his times with Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige. There are also some helpings of jazz appreciation along the way. Poignantly, Posnanski describes the anticipation with which O'Neil waited to hear whether he was to be one of the Negro Leaguers retroactively inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006. For all general baseball collections. 
                                                          Library Journal
               
Posnanski masterfully conveys O'Neil's charisma and the rhythm of his words, which often read like free verse. ... O'Neil's credo was "you don't ever walk by a red dress," and his greatest asset was not his ability to hit a fastball but his talent for establishing a connection with those he encountered. He saw goodness in the world despite having been deprived of numerous opportunities because of the color of his skin. A worthy paean to an American legend. 
                                  Kirkus Reviews (starred review)