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Martinez resident Matt Sieger, whose previous book, The God Squad: The Born-Again San Francisco Giants of 1978 has come out with a new book, In My Humble Opinion: Musings of a Sports Columnist.
Sieger, now retired, worked as a sportswriter and columnist for The Vacaville Reporter and The Cortland Standard in New York State. He has his B.A. from Cornell University and an M.A. in magazine journalism from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications.
The book is a compilation of sports columns from his newspaper days as well as many from an online outlet called The Sports Column. Also included are interviews with many professional athletes, including Joe DiMaggio, Steve Alford of Indiana University basketball fame, NFL MVP quarterback Brian Sipe, Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter, former Giants catcher and major league manager Mike Matheny, and 49er tight end Brent Jones. Each column or article runs just two or three pages, so you can finish the book at a leisurely pace.
Among Sieger’s interesting tales are the time he got a hit off Jim Bouton, who pitched in two World Series for the New York Yankees. He also describes the day he covered the Cornell University Cricket Club, and because they were down a man, recruited him to play. Sieger, who played high school and some semi-professional baseball, had never swung a cricket bat in his life. The result is hilarious.
He also tells a heartwarming story about a Little League teammate, Lawrence, who, because of his minimum baseball talents, was relegated to right field but became a hero when he helped defeat their team’s arch rival.
Sieger also writes about some of the most historic events in sport, including Arthur Ashe’s upset of Jimmy Connors at Wimbledon in 1975, the fight of the century between Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier, and Bill Buckner’s notorious error for the Red Sox in Game Six against the New York Mets in the 1986 World Series.
He also pontificates on who the greatest baseball player is of all time. Willie Mays is on his list, as well as a surprise candidate. Sieger also opines on whether Shohei Ohtani is better than Babe Ruth, whether former Giants shortstop Omar Vizquel belongs in the Hall of Fame, and whether all those recent rule changes in baseball are good for the game.
Sieger includes an insider’s look at Barry Bonds from a security guard who had a first-hand view of the slugger’s antics, sports movie and book reviews, and some humorous columns, such as “Ode to a Foul Pole,” “Mascot Names that Need to Go,” and his computer simulation playoff that determined the worst baseball team of all time.
