Dirk Hayhurst’s “The Bullpen Gospels”: One of the best baseball autobiographies ever

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We get a lot of books sent to us at The Times for review. Most of them are horrible. You can’t even make it through 50 pages before giving up and wondering how this book could even be published.

That’s what I figured would happen when I picked up Dirk Hayhurst’s ‘The Bullpen Gospels’, except instead of throwing it away after 50 pages, I couldn’t put it down.

What Hayhurst has done with this book, which is filled with humor, honesty and self-doubt, is write the best baseball autobiography since Jim Bouton’s ‘Ball Four.’

Hayhurst, who failed as a starter with the Padres in 2008 and is currently on the disabled list with the Toronto Blue Jays, has written a book that is about more than baseball. It’s about life, the lessons we learn from our family, both good and bad, and the struggle of a non-mega star to make it in a game that has far more heartbreaks than successes.

There’s not a lot I can say without spoiling the best parts of the book. Hayhurst’s descriptions of host families. His interaction with a homeless man at a soup kitchen. His amazing season at and description of Lake Elsinore, especially the Lake Elsinore Hotel and Casino, which I can’t drive past now without chuckling.

Get this book. If you are a baseball fan, you will enjoy it. If your dad is a baseball fan, it is the perfect Father’s Day gift. And we can all only hope Hayhurst can one day write a sequel about his time in the majors.

-- Houston Mitchell