The Opposite Field - Jesse Katz

Jesse Katz was born in New York and raised in Portland, Oregon by a politically active mother and artist father. When he was finishing college, he chose to go live in the rapidly changing city of Monteray, California. Monteray was experiencing a period of rapid demographic change, with a large influx of asian and hispanic inhabitants. As a budding journalist, Katz wanted to be part of it.

Throughout this book, Katz's love of all things hispanic is clearly illustrated. He married a Nicaraguan barmaid and had a single son, Max, whom he adored from day one. He also inherited his wife's son from an earlier relationship, who proved resistive to Katz.

This story is all about Katz's involvement with Little League baseball and how he moved from being a baseball coach to being Commisioner for baseball. He describes how he resurrected the league, bringing it back to fiscal stability and increasing the numbers playing. Ultimately though the book is about his relationship with Max, and how he used to sport to bond with his son.

Katz's story is not one of super-human achievement, but rather it is the story of an imperfect family and imperfect, but yet normal, father-son relationship. The blurb on the back oversells the book, but it is a refreshing and honest take on fatherhood.