Stefan Fatsis’s Wild and Outside: How a Renegade Minor League Revived the Spirit of Baseball in America’s Heartland offers a fascinating look at the inner workings of the 1994 season of the Northern League, which was one of baseball’s premier independent leagues. And while Fatsis certainly has a good feel for the on-the-field aspects of the sport (and particularly the grassroots heart and soul of the game), it’s his keen affinity for the business end of the things that sets this book apart from other baseball books. This was the second season of the league, which was still not quite on firm footing. The insights into the precarious finances of the franchises, the motivations of the fledgling owners, the backstories of the harried managers, the decision-making, the headaches, the successes and failures: it’s these facets that set the book apart. Adding to the intrigue is that independent teams are comprised of reject players: those who couldn’t cut it in the majors or their affiliated minor league systems. These are players who are just barely hanging on, looking for one more shot to play well enough to be noticed by an MLB scout and a chance to picked up by a major league organization.

Fortuitously for the narrative, the 1994 season set up a serendipitous juxtaposition: in August 1994 MLB players went on strike, cancelling the remainder of the major league season, and leaving independent ball as the only baseball being played in the country from that point forward that year. While MLB shut down amid its labor strife, the heartland’s Northern League played on, firmly and staunchly independent (albeit with its own internal issues to deal with). The Duluth–Superior Dukes, St. Paul Saints, Sioux Falls Canaries, Sioux City Explorers, Winnipeg Goldeyes, and Thunder Bay Whiskey Jacks carried on. Fatsis doesn’t belabor the point, but merely presents the facts for the reader to contemplate the dichotomy. Wild and Outside reminds us of the pure joy and entertainment value in baseball. It is more than a game; it is a part of America’s deep- rooted culture to be celebrated. ( )

A good book about a fun topic written by the Wall Street Journal's sports writer. It's serious enough that I enjoyed it a little more than the purely fun books on the nascent Northern League and the St. Paul Saints. ( )