I knew that John Gibbons was a manager for the Toronto Blue Jays, went to high school in San Antonio, and lives in San Antonio. I didn’t know he had written a book about his baseball life, until one of my Facebook friends who also happens to be a local sports television anchor in San Antonio, shared a video of him interviewing John Gibbons where he mentioned his book.
I really enjoyed this book and had no clue he was a member of the 1986 World Series champions, the New York Mets and that he was a former manager of the San Antonio Missions, the double AA affiliate of the San Diego Padres.
The stadium the Missions play in is fairly close to where I live, although, there is speculation that a new location is being researched from the new ownership. If I had to make that decision, I would build it in downtown San Antonio on current site of the UTSA Insitute of Texan Cultures (which is across the highway from the Alamodome). I worked for the San Antonio Missions in the summer of 2000, and most of the front office staff then is still there including one of my friends on Facebook (he is one of the General Manager’s). I know he is probably aware of this book, but I wanted to tell him how good it was, so I posted this on his page: Hey, have you had a chance to read John Gibbons new book? A lot of talk about San Antonio and the San Antonio Missions. I just finished it and really enjoyed learning more about him. He replied: No, I haven’t but I plan to check it out. I follow John on twitter and listen to his podcasts.
It was easy for me to follow along on his journey from player to manager, and the majority of the players he mentions I was familiar with. As a former catcher, he is very knowledgeable about the game.
