Book Review: Impact Player

Impact Player: Leaving a Lasting Legacy On and Off the Field

Former Yankee Bobby Richardson played alongside Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Whitey Ford, Joe Pepitone, and Yogi Berra during one of the most prolific dynasties in baseball history, and he remains to this day the only player from the losing team ever to be named World Series MVP.

I am an athlete and a Christian, and therefore I thought I would enjoy this book about faith and athletics grouped into one. What I didn't realize, until I started reading it, was that I am not a big enough baseball fan to want as many details as Bobby provided. While I enjoyed the book, I could only read it in small servings, and I kept thinking, "If this was about a team I followed intensely, I would love this book."

In Impact Player, Bobby shares his life story, including never-before-told tales from the Yankee clubhouse during the historic ’55-’65 pennant runs and World Series appearances. The book also features the unlikely friendship Richardson, a devout and outspoken Christian, shared with Yankee legend and renowned drinker and womanizer, Mickey Mantle.
I enjoyed the stories of his faith and what an impact he was off the field but you gotta really love baseball (and loving the Yankees will only enrich your read) to want to read this book cover to cover.

Impact Player is a perfect combination of faith and baseball and it offers a rare glimpse into one of the most celebrated dynasties in the history of the game. He shares the good and the bad and gives personal opinions about people involved in the Yankee organization without reservation. Impact Player also paints a fascinating portrait of a life well-lived and the lasting rewards that come from knowing and loving God.