Cardboard Gods is a Baseball Book Worthy of Worship

One of the most memorable books from 2010 is Cardboard Gods: An All-American Tale Told through Baseball Cards by Josh Wilker. A Baby Boomer Red Sox fan tells the story of his unusual upbringing by discussing particular baseball cards associated with certain memories.

In spite of his allegiance to Boston's team, Wilker selects only three cards of Red Sox players. One is outfielder Dwight Evans, one of teammate Jim Rice, and the other is his boyhood hero, Carl Yastremski. The card of Bill Buckner, the scapegoat for Boston's World Series loss to the 1986 Mets, shows him as a member of the Chicago Cubs.

The rest of the collection varies among Hall of Famers such as Steve Garvey, Tom Seaver and Johnny Bench mixed in with lesser-known players like Bob Davis, Vicente Romo, and Carmen Fanzone. In fact, the book opens not with an obvious choice like legendary leadoff hitter Rickey Henderson, but with Rudy Meoli, a backup infielder with a .212 lifetime batting average. From the first, Wilker lets his audience know that the stories about the cards are more important than the names on the front of them.

Perhaps the most interesting story is presented with the card of Yankees pitcher Mike Kekich, who in 1973 swapped wives and families with teammate Fritz Peterson. The author then discusses the unusual living arrangements of his parents, all three of them. His mom brought a lover to live in the house with them, relegating his father to a small guest bedroom in back of the house.

One of his favorite cards shows brothers Rick and Paul Reuschel, pitchers who were teammates on the Cubs. The author, who idolizes his older brother, dreams that one day Ian and he will appear together as Red Sox teammates on a similar card. This love for his older brother is one of the strongest links between the various stories throughout the book.

Wilker recalls with poignancy the card of Angels outfielder Lyman Bostock, who in 1979 was killed after someone fired a gun into a car in which he was a passenger. The author associates that card with his first realization that even cardboard Gods are mortal. He writes on p.203, "Eventually, I was able to get up off the stairs and go back into our room and climb my loft bed ladder past the list featuring, near the top, Lyman Bostock's name and average. I lay down and looked at the ceiling. Four hundredths of a point shy of .300 forever."

Little-known like Eddie Leon, Cy Acosta and Rowland Office as well as All-Stars such as Steve Carlton, George Brett, and George Foster guide us through Wilker's high school years through college and eventually to his marriage. There are also tributes to some of the game's most colorful players, such as Wilbur Wood and Mark Fidrych, and an unexpected tribute to a forgotten Tigers backup catcher on the very last page.

Even after finishing the book, most readers will enjoy reading the backs of the random cards scattered on the inside of the back cover. Some will even head to the garage and browse through their own forgotten collection of Cardboard Gods.