Thursday, November 17, 2016

Book Review: Molina by Bengie Molina with Joan Ryan

This book is a deviation from what I normally review here. Almost all of my reviews have been on fiction titles. This  is a non-fiction work,  so we are branching out here at JABG.

I received this book as a gift from my in-laws and was very excited to receive it. I'm a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan and have been watching Yadier Molina play for many years so it was interesting to get some insight on his life and upbringing through the eyes of his brother.

This book is well written and very readable.  Some non-fiction titles are slow and hard to read but not so with this book; it reads like a fiction title.

The story of the Molina family is very amazing if you think about it. One family that put three children into the Major Leagues and all of them as catchers. This book takes us on the journey of the boys learning to play from their father, who is referred to as Pai throughout the book. Pai was a beloved member of his community and quite the baseball player in his own right. It was so amazing to see the influence he had on not only his family, but his entire town.

It was also pretty cool to see life through the eyes of Bengie Molina who worked hard to get into the major leagues. He seemed to have to put in more time and effort than his brothers did. It was a great story of perseverance.

I would recommend this book to anyone that is into baseball or into books that have a great message for life in general about not giving up and seeing your dreams through to the end.

Overall I give this book a 4/5