Born to Play - By Dustin Pedroia with Edward J Delaney

Despite being generously listed at 5’9” and 180 lbs, Dustin Pedroia

has become a young superstar in Major League Baseball. In only two full seasons, he has collected a Rookie-of-the-Year award, a Most Valuable Player Award, a Gold Glove Award, and a Silver Slugger Award. Not a bad trophy case for a 26-year old second baseman. In Boston, and most everywhere else he’s been, his bravado is legendary. He has turned a chip on his shoulder into an attitude that screams success. As you could imagine, a personality like that must have an interesting story to tell. This book follows his life from his younger years growing up, through college, the minor leagues, and his seasons in Boston. It explores how a kid who knows he can play convinces everyone else he’s right.

As with most sports autobiographies, it’s a good thing that Dustin Pedroia can hit a baseball because he’ll never make it as a novelist. On the other had, the writing closely follows the way you’d expect him to talk. The book is full of laser shots, and Pedroia is pumped to tell you all about them. That’s a good thing. It would be flimsy if Pedroia became a modest guy in the book. If he’s not telling you how great he is, it wouldn’t be Pedroia. The book also has several guest writes talking about various things in Pedroia’s life. People like Dave Magadan, Ben Cherington, and Kelli Pedroia add insights into Pedroia’s life that enforce what Pedroia is saying. It changes the pace a bit as you’re reading it. I liked the book a lot. I love stories of college teams and minor leagues. I love how all the future stars mix and match as they come up through the systems. What must it have been like to be on a college team with Dustin Pedroia and Ian Kinsler? The stories were genuine, and gave a lot of background on the Red Sox, and their second baseman. It was well worth picking it up.

Rating: 3 bases