While I’ve been a baseball fan pretty much my whole life, it wasn’t until I got involved with the athletic department at the University of San Francisco that I found myself getting into college baseball.

College baseball, while from a rules perspective is almost identical to the professional game, is quite a different beast when it comes to all that happens behind the scenes, which is what prompted Gregory J. Tully to pen Nine College Nines: A Closeup View of Campus Baseball Programs Today.

Not surprisingly, college baseball on the whole doesn’t generate nearly the same levels of excitement as college football or basketball. Sure, the College World Series draws tens of thousands to Omaha, Nebraska, but many programs would tell you that their attendance routinely runs in the low three digits. Like it’s professional counterpart, collegiate baseball suffers from a schedule of games nearly everyday, often during daylight, and thus working, hours. It doesn’t have the buildup the college football has to the once-weekly gathering, nor the come-in-from-the-cold and watch guys defy gravity appeal of college basketball.

In the prologue, Tully shares that his initial drive to write the book came from the question, “Why isn’t college baseball more popular?” But as he admits, “writing about the joys of college baseball would be like preaching to the bleachers.”

So instead of writing a book proclaiming the joys of college baseball, Tully looks at nine programs across the country, ranging from Division I powerhouses such as the University of Miami (FL) and Louisiana State, to Division II and III programs, NAIA power Lewis-Clark State, and even San Jacinto Junior College.

Each of the nine chapters focuses on a different school and a different aspect of the collegiate game: the University of Southern California chapter not only focuses on a big conference series with Arizona State, but also the importance and strategies of recruiting. Eastern Connecticut State University, a Division III program, highlights the balance between academics and athletics.

Tully intermingles a play-by-play narrative of the weekend’s games with a profile of each program, including players, coaches, and fans as he attempts to shed light on all that goes into making a collegiate baseball program successful. The result is a fairly up-close look at the different parts that go into collegiate baseball, all of which are things that most people would take for granted unless they’re already fans of the game.

Which leads me to the crux of any book review – would I recommend this book, if so to whom, and for what reasons? While I enjoyed the book overall, I struggled to answer that question. I simply don’t know that many people who have a real love of college baseball, and those that I do generally know a lot about the game already.

The more I thought about it, the more I wanted Tully’s book to be some kind of outright marketing effort – something that would bring fans out in droves to college baseball stadiums around the country. If nothing less, I would have appreciated an answer to his original question about why college baseball isn’t more popular.

Because no one chapter goes in-depth enough to really get a foothold on either a program or a particular subject, I finished the book feeling like I got a glancing look at different programs and facets of the game. While those glancing looks are very good, they were still just glancing looks.

Now here is my rub about the book – the list price, and Amazon.com price, is $35.00. While I am as staunch a supporter of buying books as almost anyone out there, even I had to question the price. In the age of digital book downloads, the price does seem a bit prohibitive – kind of like $4 a gallon gasoline. It’s not that the book isn’t worth it – but I think a better price point would certainly aid its cause.

While I commend Tully’s work and found it interesting and page-turning, at the conclusion of the book, I found myself wanting something more. I’m not sure what – and maybe there just isn’t more to get when looking at college baseball in this way. Having been around it for four years, and staying connected with USF’s baseball program since graduating, maybe I’m too close to the subject to be a fair judge. But I know that I would like to read more from Tully – possibly a look at a particular college program, or a more in-depth look at a figure in college baseball. There is plenty of depth in college baseball, and plenty for Tully or any author to really explore and share with the reader in a way that will better relay the great aspects of baseball at the collegiate level. Tully has clearly shown an ability to capture the unique nature of the game while successfully alternating between the narrative and documentary styles of writing. Count me among those who would look forward to reading his future works.

The book is available from direct from the publisher at McFarlandPub.com, by calling 800-253-2187, or by visiting Amazon.com, where your purchase helps support BaseballBookReview.com and is greatly appreciated.