Confessions of a She-Fan: The Course of True Love with the New York Yankees
In May and October 2007, Heller published two charming op-ed pieces in the New York Times: on whether it was possible to divorce your team and on falling back in love with it. This book was written in between while she followed the Yankees (whom she has loved since growing up in Westchester) for half a season. Her book, however, is not about baseball or the Yankees as much as it is about Heller herself. She reports on the highlights of every game but fits them in between recounting how hard it was to get hotel rooms, flights, and tickets and how she never did get press access. The awkward locution of the title is reflected in a lot of the language (calling weak players “pussies” and Papelbon, of the Boston Red Sox, “Pap Smear” kind of collapses her feminist credentials). Still, she speaks the truth when she notes that the old Yankee Stadium was ugly and uncomfortable but for its beautiful emerald field and distinctive facade, and while she is crying and screaming and carrying on, one can hear the faint heartbeat of a true fan. --GraceAnne A. DeCandido