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Throughout this book (again, written by Buzz Bissinger), Buzz takes you on various emotional flashbacks into the past of LaRussa’s career. He goes back to his times with the White Sox in the early to mid 80’s as well as with the A’s and earlier years in St. Louis.  

For example, he talks about the after game meetings of the baseball minds in Chicago that went into the wee hours of the morning. Wives (or girlfriends) had to stay in an adjacent room in the bar or club they were in, they simply were not allowed in with the guys!  

Another gem is where LaRussa’s wife and one (if not both) of his daughters were sick to the point of needing help for a day or to until they recovered. LaRussa had to choose to between staying on with the club and do his job at what he felt was a crucial part of the season or to be with his family when they needed him! To find out what he decided I will have to point you to the book (no, I am not getting paid to promote the book, get it out of the library if you must – that’s what I did, but I might buy it for later writing in detail).  

Then Buzz goes into the history of key players or coaches where he will once again pull the reader into one of these flashbacks. Some of which pull on the heartstrings. 

One of those that pulls at the heart of its readers is the section that talks about the player and person of Darryl Kile who passed away mid-season back on June 22, 2002 when he was only 33. He also wrote about how Kile’s death continued to affect Cardinal pitcher and team mate Matt Morris even into the 2003 season which is when “3 Nights in August” takes place. 

These flashbacks also touch upon, although briefly, on the topic of steroids when LaRussa managed the A’s during the Bash Brother years of Canseco and McGuire.  

**To speak on more of these sort of topics from the book feel free to place your thoughts in the comments section below!**

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