A championship San Francisco baseball team. Those words seem so incongruous. They seem dumb and odd and made-up. Like a self-effacing politician. How can a professional baseball team from San Francisco win a championship? How is that possible?

To ask that question is to see the world from a post-1957 perspective. Before 1958, it was VERY possible. The San Francisco Seals from the old Pacific Coast League (PCL) - a high-level Triple A league - won no fewer than ELEVEN - count 'em, ELEVEN - championships - more than any other PCL team.

Granted that a championship under PCL rules was arrived at through more direct routes than the multi-tiered playoff system extant in major league baseball today, there were still ELEVEN occasions when the Seals beat everyone there was to beat! Compare that with the record compiled by the team that has played in The City since 1958. The Seals outdistance that team by a total of ELEVEN! Jesus wept!

As the title indicates, this book is not so much a history of the Seals or a highlight of Seals glory as it is a retrospective of the Seals teams that the author, Brent Kelley, grew up with. This includes a lot of lean years; 1946 through 1957 was not all gravy for the organization, and in fact, it was only by going public in 1954 that the team was able to survive at all. Kelley provides a good overview on the story of the Little Corporation that saved the Seals - for four years.

Some information on the relationship that the Seals had with the major leagues is also provided. During the time frame in question, they had working relationships with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox - and ironically enough, even with the National League team in New York.

Kelly also recapitulates Lefty O'Doul's stature as king of both San Francisco and Japan. The Seals' post-war reconciliation tour to Japan, led by O'Doul, is still remembered on both sides of the Pacific Ocean and it was made at the urging of none other than General MacArthur himself.

The chapters are divided by the years in question, as Kelly interviews surviving players that he found from the teams that played during those years. The interviews themselves are unremarkable and seem to uniformly contain the patterns that one would expect of interviews with retired PCL baseball players: some players I stay in touch with; some I haven't seen in years; some are no longer with us; the money was nothing like the players are making today, but we worked harder and had more fun and I made more money on the Coast than I did (or would have) in the bigs and we didn't have to travel too far from home and we even had Mondays off and I'd do it again.

The uniformity doesn't matter; the names should live forever in the annals of West Coast baseball: Frank Seward, Jeep Trower, Jack Brewer, Roy Nicely, Neill Sheridan, Joe Brovia, Bill Werle, Con Dempsey, Dario Lodigiani, Ed Cereghino, Bill Bradford, Rene Cheso, Nini Tornay, Jerry Zuvela, Jim Westlake, Ted Beard, Chuck Stevens, Bob DiPietro, Don Lenhardt, "Riverboat" Smith, Jack Spring, and Bert Thiel. Young fans once pronounced these names with reverence.

Con Dempsey's story should be of particular interest because it removes some of the luster associated with the name of Branch Rickey. Dempsey's contract was ultimately sold by the Seals to the Pittsburgh Pirates of the major leagues. After he reported to the Pirates, Rickey, the innovative Hall of Fame executive who integrated the major leagues and invented the modern "farm" system for development of minor league players, ruined Dempsey's arm and his career by trying to force him to become an overhand pitcher, in spite of the success that Dempsey had attained by throwing sidearm and three-quarters. Evidently, the corporate mentality is no less prevalent in baseball than elsewhere, even among the best executives.

Kelly also interviewed two players whose names that will be familiar to major league historians: Ferris Fain and Lou Burdette. Both had successful major league careers. I had not known that either of them had a resume that included a stint with the Seals. A credible case is made for Burdette's deserving membership in Baseball's Hall of Fame.

And although they are not interviewed in this book, it is equally interesting to see that the Seals roster also included such familiar-sounding names as Frank Malzone, Ken Aspromonte, and Albie Pearson.

And fans of the baseball team that currently plays in San Francisco (the one with no championships) will be interested to read the interview with ex-Seals shortstop Leo Righetti, father of Dave Righetti, whose major league career includes a stint in San Francisco as both a relief pitcher and a pitching coach. Befitting of an Italian surname, the Righetti family history in San Francisco baseball extends for two generations.

The Seals saga has a bittersweet ending. After a number of years of futility, they win the 1957 PCL championship just before major league expansion from New York to San Francisco chases them out of The City. Most San Franciscans were delighted with the arrival of major league baseball, as can be seen from the tremendous welcome that Willie Mays & Company received when they arrived and from the intense interest displayed after the season started.

But there yet remained a strong minority of PCL fans who mourned the loss of their beloved Seals and regarded the invading strangers from New York as unworthy substitutes - especially the audacious presence of Willie Mays in Seals Stadium's centerfield threatening to appropriate the memory of the great Joe DiMaggio. How provincial those fans must have seemed at the time -- but did they possess some sort of crystal ball that foretold how the usurpers from New York would bring giant heartaches, endless futility --- and no championships?

This book grabbed my attention within the first few pages. Although the stage appears to be set for a novel about a young woman trying to survive in a deteriorating neighborhood, an unexpected element arises. This book has it all - crime, murder, friendship, and love, but it also has "something" more. Read it to find out.

I liked this book alot. Each of the chapters covered a different operation and was very fast paced. Vietnam era SEAL/UDT operations were covered extensively and with a human touch. My only complaint (kind of a big one for me), and the reason I didn't give it a five star, is that the packaging of this paperback leads the reader to believe this is a work of non-fiction. The front and back cover do not mention this is fiction, and only once I got home did I notice the word fiction on the spine. The author states in his review these stories are based on fact. I just wonder what is fiction and what is non-fiction. Other than this personal complaint this is probably the most readable and flowing book on SEALs that I have read. Enjoy it but know it's ficton.

This book seems to defy categories. It's a lesbian romance, a melodrama of America's current culture wars, and a coming-of-age story. The main character, Sharon McCall, is the daughter of a Baptist fundamentalist minister who is (as you'd expect) actively anti-gay. Sharon, of course, is a closeted lesbian who falls in love with her liberal classmate Gennie, and Gennie goes to a liberal college while Sharon commutes from her conservative Bible school to be with her. But this nutshell plot doesn't reveal how sophisticated the characters and their relationships become. Sharon still remains true to an evangelical Christian faith, seeking for ways to reconcile it with both her gay sexuality and an intellectual bent. When Sharon is outed and her father is determined to cure her by force, the lines of demarcation aren't as clearly drawn, as Sharon's Bible college punishes the students who exposed her, and her Christian friends join the ranks of freethinkers and militant queers to defend her. The book is a long read, but I couldn't help picking it up to see how its heroine grows and changes - and helps those around her to do the same. This is an unexpected treasure, and one I recommend to anyone who wants to read lesbian fiction that touches spirit and mind.

My ladyfriend found this title in a used bookstore, and gave it to me. Hopefully, it will be in print again soon. I have never read a stranger or more compelling work.

It is written as a personal memoir of an Englishman who, while patrolling the coast of Ireland during the war, encounters a strange young woman, who seems to be drifting farther and farther from human society, and becoming part of a colony of seals. The theme seems to be the conflict/attraction between our civilized nature and our older animal selves. Lockley is a renowned nature lover, and you can guess where his sympathy lies, but though his view of nature is romantic and beautiful, it is not sentimental in the least. He seems to be saying that we all yearn to return to nature, but most of us lack the strength to withstand the hardships and pain that a truly natural life entails. Civilization has made us too aware of pain and death; we cannot simply trust to the elements, even though that life! may be more deeply satisfying than anything our creature comforts can give to us.

The writing is simple and elegant, and deeply convincing, to the point where Lockley had me believing for long periods of time that the events in the book actually happened. I don't think they really could. I don't think so.....

The Nasser D Khalili Collection holds around 2,200 hardstone and metal seals, making it the largest such collection in the world, by far outstripping the nearest rival, the Hermitage in St Petersburg. Mostly craved from chalcedony or carnelian, the seals are inscribed in Arabic or Persian. While the majority are of Ottoman, Iranian, or Mughal origin and date from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries, the items of the seventh and thirteenth centuries, termed here the 'Classical' period constitute a collection of considerable importance. There are also over 300 talismans, most in semi-precious stones. The present volume publishes a photographic record and complete description of the majority of these items. The contributors analyse the employment of seals, both official and private, throughout the Islamic lands; the script and decoration found on them; the materials and techniques used in fabrication; and the existence of some intriguing forgeries. This book is intended for art historians, Islamicists, collectors and curators of Islamic art, gem collectors, specialist art trade, some students, and general readers. With contributions from: Rogers, J. M.; Unknown function: Cavey, Christopher Unknown function: Bivar, David Unknown function: Khemir, Sabiha Unknown function: Bayani, Manijeh

My Mother read The Selchie's Seed to my sister and me when I was about 10 years old. The stark black and white drawings by Dianne Goode were fantastic; evocative and soft in their depiction of a rugged coastal landscape. The story is of a young girl's discovery of a white whale in the wave-tossed inlet along the shore of her tiny Irish fishing village. When the girl tells her parents about the whale her Father's reaction is angry, but her Mother seeems to have been expecting the whale's intrusion into their lives. Later, the girl overhears her parents' heated discusion about her and the whale. She learns of her Selchie blood and of the connection she has with the whale at the inlet. This is a story of the power of choosing one's path in life. The girl in The Selchie's Seed experiences her passage into womanhood through a calling to return to the family of the Selchie. In some senses this is a story of reclaiming one's self, and of freedom. The Irish myth of the Selchie (silky-skinned seal people) who swim to shore, shed their seal skins and walk in the skin of a human comes into play in this tale. But more contemporary issues of power over others, over one's self and one's choices are explored in Oppenheim's wonderful story. This is a book for girls and for boys (the relationship between the girl and her brother is strong and offers a healing male/female relationship in the face of her Father's helpless anger at the loss of his daughter) to learn from and enjoy. It's left a lasting impression on me, and will remain with me throughout the rest of my adult life.

This is short sweet picture book with the beautiful blues and greens of the sea in its charming illustrations. It tells the tale of a boy who makes friends with a young selkie, ( a shape-shifter who can transform from a seal to a girl by taking her sealskin off.) Their friendship helps him appreciate her uniqueness and also the subtle and mysterious "language of the sea." Unlike the greedy oysterman who captures the selkie and imprisons her so that he can force the language of the sea from her to make himself rich, the boy appreciates her and befriends her and in the end receives a gift freely given and so, all the more precious. I gave this book 4 stars because I really like it but it is not a masterpiece. Never the less, it is a good story contrasting greed with kindness and is deserving of its 4 stars in more ways than one.

Tales of the Selkies, half human, half seal people are woven in Scottish myth and lore - even in my own family. So I was delighted to find this wonderful collection of short tales about the Selkie collected by Duncan Williamson.

Just wish the tales were presented in a bit more depth.

Highly recommended to those wish pure Scottish Lore.

I have read several NAVY SEAL books in the last two years, but all of them left something out. In Barry's book I learned how the Navy Seals became the Seals we admire and respect today. I trully enjoyed reading and sharing about Barry's triumps, trials, misfortunes and losses during his tours in vietnam. Thanks Barry and Greg.