Big Hair and Plastic Grass

A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging '70s

By: Dan Epstein

Narrated by: Dan Epstein

Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Bronx Is Burning meets Chuck Klosterman in this wild pop-culture history of baseball's most colorful and controversial decade. 

The Major Leagues witnessed more dramatic stories and changes in the 70s than in any other era. The American popular culture and counterculture collided head-on with the national pastime, rocking the once-conservative sport to its very foundations. Outspoken players embraced free agency, openly advocated drug use, and even swapped wives. Controversial owners such as Charlie Finley, Bill Veeck, and Ted Turner introduced Astroturf, prime-time World Series, garish polyester uniforms, and outlandish promotions such as Disco Demolition Night. Hank Aaron and Lou Brock set new heights in power and speed, Reggie Jackson and Carlton Fisk emerged as October heroes, and All-Star characters like Mark "The Bird" Fidrych became pop icons. 

For the millions of fans who grew up during this time, and especially those who cared just as much about Oscar Gamble's afro as they did about his average, Big Hair and Plastic Grass serves up a delicious trip down memory lane.

©2019 Dan Epstein (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

It was ok. Could have been more.

In the mid 70's I was a kid obsessed with baseball and Pete Rose. This book brought back a lot of good memories. There is a lot of stuff about Rose and the Reds here since they were one of the big stories of the 70s. It detailed a lot of World Series games I can remember watching on tv with my dad when he was alive which was nice. If you were a fan of one of the dominant teams of the decade, then there is a lot for you here. It also had some 70s baseball trivia that was pretty cool. Especially the story about a kid working in the A’s clubhouse who looked so much like Hank Aaron that the As players called him Hammer, Aaron’s nickname. The kid later became a rapper and used the nickname as part of his stage name— MC Hammer. I wish the book had gone into more of such stories. The stories we very good. The behind the scenes stuff. Overall, it was a stat driven summary of the decade in baseball. I know baseball is a sport of stats, but for an audiobook it's hard to deal with a lot of numbers. It kept my interest, but it seemed like it could have been much better. The author read it. He shouldn’t have. A pro could have made it a better audio experience.

Excellent but biased

I could have done without the liberal bias of the author seeping in every now and then. Otherwise it is a great “read”.

Great

Outstanding book about baseball in a wilder time...now I’m just typing to meet the minimum word requirement for a review

To much liberal politics

Author has a nostalgia for the Carter administration. Need I say more? Definitely a liberal tilt to this book.

Dude...

Big Hair and Plastic Grass is a very entertaining depiction of Baseball in the 70’s. Do you like stats? This book is full of ‘em. It was so fun to hear about all of the 70’s stories - a decade that is very much overlooked when speaking to the average fan (outside of the Big Red Machine.) The fact that it was free (when I listened) is somewhat comforting, because I spent WAY too much on eBay looking for old baseball cards lol. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

What really killed MLB

what really did in MLB, was NOT player wages, drugs or steroid usage. it wasn't "times have changed". It's the 10 cent opinions of idiots like this writer/reader, who want to dump Progressive Socialist b.s. on the rest of America.
This moron ripped Nixon as corrupt, but never said a cross word about Johnson or Carter. Even excusing Carter's ineptitude and blaming America for not understanding that he really meant to help the country after seeing to its demise.
Sports fans aren't interested in hearing your political opinions when reading or listening to a book. This book was free with my Audible subscription, but somehow I still feel cheated. What a jerk this writer/reader is.

Entertaining review of the 70’s

I enjoyed the year-by-year Chronicles of baseball in the 70s, complete with statistics, scandals, and all-around weirdness that was in baseball during that decade

good book

The book was good. Good is a good term for this book, which was good.

Great for '70s baseball history

I really enjoyed everything until the last few chapters which were still good. Everything slowed down as the social upheaval from the early '70s started to wind down and the book itself slowed down because of it and started to get a little stat heavy towards the end. Very enjoyable however, definitly reccomend.

Fantastic pick for a baseball fan.

This was a really entertaining listen, especially for a kid who grew up collecting baseball cards of all of the heroes described in the book. Lots of great stories that brought back memories of my childhood.