• Three Nights in August

  • Strategy, Heartbreak, and Joy Inside the Mind of a Manager
  • By: Buzz Bissinger
  • Narrated by: Jeffrey Nordling
  • Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (339 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Three Nights in August  By  cover art

Three Nights in August

By: Buzz Bissinger
Narrated by: Jeffrey Nordling
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.04

Buy for $21.04

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author captures baseball's essence in this account of a dramatic three-game series viewed through the eyes of legendary St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa.

Through 25 years of managing, Tony La Russa has won more games than any current manager. He's the most strategically adept and arguably the smartest manager in baseball, and he still believes that games are won not by statistics, but by the hearts and minds of the players.

Given unprecedented access to La Russa and his team, best-selling journalist Bissinger captures baseball's strategic and emotional essence. We watch from the dugout as La Russa's Cardinals take on their archrivals, the Chicago Cubs, in a thrilling three-game series.

Some of the greatest players of our time grace the lineups: Albert Pujols, Sammy Sosa, Scott Rolen, Mark Prior. La Russa, a 40-year veteran of the game, shows why he's so revered. And Bissinger's laser-beam focus uncovers surprising truths about the pathology of slumps, the art of beanball retaliation, the eccentricities of pitchers, and the timelessness of the game. His swinging prose brings every moment gloriously to life.

©2005 Tony La Russa and H.G. Bissinger (P)2005 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"Enthralling." (Booklist)
"Mixing classic baseball stories with little-known details and an exclusive perspective, this work should appeal to any baseball fan." (Publishers Weekly)
"With a knack for detail, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author picks apart the fundamentals of the game, enters the mind of one of baseball's greats, and provides the reader with a front row seat. His ability to bring to life America's pastime is wholly provocative and excruciatingly detailed." (Bookmarks Magazine)

More from the same

What listeners say about Three Nights in August

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    196
  • 4 Stars
    104
  • 3 Stars
    30
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    143
  • 4 Stars
    49
  • 3 Stars
    16
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    138
  • 4 Stars
    49
  • 3 Stars
    21
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Book with good premise follows through

I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to truly understand some of the layers of baseball that you don't normally think about. This book is not just for fans of the Cardinals or Larussa because most of it can be applied to any facet of any baseball team.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Why we love Baseball!

This book is about everything that is great and not so great about baseball. Great to listen too because it reveals the why and how this great game works and why we love it so much. The best insight about what really goes on behind the scenes and in front of the fan. If you want to learn and be entertained then this is one of the best listens I have had the pleasure to put on my iPod. Beautiful!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

The Best

I have been a baseball fan all of my life. I have played baseball, coached and managed youth baseball teams. This is the best book on the Game that I have ever read or listened to. It is superbly written and wonderfully read. It is so much more than a just a look into one man's life in the Game, it is a timeless look into the intricacy and beauty of baseball.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Tc
  • 09-26-07

Great!

A terrific insight into the gamesmanship involved in what naively might be thought of as a 'kids' game'. Will help any reader appreciate baseball at a new level.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful Baseball

The writing is superb, the narration stellar. If you ever cared about baseball (and I don't as much as I used to), this is a compelling book about the beauty of the game. Even in this era of spoiled multi-millionaire players, there is still passion in the game, and you can feel it in each chapter of Three Nights in August.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Three Nights in August

This is a well written book whose knowledge of baseball is up to the task. The author Buzz Bissinger shows this in many ways; most importantly to me is the mention of Charley Lau who is one of baseball?s great teachers of hitting.

It did not hurt that the author makes a slight reference to Samuel Beckett?s Waiting for Godot, for I am also a Beckett reader.


Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Baseball fan must

This is a must listen for any baseball fan. I glimpse in to the thought process of a manager.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful baseball. Go Cardinals

loved it! Larussa is one of the greatest managers of all time! Go Cardinals! 11 world series rings!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb baseball commentary and perspective on leadership, life, and people

In an era of stat crunchers in sports everywhere, La Russa deciphers the variables that can’t be calculated about the game and those who play it. Viewed as archaic and against the grain by many in his managerial style, his timeless truths have time and time told a different story.

Love is a steady, lifelong commitment to getting one and their intricate inner workings. Similarly so is baseball, a sport only truly understood on a deeper level through the passage of time and devotion to it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb. Must-read for any baseball fan.

Amazing detail, both technical and human-interest. Takes you inside baseball in a rare and entertaining way.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!