Just Enough by David Eckstein
There’s a moment early in Just Enough where David Eckstein is running through the dark backroads of Warren, Rhode Island, in the middle of a 0-for-27 slump, wondering if the Red Sox front office was right about him all along and that he was never cut out for the big leagues. It’s an honest opening, and it sets the tone for one of the most refreshingly candid sports memoirs I’ve read. This isn’t a highlight reel. This is the story of a five-foot-eight infielder who was told his whole life he was too small, too slow and too unremarkable to play professional baseball. He became a two-time World Series champion and the 2006 World Series MVP anyway.
More Than a Baseball Story
What makes the book work so well is that Eckstein and co-writer Jake Gronsky never let the baseball overshadow the life underneath it. There’s plenty for baseball fans to love, though, including the grinding climb through the minor leagues, the humiliation of being put on waivers and hearing that a general manager considered his presence on the roster an embarrassment, the electric spring-training tryout that finally won him a job with the Angels and the pitch-by-pitch tension of Game 5 in St. Louis in 2006.
The book’s power is in the family. The chapters about his sister Susan’s sudden kidney failure as a teenager are beautifully told. Eckstein’s father is portrayed as strict. He’s a man who said “no” reflexively and rarely offered praise. Eckstein lets the complexity sit. The pain of never feeling good enough for his father is threaded all the way through, and it doesn’t fully resolve until a phone call after the 2006 World Series.
The Grit Behind the Glory
The writing deserves credit too. Gronsky’s prose has a present-tense energy in the flashback sequences that makes even a Sunday afternoon minor-league game feel urgent, and the chapter structure jumps between his childhood, his grinding path through the minors, and his major-league peak keeps the pacing brisk across nearly three hundred pages. Small details land with charm: his wife Ashley refusing to leave her seat during the ninth inning of the World Series because she didn’t want to jinx the game, or the MVP trophy getting propped up on an ironing board because their apartment was too sparse to have anywhere else to put it.
The book’s title turns out to be its thesis, applied gently to everything he’s earned: not the most talented, not the biggest, not the most gifted, but he’s someone who consistently, stubbornly did just enough to get the job done.
If you’re a baseball fan, you’ll love the inside look at two World Series runs from a player who was central to both. If you’re not, you’ll still find a moving story about family, faith and perseverance that doesn’t require you to know a thing about the rules of baseball.
About David Eckstein:
David Eckstein is a former Major League Baseball player known for his Just Enough style of play. The youngest of five in a family affected by kidney disease, David learned early on that life is precious and should never be taken for granted.
He made his major league debut with the Anaheim Angels in 2001, and despite always being considered an underdog, led the league in grand slams while contributing to the Angels’ 2002 World Series victory.
In 2006, with the St. Louis Cardinals, Eckstein helped lead the team to his second World Series championship and was named the World Series MVP.
Over Eckstein’s ten-year career, he was a two-time All-Star, the 2006 Babe Ruth Award winner, and the first-ever recipient of the Heart & Hustle Award.
Off the field, David has dedicated himself to advocating for organ donation and, since 2007, has partnered with Mid-America Transplant. Post-career, he can still be found on the baseball field, mentoring young players. He has earned three gold medals as part of the 18U Team USA Baseball coaching staff, and also works with MLB International, coaching kids from all over the world.
He lives in Orlando, Florida, with his wife, Ashley, who is the voice of Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars. Together, they can often be found at Walt Disney World.
Jake Gronsky is a former minor league baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals. His work has been featured in Best American Sports Writing, ESPN, and Fox Sports.
Sean Astin is an actor, director, producer, runner, activist, writer, husband, and father best known for his roles as Mikey Walsh in The Goonies, the title character in Rudy, Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Bob Newby in Stranger Things. Throughout his career, he has portrayed characters defined by hope, determination, and loyalty, and has always said, “People will root for anyone who shows them their heart.”
