A unique addition to the Browns bibliography is out now. And I don’t mean out injured. The opposite, really: available. It’s a fun keepsake bio of Baker Mayfield himself.
Baker Mayfield: Feeling Dangerous is unofficial, unaffiliated photo and feature journalism writ nice and large, considering its 24-year old star subject. The full 8 1/2-by-11-inch glossy paperback attracts with AP Images wherever you open.
Photos fill more than half of its 128 pages, appealing to the great many new fans of Cleveland’s franchise QB. The page layout is clean and nicely Browns-themed. Ample white space ably absorbs author Andrew Gribble’s well-composed prose.
The Browns’ Senior Manager of Digital Media, Gribble frames the public record into a fluid narrative that allows others’ words to stand out. Extensive quotes about and by Baker paint much of the textual picture.
Gribble’s tone and coverage choices are reasonable and appropriate, even for essentially a collector-type hype book.
We’d be into hagiography territory if there were no mention of Mayfield‘s legal run-in, inappropriate gesture, and controversial remarks. These are all adequately contextualized and non-dismissive, as facets of this charismatic young leader’s story and the strong personality behind it.
The choice not to descend toward the Baker-haters by name (a particular national radio host comes to mind) was a sound one, I think.
In essence, this book capably packages all the multimedia exposure surrounding the mega-marketable Mayfield. By the end you realize what a whirlwind life his must be, and how it is that this “Pied Piper” suddenly seems like the right character fit for what’s long been perhaps the toughest job in town, the starting quarterback in Cleveland.
I’m not against panning bad Browns books, but this one’s worth it for the die-hards. Anyone enamored with the biggest star in The Land would appreciate receiving Baker Mayfield: Feeling Dangerous as a gift. But I’m surely not giving my review copy away.
Fortunately the folks at Triumph Books have come through with a special 25% discount for Browns Plainly readers. Just click here and use the promo code BROWNSPLAINLY. It’s win-win for everyone, including the site, so please rush to get a piece of this quarterback.
