My two passions are baseball (duh) and movies (really?). So when I learn about a book that combines the two, it jumps to the top of my “to read” list.

Let’s back up just a step.

A couple of times a year, I do a search to see what baseball releases are coming down the pike, so I’ve been looking forward to THE CHURCH OF BASEBALL since last winter. And who better to present this cinematic sports memoir than the writer and director of Bull Durham, Ron Shelton? (Another aside: Several years ago, I covered a session of Yankees fantasy camp for my newspaper. When I found out that the manager of my team was Ron Shelton, I couldn’t have been more pleased. But that surprise turned to disappointment --- with all due respect --- when it turned out to be a minor leaguer in the Baltimore Orioles system in the late ’60s/early ’70s with the same moniker.)

"The more pages I dog-ear, the more compelling I found the book. By that standard, THE CHURCH OF BASEBALL has to be one of the best to combine my two favorite pastimes."

There are those who don’t want to know “how the sausage is made,” preferring their own conceptions about the movie/TV show/song/etc. without the technicalities. Not me. I love hearing about the creative process, and Shelton --- who also had a minor-league career around the same time as my Yankees fantasy skipper --- does not disappoint. The fact that he did play gives him extra cred when it comes to his choices, in both the story and the cast members.

The bulk of THE CHURCH OF BASEBALL deals with writing the script and the decisions involved in creating the characters, most notably Annie Savoy, the ostensible narrator; Crash Davis, the grizzled catcher who made it to “The Show” only briefly, despite being a prodigious power hitter; and Ebby Calvin “Nuke” LaLoosh, the rookie pitcher with a million-dollar arm and 10-cent head. The rest of the book looks at the nuts and bolts of actually getting Bull Durham made: pre-production, production and post-production, each with its own set of challenges, drama and angst, especially with the schedule ticking away and the studio executives trying to micromanage.

For example, knowing that the leading roles were played so expertly by Susan Sarandon, Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins, it’s hard to believe they were not the studio’s preferred actors. It’s a constant battle between the director’s vision and the bottom line. (At least there was no conflict between the writer and director over artistic control since Shelton multitasked.)

“Decisions” is a watchword throughout the book. They are a part of every stage: the writing, the casting, the shooting, the editing, the finances. Another appropriate word has to be “compromise” when it comes to Shelton picking and choosing his battles with the check-writers and pencil-pushers.

More than a behind-the-scenes look at one of the best baseball movies of all time (faint praise since a large number of critics consider the genre “box office poison”), the book is a filmmaking primer in which Shelton never presupposes the reader comes with the knowledge of what a “grip” or a “second unit” does.

Usually, as I read a book on a topic in which I’m particularly interested (or well-versed), I will make notes on the pages, rather than in a notepad, questioning why the author included this, excluded that, or chose a distinct word or phrase to make a point. The more pages I dog-ear, the more compelling I found the book. By that standard, THE CHURCH OF BASEBALL has to be one of the best to combine my two favorite pastimes.