All baseball fanatics should read this! This book, having been published in 1990, is a little outdated by today's standards, but his arguments are sound and I agree with him more often than I do not. He treats baseball as it should be. ( )

behind the scenes...: George Will's passions for America's great pastime is evident in every story. He goes behind the scenes for the details and strategy that is involved in every pitch. His look at the manager, pitcher, hitter and fielder will add insight to the game and garner a deeper appreciation of the game within the game. A great baseball book!

Amazing that for a man who is wrong about everything else in his life that he got this one correct. ( )

This was one of my favorite books when I read it in 2007. Will examines in depth the strategies used in baseball through the eyes of the manager (Tony La Russa); pitcher (Orel Hersheiser); batter (Tony Gwinn); and defense (Cal Ripkin). Using this ploy of viewing baseball from four points of view shows just what a fascinating, complicated game it is. Every aspiring baseball player should read this to see what kind of preparation should be done before the game starts. It has deepened my understanding of the play on the field and I’m enjoying baseball more than ever now. It was also fun to relive some of the great plays of the late 1980’s through Will’s analysis. ( )

2427 Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball, by George F. Will (read 20 Dec 1991) This 1990 book is full of lots and lots of things about baseball, some of them so technical they weren't very interesting. Will kind of profiles Tony LaRusso, manager of the Oakland A's, Orel Herschiser, Dodger pitcher, Tony Gwynn, Padre outfielder, and Cal Ripken, Jr., Oriole shortstop, but that is just a framework for much inside baseball stuff. There is so much interesting in the book, e.g.: On July 27, 1918, Henry Heitman went to pitch for the Dodgers against the Cardinals. He gave up four hits and four runs and got one man out. That was the beginning and the end of his major league career. He has an ERA of 108. Will quotes Dizzy Dean on a 1 to 0 game: "It was a lot closer game than the score indicates." ( )

I don't like George Will's policies and I don't particularly like baseball, but George Will brings the game enough alive in this book that you find yourself turning an ear to a game that may be playing in the next room. ( )

George Will is a little too prissy for my tastes, but he has written a smartly-argued baseball book. His basic premise, with which I agree, is that played properly, baseball is anything but a leisurely game played by men of instinctive skills. There is (or should be) intense thought behind every movement of the players on the field and every decision regarding the pitcher and batter. It is punctuated by moments of blazing speeds and decisions made in thousandths of a second. The book is divided into The Manager, The Pitcher, The Batter and The Defense. Will's selection of Tony La Russa as the compleat manager doesn't quite sit so well these days, though. (2007 update: La Russa's star here in St. Louis shines quite a bit brighter since the Cardinals won the 2006 World Series. And I continue to agree with Will's contention that La Russa is the smartest and hardest-working manager in baseball, although he occasionally micromanages to a fault and falls prey to brain farts while making on-the-spot decisions during games). ( )

Practical, down-to-earth analysis of the different aspects of playing baseball. Will's tendency to pontificate is held in check here by the presence of Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken, Orel Hershisher and Tony LaRussa. As intelligent as baseball books get. ( )