2011 Spring Trainging Read

Based on the popularity of the Halloween Read here in the 75'ers group, and the presence of several baseball fanatics, I proposed a Spring Training Read to get ready for the season. I plan to keep it a short list, and sprinkle fiction and non-fiction in for true fans. I am posting the list for the read now so that everyone has time to locate the books. I plan to start reading when spring training games start, February 25, 2011, and be through by opening day, April 1, 2011.

1. The Joy of Keeping Score by Paul Dickson
A great reference book for all of those statisticians and score-keepers like me. Plus, there are a few good old-fashioned stories about the game and its record keeping.

2. Ball Four by Jim Bouton
A tell-all, locker-room true story before anyone heard of Jose Canseco.

3. Murder at Wrigley Field by Troy Soos
Murder and intrigue, at the most storied ball park in the country.

4. The Natural by Bernard Malamud
One of the most well-known and beloved baseball stories around. If you've seen the film, read the book.

5. Fair Ball by Bob Costas
What's wrong with baseball. A book that is a little dated but still has a great deal to say about the status of the game and its future.

Join us!

I'm in. I have several baseball books I could read during spring training that are high on my TBR list:

Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss

The Greatest Ballpark Ever: Ebbets Field And the Story of the Brooklyn Dodgers by Bob McGee

The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn

Linked on the wiki page!

I've read The Boys of Summer and really enjoyed it. Enjoy your own list, kidzdoc, if you don't want to read the ones I've picked!

Thanks, Doc. I appreciate you doing your magic.

I own both Ball Four and Fair Ball, so I will join in for at least those two.

Wow, this is great. I've read nearly 250 baseball books, including all of these but The Joy of Keeping Score. I'll look for that one. I loved the Troy Soos historical baseball mysteries.

I'm currently reading Chasing Baseball: Our Obsession with Its History, Numbers, People and Places by Dorothy Seymour Mills. In it, she estimates that there have been 70,000 books written about baseball. So I've got a long, long way to go.

Darryl, I'm planning on reading McGee's The Greatest Ballpark Ever soon.

Interesting list, Mac!

The Natural is one of my very favorite movies. But I've already read the book. (One of the rare cases where I liked the movie better, so I probably won't re-read.)

Our library has quite of few of the Troy Soos baseball mystery series avaiilable on audio, and I've been planning to try them!

I'll have to check the availability of the others; I am trying not to buy books now, so I probably won't read any unless they are in the library.

I, too, have a few of my own, and hope to read at least some of these:
Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 season by Stewart O'Nan and Stephen King
Women at Play: the story of women in baseball, by Barbara Gregorich
The Echoing Green, by Joshua Prager
We Would have played for Nothing by Fay Vincent
Wait Til Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Indian Summer: the forgotten story of Louis Sockalexis, the first Native American in Major League Baseball by Brian McDonald

Also, The Incredible Mets by Maury Allen was on my Wish list, and I'm pretty sure of receiving it because hubby is a Mets fan!

#2 Darryl, the book about Clemente sounds especially good!

It should be a busy reading month!

I'm not a 75 Books Challenge member, but I'd love to join in on this one. I'll begin on February 25th with The Natural, which I blush to admit I've never read although I have seen the Robert Redford movie.

All are welcome to join in on this read! Glad to have you along.

Thanks for the welcome. It will be nice to think about Spring and leave this Winter weather behind.

Just a reminder for everyone who is going to join in.....we'll be starting on Feb. 25. I am going to read and review the books in the order you see listed above. If you don't like or have already read the books I've picked, feel free to read other baseball related books and post here. I may end up choosing one of your titles for next year's read.

Tymfos, I like you're list. I've already read Stephen King's book on the Red Sox reverse the curse year. But I loaned it to a friend and never got it back. And I own but haven't read Wait 'till Next Year, which almost made the list this year. I'll probably put it on next year's list.

I had better get busy and find my books! I own them, but that does not mean I know where they are in my house :)

This is a great idea, Mac! Thanks for setting it up. I was organizing bookshelves yesterday and ran across The Iowa Baseball Confederacy by W. P. Kinsella, who wrote Shoeless Joe. I may read that one. Murder at Wrigley Field and the Bob Costas book also sound interesting.

#2 - Darryl - I read Clemente a couple of years ago and loved it!

The Kinsella books are wonderful. Shoeless Joe is a much richer experience than the movie, though I have to confess that I am able to quote the movie.

I've got dozens and dozens of baseball books sitting around on my shelves and/or my Kindle. I could happily read nothing but baseball books.

I will certainly join you in The Joy of Keeping Score by Paul Dickson. I know I've read Ball Four but I think it's time to re-read this one (I last read it in high school in the mid 1970s).

Beyond these two, I think my spring training reading this year may focus, instead, on spring training itself. With the nasty winter we've been experiencing, I'm especially eager for spring training and baseball.

Three books in mind:

--Spring Training: Baseball's Early Season by Dan Shaughnessy
--Under the March Sun: The Story of Spring Training by Charles Fountain
--The Great Red Sox Spring Training Tour of 1911 by Bill Nowlin

Great choices, linda.

By the way, I've gotten a really good baseball book from the ER program, Summer of Shadows: A Murder, A Pennant Race, and the Twilight of the Best Location in the Nation. It's about the summer of 1954 in Cleveland where the Indians beat the Yankees to meet the Giants in the World Series and the city was wrapped up in the murder of Marilyn Sheppard, the wife of a young doctor - Sam Sheppard - who's case may have inspired The Fugitive, a TV series from 1963 - 1967.

So far, it's very good, one of the better ER books I've gotten.

Tomorrow begins the Spring Training Read......hope everyone is ready.

Play Ball!

Doc,That series was the last time the Giants won a series before this year....and the Indians are still dry! Sounds like a good book.

I've gotten Satchel: the life and times of an American legend by Larry Tye through inter-library loan and will be reading it as a bridge between my February "African-American History" reading and my Spring Training theme for March.

You can absolutely count me in on this one! I think I qualify as a baseball fanatic, but I've only read 1 one the books on your list...Ball Four, and I already had a couple of those books in my TBR pile. I've actually only read a dozen or so baseball books, but have visited around 50 stadiums between MLB, Minor League, Indy, and College ball.

Linda, you've read 250 baseball books?!!! Wow! I've got some catching up to do. If there have already been 70,000 baseball books written, then I'll be busy for a long long long time.

Going to Amazon now to order Fair Ball and The Joy of Keeping Score. I've been meaning to pick up the scorekeeping one for a while as I do enjoy keeping score during the season.

Sorry...rambling...excited!

Book #8, The Joy of Keeping Score by Paul Dickson
Non-Fiction; Baseball

My Review on the book's home page:

Every year, as winter cold begins to thaw from fingers and toes, a tiny, dormant seed begins to take root in the heart of every baseball lover. The sports section of morning newspapers, still delivered in darkness and crisp air, blossom with the news of team trades and acquisitions. A countdown begins, given whispered voice only among the most devoted, to the time when pitchers and catchers will report to the already warm and green fields of Arizona and Florida. More than any New Year, it is a time of renewal and hope; it is next year – the year that every fan has decided, “we’ll finally get ‘em.” It is Spring Training, and Opening Day is just around the corner.

Like every other baseball fanatic, the news of teams reporting for Spring Training stirs my soul. Days are more complete with morning box scores and day games on the radio, with arguments in cubicles over who will win the pennant or the World Series. And whether from a radio broadcast, an ESPN televised game, or in person, scoring the game puts me at the heart of the action on the field more than anything else.

For the beginner or the professional, Paul Dickson’s The Joy of Keeping Score is the single best resource for the art of score keeping. Dickson’s beginning premise is that scoring offers a closer involvement with a baseball game and provides an unequaled understanding and appreciation. Nothing else stimulates attention to the details and subtleties of the game’s movement. Nothing else cements such vivid memory and sentiment.

The Joy of Keeping Score provides basic and advanced systems of score keeping, detailing infinite potential notations to describe every field event, whether offensive or defensive. My own personal scoring notations were drawn from several different suggested schemes in the book. Dickson encourages creativity and eccentricity, explaining that each score card should be a personal creation, but one that any true fan and score keeper could decipher. He applauds marginalia listing the duration of the game, weather conditions, or notations regarding remarkable plays. Whatever technique draws the fan into the game and makes them a part of the action; whatever delivers the game to the fan in a way that it can never belong to the player or manager.

But more than just a dry manual, The Joy of Keeping Score also provides a lively treatise on the development and history of both the game and the art of the statistic. For example, did you know that a putout is credited to the catcher, not the pitcher, for a strikeout? And speaking of strikeouts, have you ever wondered where the backwards K originated? Henry Chadwick, also the developer of the box scoring system and the publisher of the first baseball scorecard, developed the symbol in the late 1800s. Do you know how the backwards K differs from the regular K in meaning? Read the book for that answer. The book reproduces famous scorecards, including one from the day that The Babe called his home run; one from the 1951 Giants-Dodgers game, with Thompson’s “shot heard round the world;” and one from the longest game ever played, a 1981 Rochester Red Wings-Pawtucket Red Sox AAA game, featuring Cal Ripken, Jr., and Wade Boggs, that lasted 33 innings over 8 hours. Other memorabilia and photographs are also reproduced, identifying the unifying thread of history and sentiment that runs from the earliest scrimmages of “town ball” to last year’s San Francisco Giants World Championship.

Dickson’s book will resonate with any true fan of the game, whether a score keeper or not. If you’ve never scored a game, use The Joy of Score Keeping to outline a beginning foray into the world of the statistic; you may get hooked on the sense of belonging that keeping up with the minutiae of the game brings. If you’re a pro, I’ll wager that you learn something and add some new technique to your scoring system. In either case, reading Dickson’s book will make spring and the new season come alive for you.

5 bones!!!!!

A new addition to the all-time favorite list!

Per Mac's request... :)

This one's my latest ER win.

The Summer of Shadows: a Murder, a Pennant Race, and the Twilight of the Best Location in the Nation by knightjonathan::Jonathan Knight

In 1954, Cleveland, Ohio, billed itself as the "Best Location in the Nation". Just a decade or so later the city became known as the "Mistake by the Lake" when changing times, a changing economy all fed a downhill slide to make Cleveland the butt of late night comedians' jokes, especially after the polluted river flowing through town caught fire. But back in 1954, things were still looking good. The Indians were playing great baseball - with the potential for actually beating the Yankees for the American League pennant after several near-miss years.

Then Dr. Sam Sheppard woke up to find his wife brutally murdered, with a wild story of one or more intruders that not only killed Marilyn, but also beat him when he chased these shadowy figures down the beach outside their house. What happens next defines the term "media circus", leading to Sheppard's arrest and trial for the murder while the Indians have one of the best seasons in baseball history leading to one of the worst World Series defeats ever.

These two competing stories dominated Cleveland in 1954, and Jonathan Knight does a marvelous job of telling the story of the summer. His baseball writing is spectacular and it's clear he knows the city well. His coverage of the Sheppard case was less detailed than I'd hoped. After all, this case is infamous for poor treatment of the accused doctor - if, of course, you believe he didn't do it. It's also one of those cases that never really got solved, theories abound as to who actually committed the horrible crime, and it's become part of American culture by inspiring (even if unintentionally) a TV series and movie. With more on Sheppard, this would have been darned near perfect. As it is, it's still a good book, although probably appreciated better by baseball fans.

Great review of Summer of Shadows, Jim! I got that one, too, and will be starting it probably as soon as I finish the Satchel Paige biography I'm reading. (I MUST finish that, as it's an inter-library loan, and due back Friday!)

Yesterday I downloaded the audiobook of Murder at Wrigley Field from the library to listen to when I can't have a book in my hands (like in the car and while doing housework).

ETA spelling

I've started Ball Four but I'm not too far into it yet.

I also received a message that The Joy of Keeping Score is in for me via ILL at the library so I might switch over to that.

I was able to get a copy of The Joy of Keeping Score at the library. I found it to be a very engaging book, even though I'm not someone who scores baseball games. Dickson's book was informative without being dry. He definitely stressed the "joy" of scorekeeping, giving the hows and whys along with some great pictures, including historical scorecards and some equally great baseball stories. Having recently finished a book on the Philadelphia Athletics, I was very pleased to see Connie Mack and his scorecard on the cover of my edition of The Joy of Keeping Score. I also enjoyed the information on President Coolidge's wife, Grace, and her interest in keeping score at the ballgames, despite her husband's relative lack of interest. As a former librarian, I appreciate a good bibligraphy and Mr. Dickson's book has one. I don't know that this book will make me rush out to begin scoring baseball games, but it did give me a greater appreciation for those, like my husband, who do.

#26 I picked that one up at the library today and I'm about a third of the way through it. It is NOT making me rush out to score games either. (I guess I haven't gotten to the joy part yet.) It has its moments but, if it weren't a choice here, I likely would've set it aside to read something better.

One good thing is that it's not much over 100 pages, including a lot of pictures so at least I'm not spending a lot of time on it.

I think I've read another book or two by that author (need to check) and enjoyed those other ones more.

ETA: I finished it last night. Not my favorite baseball book. The historic timeline of scoring rules (towards the end) was somewhat interesting but, to me, the rest of it wasn't all that interesting.

I started Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss last night, and I should finish it by tomorrow. BTW, weejane (Brit) read this during this weekend's Mega-Readathon.

Looking forward to your comments on the Clemente book, kidzdoc. By the way, Holiday pitched 4 perfect innings in his spring start.....of course, The Freak struck out 7 in 3 2/3 innnings in his last spring start. Everyone is talking about the Phillie's rotation, but they seem to forget that my Giants handled each and every one of them pretty well during the post-season last year. :)

Started Jim Bouton's Ball Four, and it is very enjoyable so far.

#29 I started the Bouton book, too, but got distracted.

Just read in the NYT that Greg Goossen just died. One obit I saw called him a "Ball Four character."

While I will probably not participate in this readathon myself, my dad is a die-hard baseball fan and statistician. I like to get him baseball books from time to time, so this is a great source list!

Thanks!

V

Will do, Mac.

The Phillies did re-sign Cliff Lee this year, so their first four starters are Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels, and Cliff Lee. This has to be one of the most formidable lineups I've seen in years, maybe since the Oakland A's of the mid 1970s or the 1970(?) Baltimore Orioles team of my childhood that featured four 20 game winners (let's see...Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar, and...um, {checking Wikipedia}, oh yeah, Pat Dobson). Actually it was the 1971 Orioles team that accomplished this feat. That's right...the O's lost to the Pirates that year, and Clemente was the MVP of the Series (I remember that season; I was 10 years old and a huge baseball fan).

I suppose everyone has heard that the Duke of Flatbush, Duke Snider of the Brooklyn Dodgers, passed away last week. If I had three wishes, one of them would be to see a game at Ebbets Field with my father (who was a huge Dodgers fan before they left Brooklyn), and watch Jackie Robinson, the Duke, Campy, Pee Wee Reese, and others play in a World Series game against the Yankees.

The Giants took care of Lee, too!!! The Giants were 5-2 with that group of starters you have there. they are hittable and beatable!!! Even by the worst hitting team in the Bigs.

If you haven't read Roger Kahn's The Boys of Summer, kidzdoc, you should. Captures that group of Dodgers wonderfully.

Mac, as per your suggestion, I'm posting my entire review of Satchel here:

Satchel: the life and times of an American legend by Larry Tye

Admittedly, Larry Tye had a difficult task in writing a biography of Satchel Paige. While on the one hand, the subject himself is so fascinating that instant interest is generated, it's difficult to pin down many facts of the man's life and career. The old "Negro League Baseball" didn't keep the kinds of statistics MLB did; and Satchel Paige did a lot of barnstorming baseball, of which there are even fewer records. And then, the man was a bit of a yarn spinner himself, frequently embelishing some aspects of his life, and creating mystery around others. He was one of those rare persons whose first name (or, rather, nickname) creates immediate recognition in many listeners. But few people really knew him; he was, at heart, a loner. He was a complex character who refused to be "owned" by any team in an era long before baseball had heard of the concept of free agency. He was no saint; he spent big, bigger than he could afford to; at one point, he was apparently a bigamist. He was larger than life and possibly more talented than any baseball pitcher who walked the planet.

I think Tye does a pretty good job with this book, all things considered. There were times when I got confused about the "when" of some things, as he didn't keep to a strict chronological order. There were times when I felt the writing dragged a bit, that he repeated certain information too often.

The main things I walk away with are a sense of how awesome Satchel Paige's talent truly was, and wonderment that he could pitch so well so long, and dismay at how bigotry denied this man the kind of career he should have had, both in his prime days as a player and in later years when his baseball knowledge could have nurtured young players through coaching.

Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss

Roberto Clemente (1934-1972), the first Latino superstar of professional baseball played in the United States, was elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame soon after his tragic death in a dangerous and overloaded airplane on the last day of the year, en route to bringing earthquake relief supplies from Puerto Rico to Nicaragua. Clemente died as he lived, a man who passionately loved his countrymen and fellow Latinos regardless of their skin color, particularly those who didn't have the opportunities he did.

He was in the twilight of his career at the end of the 1972 season, having collected his 3,000th hit on his last at bat as a Pittsburgh Pirate, an accomplishment that only 10 other men had achieved before him. He was finally at peace with himself, after suffering innumerable slights and insults throughout his career, by managers and fellow players who didn't understand or appreciate him, racial segregation and deplorable living conditions during spring training in Florida, and sportswriters who twisted and phoneticized his Spanish-flavored words in demeaning and hurtful articles. He led the Pirates to two World Series, and was respected and feared as one of the most dangerous clutch hitters in baseball, who ran as if he was being chased by demons and threw out runners regularly from his right field position due to a strong and deadly accurate arm. A complex man who wore his emotions on his sleeves, he would regularly berate and harangue reporters for seemingly innocent questions, yet he would routinely sign autographs for his fans long after his teammates had left the ballpark, and gave freely of himself to anyone he could help, including the poor of San Juan and surrounding towns in Puerto Rico and fans who he embraced and treated as if they were his own family.

Clemente spent his winters playing in Puerto Rico and throughout the Caribbean and Latin America while other major leaguers were resting, to give back to those Latinos who could not see him play in Pittsburgh, and to honor the Latino players that came before him but could not display their talents in the United States, due to their skin color or language barrier. He worshiped his wife, children and parents above all else, and never forgot or forsake his roots as a kid growing up in a poor town outside of San Juan. He was beloved by fans of all races and backgrounds throughout the United States, for his skill, passion for the game, and the love he gave to every fan that supported him. (As a side note, he was one of my favorite players as a kid, along with Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Bob Gibson, and my friends and I would routinely mimic the neck stretches he did before every at bat.)

David Maraniss does an excellent job in honoring and fully describing Roberto Clemente, a complicated and imperfect man who continues to be viewed as a hero in Puerto Rico, other countries in Latin America, and the city of Pittsburgh, as a pioneer who overcome physical pain and personal strife to become one of baseball's greatest and most beloved figures. However, the book was overly repetitive and about 50-100 pages too long, which diluted its impact somewhat. Despite this, I would highly recommend this book, certainly to baseball fans but also to anyone who would enjoy a well written biography about an influential and beloved man.

#35 Thanks, Darryl. I've got newish, lengthy bios of Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays on my list and I'll add this one, too (though I know it's not that new).

I can't believe I just found this thread! I am such a baseball nut! I sat in on a Baseball in Literature class last spring and read so many good books and short stories. Kidzdoc is right, this past weekend I finished Clemente and would generally agree with his very nice review.

While I don't have any baseball books lined up for right now, I will definitely be putting The Joy of Keeping Score on my TBR list.

The Boys of Summer is an excellent book and I would highly recommend that to anyone. So is the memoir Wait 'Til Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

#36: You're welcome, Linda. The Clemente biography is not that old (2007), either. I should get the Hank Aaron biography soon, since he's a local celebrity here, and I'm definitely interested in the new Mantle and Mays biographies, as well at the Satchel Paige bio.

#37: Thanks, Brit. I'm not sure that I'll get to The Boys of Summer by the end of spring training, but I'll definitely read it by this summer. I'm pretty sure that I have Wait 'Til Next Year, although it isn't in my LT library.

Wait 'til Next Year almost made the list this year. It will be there next year for Spring Training 2012.

kidzdo, great review of the Clemente book.

I saw my first spring training game ever on Wednesday; Giants vs. White Sox. Giants had nearly the entire regular starting lineup from the World Series run - Torres, Sanchez, Huff, Posey, Burrell, Ross. Sandoval was in there, looking very trim and spry! Tejada added to the lineup looked great in the field and seems to be seeing the ball at the plate pretty well. Zito, the only Giant I wish would go away pitched 5 scoreless innings. Too bad they're not paying him for scoreless innings in spring. For the White Sox I got to see Jake Peavy pitch and Adam Dunn hit a 500' home run literally out of the park. Wow! Giants won 4-2. Great fun.

Will be posting a review on Ball Four here in the next few days.

Looking forward to the Ball Four review. I'm in the middle of a reread. Ball Four was my first baseball book. Found it when I was a teenager, picked it up and couldn't put it down.

So we're going to wait 'til next year for Wait 'til Next Year, Mac? I have it on the shelf -- if you promise to put it on the list next year, I'll wait until then, too!

I finished 2 titles today, both baseball related.

1. Summer of Shadows, by Jonathan Knight (ER copy): I did enjoy this book weaving together the Cleveland Indians' 1954 pennant race and that summer's Sam Shepherd murder case, also in Cleveland. I have some quibbles with the structure. Review posted in work's page: http://www.librarything.com/work/10742036

2. Murder at Wrigley Field by Troy Soos (audiobook): This was an enjoyable mystery. There was a lot of historical detail about what was going on in American society during WWI, and some good baseball storytelling. Mystery plot felt a little convoluted.

Now I've started reading Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball by Barbara Gregorich. Very interesting!

Ball Four by Jim Bouton
Non-Fiction
Baseball

My Review on the book's home page:

The knuckleball is known for its erratic, unpredictable motion. Likely developed by Eddie Cicotte, one of the famous Chicago Black Sox, the pitch is thrown in an effort to reduce spin and cause the ball to change flight or corkscrew. And the hurlers who throw the knuckler for their primary pitch often become known for a personality that matches the ball’s flight.

Jim Bouton started his major league career pitching for the New York Yankees during their 1962 World Series year, and won 39 games over the following two seasons. By 1968, Bouton found himself pitching for the Seattle Angels, a farm club for the expansion Seattle Pilots. Part of the reason Bouton was in the minors was because he’d lost the velocity on his fastball. But he was also down because of his colorful and sometimes antagonistic personality. In an attempt to revive his career, he began pitching the knuckleball. Like other knucklers before him, Bouton found himself singled out as an oddity, a rugged individualist, by managers and players alike. But the effectiveness of the pitch gave him a new career and a trade to the Houston Astros to finish out the 1968 season.

Banished and struggling for a spot in the show with the Seattle Pilots at the beginning of the 1968 season, Bouton began recording his experiences on a tape recorder each evening. The running diary of the season covers the dramatic ups and downs, as well as the madcap behind-the-curtain antics, of baseball players. After the publication of the book, Bouton was unofficially excluded from baseball. Whether Bouton’s persona non grata status was declared because of the unflattering picture he painted of baseball owners and managers, or because of the debauched player lifestyle he described, or because of his own controversial politics and personality, is unclear.

Whether you enjoy Bouton’s tell-all book depends largely on why you decide to read it. For the true baseball fanatic, the book is filled with knowledge on the mechanics and play of the game. Unvarnished stories about famous players, like a whiny Lou Pinella or a crotchety Ralph Houk, permeate the pages. The baseball historian will enjoy the ins and outs of the expansion of the league and the pennant races of the season. For the biography lover or social historian, there is a lot of subtle commentary on the tumultuous times, usually gleaned from reading between the lines.

Perhaps the largest criticism of the book is that Bouton’s diary seems too infused with quirky baseball quips and anecdotes and too devoid of the world outside of baseball in 1968. With race riots and war demonstrations and an ever-growing chasm between the old and new generations, the book could have chronicled more than just baseball player’s Herculean efforts to look up women’s skirts. Late in the books, Bouton includes a parenthetical reference to his own controversial work with the American Committee on Africa, a group working to keep South Africa out of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. The teasing reference indicated Bouton was a much more thoughtful and passionate person than he allowed in his diaries. More of that part of his personality and life would have made for a more balanced and interesting book.

Bottom Line: A fun book to read for the baseball fan, if a little redundant and shallow at times.

3 ½ bones!!!


Knuckleball quotes from Wikipedia:
• "They say you don't want to have a knuckleballer pitching for you or against you" - Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, quoted in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 4, 1987.
• "I always thought the knuckleball was the easiest pitch to catch. Wait'll it stops rolling, then go to the backstop and pick it up." ― broadcaster and former catcher Bob Uecker
• "You don't catch a knuckleball, you defend against it." ― Retired Dodgers manager and former catcher Joe Torre
• "Trying to hit against Phil Niekro is like trying to eat Jell-O with chopsticks". ― All-star outfielder Bobby Murcer
• "I never worry about it. I just take my three swings and go sit on the bench. I'm afraid if I ever think about hitting it, I'll mess up my swing for life." ― All-star first baseman Dick Allen
• "There are two theories on hitting a knuckleball. Unfortunately, neither of them works." ― famed hitting coach Charlie Lau
• "You know, catching the knuckleball, it's like trying to catch a fly with a chopstick." ― All-star and Gold Glove catcher Jason Varitek
• "If it's high, let it fly. If it's low, let it go." ―Common saying describing how to approach hitting the knuckleball.
• "Throwing a knuckleball for a strike is like throwing a butterfly with hiccups across the street into your neighbor's mailbox." ― Hall of Famer Willie Stargell
• "For a knuckleballer, a pitch count of 150 is not a problem. Unless it's the first inning." ― Dave Clark, author of The Knucklebook
• "Like some cult religion that barely survives, there has always been at least one but rarely more than five or six devotees throwing the knuckleball in the big leagues... Not only can't pitchers control it, hitters can't hit it, catchers can't catch it, coaches can't coach it, and most pitchers can't learn it. The perfect pitch." ― Ron Luciano, former AL umpire
• "Hitting Niekro's knuckleball is like eating soup with a fork." ― Richie Hebner
• "You're not expected to hit it. I am expected to catch it." ― John Flaherty summing up his day catching Tim Wakefield in a spring training game against the Twins by relaying a comment made by fellow catcher Mike Redmond. Flaherty retired the next day.
• "Knuckleballs suck." ― Geno Petralli after giving up four passed balls in one inning

Love all the knuckleball quotes, and nice review!
--BJ

Liked your review. It might be that some of the appeal of Ball Four when it first came out was the opportunity to escape for a little while the turmoil of the world outside of baseball in 1968, while at the same time getting a more realistic picture of the baseball world.

FYI You might want to check out Ball Four: The Final Pitch. It includes pictures of the Pilots, Astros and Yankees of the time and updates from the later editions of the book. Nice matching names with pictures and getting updates on Bouton's life since then.

Superb review of Ball Four, Mac! I'll definitely add it to my wish list.

billiejean, I couldn't leave those quotes out; they made me laugh aloud in front of the computer.

cbfiske, I am on the lookout for Ball Four: The Final Pitch as I wanted to see what Bouton had to add or comment about further. Are there pictures of the Pilots uniforms; they were described in the book and sounded awful.

Thanks, kidzdoc....you're a true fan and will like the book.

Thanks, Mac.

BTW, there are several photos of the Pilots' uniforms here, including ones from the 1969 season and from later 'Turn Back the Clock' games. I remember those unis from the 1969 season; I was 8 years old then, and an avid baseball card collector. They should be permanently banned.

I only just saw this, but I might manage to read Fair Ball before April 1. I've already read Ball Four and loved it!

One other spring-training specific recommendation: Spring Training by William Zinsser. I think it's not as well known because Zinsser isn't a sportswriter, but it's a wonderful book.

I picked up copy of The Baseball Code at the library the other day. It purports to be about the unwritten rules of baseball and consequences for ignoring them. Should be lots of stories about bench-clearing brawls! :)

#43 Great review of the Bouton book.

Last night, I started Under the March Sun: The Story of Spring Training by Charles Fountain. I'm about 20 percent into it and, so far, it seems more like a history of spring training than anything else. Very interesting.

Popular belief, though it's not quite accurate, attributes the first spring training to Cap Anson in 1885 when he took his team to Hot Springs, Arkansas in order to burn off the wintertime alcohol they drank. Apparently, they reported "looking like aldermen." Until John McGraw came along, spring training was more of a calisthenics/medicine ball-type routine.

Murder at Wrigley Field by Troy Soos
Fiction
Mystery
Baseball

My Review on the book's home page:

Whenever I begin to think that the world has reached new levels of hatred and intolerance, I read something that reminds me that “there is nothing new under the sun.”

Mickey Rawlings is a struggling baseball player, one of the old boys of the early twentieth century. Having finally secured a daily playing spot at second base for the Chicago Cubs, he’s hitting a career high and reveling in all of the perks of being in the show. But his success is largely based on the weaker pool of talent in the majors due to the war that is on, the War to End All Wars. Players are enlisting out of patriotism or fear, while others are awaiting the Secretary of War’s decision on whether to shut the game down for the season. In Chicago, anyone suspected of German heritage is in danger; speaking German is forbidden by law, as is playing Beethoven or Bach. Ballgames begin with parade drills, ball players marching in formation and using their bats as a substitute for rifles. Then, on the Fourth of July, Mickey’s road roommate and double play partner, Willie Kaiser, is gunned down on the field by a sniper. Some suspect the murder was motivated by hate, because of the young shortstop’s German name and ancestry. Some suspect sabotage, as the Cubs owners are all angling for a larger share of the team. Whatever the motive, Mickey is dedicated to finding the killer, even if it means losing his spot on the team.

Soos penned a solid murder mystery, noirish without the edge of constant gunplay. But the real strength of Murder at Wrigley Field is the historical picture of World War I America and baseball in the early twentieth century. The detail in describing the tone and feeling of Chicago and the rest of the country as the United States slowly entered the war is remarkable, second only to Soos’ care in detailing the ins and outs of the game of baseball, its contraction and expansion with new leagues and teams. Anyone with even a slight interest in the history of baseball will be amazed. For example, Wrigley Field was originally Weeghman Park, a field for the Federal League Whales, until Wrigley bought up a controlling interest and renamed the park. How many of you have even heard of the Federal League? Another example is that one of the Baltimore Orioles franchises, and there have been several, eventually became the New York Yankees. Some of the criticism of the book finds all of the detail, especially as it is woven into the mystery, convoluting. But I found the baseball and historical knowledge Soos uses to tell his story lends a credibility that often escapes mystery fiction.

Post-9/11 America often lapses into intolerance and hate. The recent Congressional hearings are a prime example of how good intention can often be twisted for political gain in the name of patriotism. But while reading Murder at Wrigley Field, I found it somewhat comforting to remember that this country has worked through such misunderstanding and xenophobia before; perhaps not to perfection but still worked through. The book is just a murder mystery, but the history is real.

Bottom Line: A solid noir-lite murder mystery with extremely strong roots in the historical context of the early twentieth century and early baseball.

4 bones!!!!

Whenever I begin to think that the world has reached new levels of hatred and intolerance, I read something that reminds me that “there is nothing new under the sun.”

Isn't that the truth! I really liked how Soos wove the historical context into the fabric of the mystery.

#47 blackdogbooks - no color pictures of Seattle Pilots uniforms in Ball Four: The Final Pitch. The pictures, for the most part, seem to be head shots taken from bubblegum cards. Pictures of coaches and managers are included as well. The updates in Final Pitch are definitely worth the read. I'm the kind of person who likes to know what happened next. I got Ball Four: The Final Pitch at my library.

#52 Thanks for your review and thank you for introducing me to Troy Soos' work. I loved the blend of history, mystery and baseball. My son, who's a Junior in High School, was learning about World War I while I was reading and his class was discussing some of the same issues raised in this book. I will make sure to look for more of Mr. Soos' work.

Troy has written a number of these baseball mysteries. Lately, though, he's been writing only his other historical series.

I got to know him a bit when I emailed to point out an error (turns out it wasn't an error and his meticulous research and ability to defend it made me like the books even more).

He is a member of SABR and is (or was), I believe, a physicist. He's also got a nonfiction book out about the Boston Red Sox. Before the Curse.

I met him a couple of times at mystery conferences and once, when he did a booksigning here in Chicagoland. Great guy.

NPR's 'Fresh Air' broadcast a story last week about a recently published book about the early days of baseball, Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game by John Thorn. The transcript and a link to the video can be found at the link below:

The 'Secret History' Of Baseball's Earliest Days

I just finished Women at Play: the story of women in baseball by Barbara Gregorich.

This book was a real eye-opener! I had no idea that so many women had played baseball -- not softball, but the real thing -- for over a century. I had heard of Amanda Clement, who umpired semi-pro ball in South Dakota beginning in 1904, because our library has a children's book about her. But I knew little about most of the women featured in this book, and their teams, and their league.

Author Barbara Gregorich does a fine job of introducing the reader to baseball's women pioneers. The book is divided into sections corresponding to the different eras of women's baseball. In each section, there are chapters about individual players (and umpires) of note, and about women's teams.

From the "Bloomer teams" of the early 20th century, to the women of the AAGBL (featured in the movie "A League of Her Own"), the books shows us that countless women have played baseball with skill and dedication, the best of them demonstrating ability comparable to many male pro baseball players.

Of course, Gregorich reminds us, playing baseball is one thing; having access to playing in the Major Leagues -- or MLB's minor leagues -- is another thing. For many years Major League Baseball kept African-Americans out of baseball with a "gentlemen's agreement" that was never put into writing. But as of the time this book was written (1993), there was actually a WRITTEN piece of the baseball regulations PROHIBITING the hiring of women as players, even in the minor leagues. (On occasions when minor league teams tried to defy it and sign a woman player, the contracts were voided by the Commissioner of Baseball himself.) Of course, I remember the battle to allow girls into Little League, and read some articles about women fighting to umpire in the major leagues. But this book spells out the many levels the fight has taken over the years -- Little League, high school, and college levels -- and gives us a glimpse of the overt hostility so many of the powers-that-be and rank-and-file players in the "national pastime" have expressed toward women in their game.

Gregorich also lets us know about those sympathetic to the women atheletes' cause -- people like Henry Aaron, the great slugger who insisted that women could and would, someday, play in the big leagues; former Atlanta Braves executive Bob Hope (not the comedian) who tried to organize a minor league franchise of women players (blocked by the higher-ups); and others who have championed the cause of women with genuine baseball talent and skills.

I would like to read an "update" as to how women have fared in the almost 20 years since this book was written. I daresay author Barbara Gregorich, who clearly hoped that women would be in the majors by now, must be disappointed in whatever progress women have made.

A thought-provoking book.

Under the March Sun: The Story of Spring Training by Charles Fountain
3 stars

This one starts out exceptionally well, talking about the early days of spring training. Cap Anson took his players to Hot Springs, Arkansas in the 1880s for steaming out winter alcohol because they reported "looking like aldermen." Later, under John McGraw, players started doing more drills, not just calisthenics and medicine ball work. Not too much later, all the teams were holding spring training in warmer climes, interrupted only by World War 2, when teams trained closer to home. (The Cubs went to French Lick, Indiana.)

The author also delves into the discrimination that black players faced in Florida.

Then, the book suddenly shifts from baseball to business talking, ad nauseam, about teams and Florida towns and their dealmaking. It really got tedious. I heard more about political maneuvering than I'd care to read about in a baseball book. The only thing certain about spring training is its inpermanence.

Not one of the better baseball books I've read, I'm afraid.

For Love of the Game by Michael Shaara

When I learned that Michael Shaara's last novel, For Love of the Game, was a baseball story, I knew I had to get my hands on a copy. The Killer Angels is one of those rare books I rate at 5 stars; I love it. This short (161 pages) baseball story, published after the author's death, is not in the same league (pardon the pun) as his Pulitzer Prize winner about Gettysburg. And it is very different in style. But in the end, I enjoyed most of it.

What goes on in the mind of a gtifted baseball pitcher during the course of a game? Welcome to 24+ hours in the life of aging major league pitcher Billy Chapel. Follow the stream of his thoughts from one evening to the next -- from the visiting team's hotel to the baseball diamond and through the course of an important game and its aftermath.

I liked the parts of this book that focused on baseball. The problem is that the other main storyline, if you want to call it that, was about Billy's relationship with a woman named Carol -- a woman the reader actually meets only briefly, one we get to know mostly from Billy's thoughts. I didn't like Carol -- she seemed two dimensional and not particularly likeable -- and therefore I really didn't enjoy parts of the story dealing with her.

I also found the style -- pretty much Billy's stram of consciousness, and therefore rather abrupt and disjointed -- a bit off-putting at first. But the baseball writing grabbed me in the end, even drawing tears at one point.

I'm not sure how to rate this. I think I'm giving it 3.75 stars.

ETA fix typo

#59 - I didn't know that was a book. I had seen the movie in college and thought it sounded interesting, but it ended up being terrible. Your review of the book pretty much sums the movie as well.

Now I'm reading Worth the Wait: Tales of the 2008 Phillies by Jayson Stark.

The Natural by Bernard Malamud
Fiction
Baseball

My Review on the book's home page:

This is not Robert Redford’s Roy Hobbs. The Barry Levinson movie made from this novel bears little resemblance in tone to Malamud’s novel. Here, Hobbs is no hero; and the story is no sentimental and nostalgic ode to the old boys, to the game as everyone dreams that it once was. Tobacco juice and blood drip from the pages; every line is penned on heavy wool flannel, stiff and coarse, worrying the reader’s skin into a sore.

Roy Hobbs possessed a rare talent that every sand-lot urchin dreams of: The ability to hurl a fist-sized sphere, covered in raw-hide, faster and harder than anyone alive. On a train ride to try out with the Chicago Cubs, traveling with a broken-down, alcoholic scout, the hayseed Hobbs meets a dark woman who will rob him of his talent and dreams. After watching Hobbs strike out the home-run belting, league Most Valuable Player on three pitches, she shoots Roy in the stomach as an object lesson in vanity. Many years later, Roy finally makes it to the big leagues, playing for the New York Knights, this time as a power hitter rather than a pitcher. But the passage of time and Roy’s suffering did not overcome his pride, only shoved it deeper into his soul where it festered. Faced with a gambler and a cheap, under-handed owner trying to corrupt him, Roy is blind to everything but his own ambition to prove that he’s the best and deserves the best. In his blindness, he destroys the truly special thing he has to offer: the ability to inspire people’s faith in one another, to expect the best of one another.

Even fans of the movie can find much in Malamud’s novel that is new and thought-provoking. Where Levinson created a quiet fairy tale about perseverance and uncompromising faith, Malamud created a morality tale awash in ambiguity. Malamud’s Hobbs is raw and ambitious, loyal to no one and nothing but his own voracious appetite. Malamud’s ‘woman in the stands’ is not someone Roy knows from his youth, not someone he once loved and cared for, but a simple woman with a dark past who finds hope in Roy and purpose in her belief in him. And Malamud doesn’t allow Roy to easily fall into her life but uses the woman to elicit the darkest of Roy’s selfishness.

If you’re one of those fans who can only see the pure and uncomplicated beauty of the old game, separate from any negative or unwholesome influence, Malamud’s novel is not for you – stick with the movie where good triumphs over evil in the hero’s final sacrifice. But if you enjoy reading about complicated and messy people, struggling to figure their way through life, Malamud’s your game.

Bottom Line: A much more complicated and ambiguous look at old-time baseball than the movie made from the story; and a much more complicated look into a soul afflicted with a fatal pride.

4 ½ bones!!!!!

Mac suggested I post this here - I hadn't really been following the thread, but saw The Joy of Keeping Score on his thread:

Do you know little about keeping score in baseball, but love the history of the sport? Do you keep score in the stands, watching TV, or listening to the radio? This book has something to offer for each. Beginning with chapters on basic score keeping and more advanced techniques, then moving into a quirky alphabetical list of fun facts, score keeping in French, presidential score keeping and more, Dickson's fifteen-year-old homage to the history and technique of keeping score still has plenty of interesting tidbits for today's fan.

When my brothers were in Little League, my dad first taught me to keep score. I think he may have done this partly to give me something to do and keep me from asking him what inning it was and what the score was. In fact, after I started keeping my "unofficial" score book in the stands, the mothers started asking me. The review by blackdogbooks inspired me to pick this book up; I thought it would be the perfect quirky book to get me geared up for baseball season (last year I read a book on umpiring; I seem to have a trend going here). In only a little over 100 pages, I added a few notations to my score keeping arsenal and learned a bit about baseball statistics and history while I was at it (my favorite anecdote involved presidential score keeping). I'm definitely passing along a recommendation to my father.

Though it's a little late to be adding recommendations if everyone is stopping on April 1, last year I read As They See 'Em, about major league umpiring, and really enjoyed that as well.

I just finished Worth the Wait: Tales of the 2008 Phillies by Jayson Stark

I loved this account of the 2008 Phillies by ESPN.com writer and lifelong Philadelphian Jayson Stark. His quirky sense of humor was perfect for relating the story of the long-suffering Philadelphia baseball franchise and the city's snake-bitten sports fans. At the time the Phillies won this World Series, the city of Philadelphia had gone longer between major sports championships than any other city with teams in all four major pro sports leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL) -- 25 years, since the 82-83 Philadelphia '76ers basketball team. The Phillies had won their only previous world championship in 1980.

OK, maybe he wore out the "long-suffering Philadelpha" theme, but anyone who has gone through life as a fan of the Phillies -- the first team in MLB history to reach the 10,000 loss mark -- can resonate with that.

This book started out as a collection of Stark's ESPN.com columns about the 2008 Phillies team. But they have been re-written significantly, and bunches of delightfully offbeat statistics have been added.

Stark gives us glimpses of the team at pivotal points in the regular season. Then he does a day-by-day account of the divisional series, League Championship series, and World Series. At the end of each game's account, he includes a complete box score and a page of "Useless Information" -- the kind of oddball statistics guaranteed to delight any stat rat.

I really enjoyed this book. I'd recommend it to any Phillies fan, and I think most baseball fans could appreciate it.

#62 Loved your review, blackdogbooks. Thanks for including The Natural in this year's read. I had seen the movie, but had never read Bernard Malamud's book before this. I really enjoyed the way Mr. Malamud used words and will now have to pick up more of his writing. By the way, did you know that the shooting in the book was based on a real baseball incident? The player shot was Eddie Waitkus in 1949.

#64 Thanks for your review, tymfos. I'm a Phillies fan and will have to pick this one up.
My Mom, who loved the 1950 Whiz Kids, started me following the Phillies. She particularly can relate to the "long-suffering Philadelphia" theme.

#63 Thanks for your recommendation of As They See 'Em. I haven't read much about umpiring, so I'll have to keep my eyes open for this one.

blackdogbooks, I'm hoping you organize this Spring Training reading again for next year. I've really enjoyed it and am looking forward to your review of Bob Costas' book. I'd like to recommend for consideration for next year The Glory of Their Times by Lawrence S. Ritter. This books tells, in their own words, the stories of players who played in the first few decades of the twentieth century. It is one of my favorites.

My one complaint about the Stark book about the Phillies -- I probably should add this to my review -- is that I feel he downplayed the significance of that first 1980 world championship. I was still living near Philadelphia at that time, so that was "my" Phillies team more than the 2008 group, so I took that a little personally.

Now I've got to get hold of a book about the 1980 Phillies. I found one with enthusiastic reviews on Amazon -- You Can't Lose 'Em All: The Year the Phillies Finally Won the World Series by Frank Fitzpatrick.

A friend just gave me a copy of You Can't Lose 'Em All which I'm looking forward to reading. I was in college near Philadelphia when they won, so I can relate. Larry Bowa was my favorite player on that team.

Bowa was my favorite, too.

One of my prize posessions is a souvenir baseball from a game at Veterans Stadium in 1979. Mike Schmidt was fouling off pitches, hanging tough in an early-inning at-bat, and one of the baseballs literally landed at my feet. (I have a photo of the ball at the top of my thread.)

Thanks for the story, tymfos. I just raced to your thread to admire the ball photo. Also, nice to meet another Larry Bowa fan. Did you know that Nick Johnson, who has played for the Yankees and the Nationals, is Larry Bowa's nephew?

70 I did not know that! Cool!

Just a few comments on my reading of Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball by Bob Costas before March is over and the Season begins. I didn't love this book, but I did like it and found that Bob Costas did have some interesting things to say. The section on baseball finances got a little long for me and I felt that it was repetitive, but the section on ideas for team realignment I found very good. I also liked the "loose ends" chapter which discussed some topics worth discussing. I found admirable the fact that proceeds from this book would go to support Baseball Assistance Team. A good effort by Mr. Costas.

Thank you, blackdogbooks, for organizing this read and I'm looking forward to next year.

Your welcome, cbfiske. My reveiw of Fair Ball will be up in a bit. I am taking the day off from work and watching opening day baseball.

I will be wearing my Yankees Hater hat for the first game, rooting for the Tigers, while checking in on the Braves v. Nationals, as I chose Uggla and Chipper for my fantasy team. And then I'll probably watch the Padres v. Cardinals game. And then watch the Giants tonight. The wife and I even bought hot dogs and beer for the evening game.

Starting the morning off by re-watching The Natural and writing the review for Fair Ball.

Enjoy your day! Sounds like a good one.

I'm also taking today off to watch the ballgames today and then going to the Cubs Opener at Wrigley tomorrow.

I've snagged an advanced copy of the new Tim Wakefield book autobiography, and am starting that (since I'm obligated to do a review).

#74 - You mean you'll be watching the Dodgers game, right? ; ) Sorry, I'm a Dodgers fan. I'll be watching the game once I get home from work and am actually planning to keep score. Should be a great game.

I only had a chance to read two of the books since my wife gave birth to my baby daughter early in the month...been pretty busy between helping with the baby, coaching Little League baseball, and helping run the baseball league. I did get to finish The Joy of Keeping Score and The Natural before the baby was born. I will probably still read Fair Ball even though the season is starting.

Go Dodgers!

I'll forgive you, burgesk, for being misguided in such a deep way. No, I will be watching the World Champion San Francisco Giants game tonight!

Go Giants!!!!

Book #12, Fair Ball: A Fan’s Case for Baseball by Bob Costas

My Review on the book's home page:

Bob Costas should have named his treatise on the ills of the baseball, “A Serious and Detail-Oriented Fan’s Case for Baseball.” Not to say that the casual, a-few-games-a-year-and-only-when-my-favorite-team-is-playing-on-Saturday-afternoon fan won’t find something in the book. But Costas’ real appeal is for the everyday, box-scores-in-the-morning, I-know-what’s-wrong-with-the-game fan.

The set-up is the horrible third game of the 1997 World Series, Indians vs. Marlins. The Indians that year posted only the ninth-best regular-season record, barely over .500, and the Marlins were the wild card team. They battled past midnight on a freezing and snowy evening, trading errors and the lead, until Bob Uecker remarked during a commercial break, “This games sucks!” And it did. The 1997 match-up, and the “no, you win” atmosphere for much of the games, evidenced an ailing game.

Costas starts his plan for the revival of the game by defining what kind of a fan he really is: more of a “Bull Durham” guy and less of a “Field of Dreams” guy. There are those, and I am probably one of them, who is more likely to view the game, as Costas puts it, as “a parable, a metaphor for life, a prism through which to view the culture.” We are enchanted with the game in a nostalgic, sentimental way, revering the purity and history of the game as inviolate. Costas views the game more as a competitive business and one that was then in danger of destroying itself after a work stoppage in 1993, needless tinkering with the game’s administration, and a fan base that was growing tired of greedy players and owners.

At the time of Costas’ writing in 2000, no team had reached the World Series that didn’t have one of the top ten payrolls. (While that’s changed in the last decade, the landscape that generated the inequality hasn’t.) Those payrolls were largely fed by uneven local broadcasting revenues generated by exclusive contracts. Costas suggests, among other things, comprehensive revenue sharing, allowing each team to keep half of its revenue, including local revenue, and then placing the other half in a national pool to be divided equally among all teams. The second piece of Costas’ solution is a player salary cap and a floor. We’ve seen a few recent players give up larger contracts to play for teams that appear to be more competitive (Mark McGwire and, most recently, Cliff Lee). But the norm is guys like Albert Pujols, who demand to set a new market high, simply because he can, not because he needs 200 million instead of 180 million to live on. The result is constantly and infinitely inflated payrolls for teams who have the resources and a barren wasteland for those who don’t.

There is further discussion of realignment, the wild card, and interleague play. For the most part, I agree with nearly everything Costas suggests, including the banishment of the DH. I mean come-on, the DH is not necessary any more. At the time it was instituted, the AL was a struggling league. Does anyone really believe the AL is still struggling? And the wild card, while it appears to add excitement, only weakens real pennant races, where a team like the NY Yankees can essentially quit in the last few weeks of the season to get their pitching rotation in order for the playoffs. Not to mention what the extra playoff rounds do to the length of the over-all season, a problem that Bud Selig has tried to remedy this year with an early Opening Day.

Costas’ book was refreshing and interesting for true baseball fans, even ones who might not have taken an interest in the nature and administration of the game before. If you’ve ever complained about players and their salaries, read this book. If you’ve ever complained about ticket prices at the ball-park or the constantly shifting and greedy nature of the baseball broadcast world, read this book. Let’s face it; fans like me will come back no matter what. If they play, we will watch. But the relationship between baseball teams, players and owners alike, could be better if the game were better structured. And while Costas doesn’t fancy himself a “Field of Dreams” guy, most of what he suggests would bring back much of the allure of the old boys and the old days of the game.

Bottom Line: A comprehensive and well-thought out plan for real baseball parity and revival. Highly recommended for serious fans; and cautiously recommended for the casual fan.

5 bones!!!!!

Watching the Yankess, rooting for the Tigers, of course. Wearing the Yankees Hater hat. You can get one here....

http://yankeeshater.com/

Ahhhh, Opening Day.

Thank you, Mac, for starting and hosting this wonderful Spring Training thread. I have enjoyed it immensely. Let's do it again next year.

I'm also looking forward to the Halloween read in October! :)

I just realized that, a while back I said my photo of my souvenir baseball was at the top of my thread . . . actually it was at the top of my 11 in 11 challenge thread, not my thread here in the 75 . . . oops! (I'm putting it at the top of my new 75 thread, though.)

#81 tymfos - I also found your souvenir baseball photo at the top of your first 75 Books Challenge for 2011 thread, just so you know.
I like the bigger picture at the top of your current 75 thread. Very nice.

Today is still technically Opening Day for many teams, there's 9 games. Had a rough day yesterday, with the Yankees winning and the Giants losing. Your Dodgers had a great game, burgesk. Kershaw is tough and our defense blew last night, though it was good to see The Freak pitching well.

Glad everyone enjoyed the Spring Training Read.....I promise to repeat this next year. Stay tuned for the Halloween Reading List!

82 Thanks! I didn't mean for the phot to be quite that large, but I guess I'll leave it that way.

#83 My teams -- the Phillies and the Pirates -- are opening today. The Phillies are losing to the Astros 4-2 in the 8th. The Pirates are down 2-0 to the Cubs. So my opening day may be as rough as yours, Mac!

#84: Yes, but the Fightin' Phils scored three runs in the ninth inning to win, 5-4. Go Phillies!

And, the Pirates beat the Cubs 6-3 (sorry, Linda).

As usual, the Cubs don't look too cold. It was cold but not unbearably so, except when the wind kicked up.

The end of the Phillies game was exciting! My heart! The Pirate comeback was less of a nail biter.