The sinister first baseman and other observations

A bunch of thoughtful essays on baseball topics, ranging from the Maris asterisk to the advantages (and disadvantages) of being left handed. While the author's aware of sabermetric analysis, this is by no means a sabermetric book; it's just a bunch of explorations of baseball topics.

There's stuff to quibble about, of course. That's kind of the point.

The title refers to the fact that first basemen have traditionally been left-handed, while the other infield positions are denied lefties because of their usual throwing motions. This, and other thoughts on the game—following the Bill James example of questioning assumptions and seeking fundamental truths—are expressed in literary essays that remain delightful even if the questions have long-since been answered and the novel observations are now accepted as obvious.