1,001 Reasons to Love Baseball and Other Reads

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1,001 Reasons to Love Baseball and Other Reads
Sports Book Review

by Harvey Frommer

There is a truly shameless blurb on the back cover of "1,001 Reasons to Love Baseball" by Danny Peary and Mary Tiegreen (Stewart, Tabori and Chang, $24.95, 319 pages) - - "Now There Are 1,002 reasons to love baseball - the newest reason is this book" - Tim McCarver. Peary, co-author of the book is also a writer for the Tim McCarver Show on MSG. How about that!

But seriously, there is a lot to love about the book - it's like a nosh for baseball zealots. There are many quotes, many photos, many facts, all stuffed into this chunkette of a book. Sections include: The Greats, Baseball Stuff, At the Game, Playing the Game, Words and Names, etc. You truly will get a fill up and your fill of baseball stuff from this pleasing tome.

And speaking of getting stuffed on the national pastime - the ultimate stuffer is "Total Baseball" by John Thorn, et al (Sport Classic Books, 2,688 pages, 200 black and white photographs and a 24 page color insert, $59.95. Now in its eighth edition, the tome that bills itself as the "ultimate baseball encyclopedia" has more of everything - essays, assessments, a comprehensive statistical lode that includes Player and Pitcher Registers featuring the career record of all 16,003 players and pitchers in MLB history, etc.

John Thorn's amazingly interesting assessment of the place of Barry Bonds (featured on the cover of this load of a book) is something that jumps out at you. For figure guys, reading guys, stat mavens, trivia zealots, those hooked on baseball history - there is something in this Niagara of baseball books for all of you.

"The Fenway Project" - carefully and affectionately edited by Bill Nowlin and Cecilia Tan (Rounder Books, 175 pages) is a presentation of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) of which I am a proud member. It has 64 recollections on as its cover copy states "one night on the field, in the stands and behind the scenes at America's oldest ballpark." Recommended reading for BoSox fans.

Barry Levinson had a very interesting idea and in "The Seventh Game" he carried it out cogently and entertainingly. His book (McGraw-Hill, $24.95, 340 pages) focuses on replaying and analyzing the 35 World Series games that have gone the distance. A resident of Madison, Wisconsin, Levenson grew up living and dying for the Red Sox. And it must have been painful for him to deconstruct their 1-4 record in Fall Classic seventh games. From 1909, Pittsburgh 8, Detroit 0 through the 34 games that follow, Levenson provides a carefully researched and organized narrative.

Re-issues in paper from Ivan R. Dee publishers worth reading as they make their way around the bases again included "Pennant Race" by Jim Brosnan and "The Pitch That Killed" by Mike Sowell. The former is a recounting of the 1961 winning pennant race chase of the Cincinnati Reds. The latter is the story of the death of Carl Mays, Ray Chapman and the pennant race of 1920.

яПН Harvey Frommer is the author of 34 sports books, including the classics: "New York City Baseball," "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," "Rickey and Robinson: The Men Who Broke Baseball's Color Line," "The New York Yankee Encyclopedia," "A Yankee Century: A Celebration of the First Hundred Years of Baseball's Greatest Team," and Red Sox Vs. Yankees: The Great Rivalry (with Frederic J. Frommer).

яПН More submissions