Baseball Books

Better than Drive in my opinion. Fast paced and no real "soft spots". Provided a much needed diversion and escape from reality with its' well developed characters and plot.

Season of Gene is an amazing book. Just over 200 pages long and nearly perfectly plotted, the story's real surprise is its two female leads, Joy and Theresa. One is a sudden widow and the other a struggling single mother, and both are drawn with empathy, humor, and above all generosity. Hudgens is a very rare author, whose great comic timing and breakneck pacing co-exist with his ability to perfectly paint small moments of human frailty and decency alike. The book isn't easy to classify, but it is easy to love.

Loved it. The humor and plot is top-notch and fast-paced, but don't be fooled, the characters find their way into your heart and stay there-even the dead ones. This book is different from Hudgens' "Drive Like Hell," (as different as North and South), but "Gene" is just as funny, heart-breaking, and well-written. Hudgens is an adept storyteller. Great Christmas gift!

Season of Gene is a grand slam for Drive Like Hell author Dallas Hudgens. If you liked Drive (really, if you haven't already, you should check out this book), and you're looking for another page-turning, funny, fast-paced and edgy book you will not be disappointed. When Joe Rice's business partner, Gene, dies rounding third base, Joe's quiet suburban life takes some unexpected turns,invovling gun-toting gangsters, internet drug scams, and a search for Babe Ruth's bat. Funny, unpredictable and certainly enjoyable, this boisterous and raucous novel will keep you busy turning pages.

Talk about an ambitious undertaking, allegedly for the love of the game.

From October 1888 to April 1889, A.G. Spalding conducted a 57-game world tour of baseball all-stars to showcase America's game. Starting and ending in cities in the United States, the road show played games - on the field and off - in Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, Egypt, Italy, Great Britain and Ireland.

Author Mark Lamster delivers a round-tripper on the twists, turns and pratfalls of Spalding's public-relations machine in bringing the sport to new fans.....which would - he hoped - boost sales of his sporting goods.

There is personal and professional intrigue - superstar John Ward was in the midst of divorcing his starlet wife, while plotting to seize control of Spalding's National League organization - games played before monarchs & fields that made for a comedy of errors, with baseballs batted at the great Sphinx.

This is a wonderful account of "America's Pastime" being trotted around the globe for the good(s) of the game.

Must have for 19th century baseball fans. Fans of Spalding and Ward will appreciate this book. I recommend.

Mark Lamster has written a fascinating account of Albert Spalding's 1888-89 world tour. I had long assumed that all but the most general details of this event were lost to history, but the author's prodigious research and lively style has resulted in a vivid account that I couldn't put down. Not only was the tour brought to life for me, but the ball players' personalities as well. Lamster's coverage of the tour also serves as a window on society and life in the 19th century, in a most revealing way. In a word, this amazing book is delightful.

A fascinating and exceptionally well written view into America in the late 19th century. If you love either history or baseball then you should read. If you love both then this book is made for you. If you love neither but have interest, then I strongly reccommend because the author does a terrific job of making the characters and scenes come to life. I very much enjoyed this book.

Great pictures of what has to be one of the nicest sports facilities in the world. I've been to one game here - and as a resident of Seattle, I honestly think that Safeco is a better place to watch a game. However, no stadium can match the asthetic views and its situation in one of the most beautiful cities in the world makes Pac Bell #1.

This it a really good book. The pictures are spectacular, the writing is good, and it includes newspaper articles written about the park. The information about the clubhouse, trainer's room etc. is great. I would recommend this to any baseball fan! (Non-Dodger fan anyway) :-)

Every fan of the the Giants should get this book and wallow in the beauty of Pacific Bell Park, if you can't get there yourself. The park really is probably the most beautiful ballpark in baseball, a tiny little gem that nevertheless plays like a huge pitcher's stadium thanks to the bizarre asymmetry of its outfield (and a San Francisco wind that the park's engineering turned into an ally, instead of the vicious Hawk it was at Candlestick Park.)

But it's also a great collection of essays from baseball writers including George Will and Peter Gammons, and local writers sharing memories of the team and the long years of waiting in the cold and fog for a world championship that still hasn't come. Those essays are some of the best parts of the book, moving and nostalgic in the best sense.

The body text, that tracks the long road from New York through Candlestick to the drama of building a new ballpark without the safety net of public money, then chronicles the great 2000 season, is little more than acceptable, but in a coffee table book what you want is gorgeous photographs and insightful vignettes, and "Splash Hit" has that in aces.

Finally, a coffee table book that was difficult to put down after looking at all the spectacular pictures.

After having "Splash Hit!" on order since first hearing about it's publication; I finally got my chance to actually own it. And read it and read it and read it, again. You cannot put this book down if you love ballparks, baseball, architecture and perhaps, the most intriguingly, beautiful city in America; San Francisco.

"Splash Hit" is the name adopted by San Francisco Giants fans that describes any home run hit just beyond the right field wall that land's in the San Francisco Bay waters aptly named McCovey Cove.

An amazing book by Joan Walsh and C.W.Nevius, "Splash Hit" explores the progression of Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco from it's initial conceptual brainchild of a downtown ballpark to it's wonderfully anticipated Opening Day Game and throughout 2000 season.

The tastefully cram-packed, 140-page book begins with incredible color photos of: an aeriel view of Pac Bell at night (with The City in the background), Giant and Dodger players standing for the National Anthem on Opening Day, another aeriel photo of The Park with the San Francisco Bay in the background, Ellis Burks sliding into home to score against the Cardinals, another night-time aeriel shot to a full cityscape at dusk of San Francisco and Pac Bell.

The forward is written by Giants President Peter Magowan and Vice President Larry Baer. They discuss everything from the Giants rumored 1992 move to Florida to the "VISION" coming to fruition.

The book is graced with at least 140 color pictures (many two-page spreads) and some 20-plus black and white photos of the Giants illustrious past from John McGraw/Christy Mathewson to Willie Mays/Willie McCovey. The Giants ten homes are discussed in this chapter in detail. Their move to San Francisco is also closely chronicled. The photos take you around, over, inside and under this magnificent structure from it's humble beginning to it's fan-friendly completion in The City That Knows How.

The text is well thoughout and chronicled from beginning to end as well. Each chapter draws yo in further as to the hows, whens, whys and how-comes of PBP. If you like the wriiten history of Major League Baseball and how it came West; then this book explains it all in great detail.

But the real beauty of this book is the complete photograph history of Pacific Bell Park, Giants fans and The City of San Francisco. Never before have I seen a "love story" between a team and its city been told as well. How the City Fathers' vision of a rejuvenated China Basin area of San Francisco came to pass. And how the real beauty of this old-styled stadium is incorporated into the natural landscape of the most breathtaking City in the world.

The book contains views of many fans, celebrities and athletes such as ESPN's Chris Berman and Peter Gammons; famed writers George F. Will and Ron Fimrite. Local longtime Bay Area columnists Leonard Koppett, Ann Killion, Joan Ryan, Rick Clogher, Darryl Brock, Dave Newhouse and Nick Peters, who has authored the definative San Francisco Giants history in four books about the Giants; give a unique slant on the local residents' feelings about the ballpark and the team. There is even an essay by Joe Spears of HOK Sport, the company that designed Pac Bell, on early concepts of a downtown San Francisco baseball stadium.

The book is liberally sprinkled with quotations and thoughts of Giant players, Giants' Manager Dusty Baker and other Major League Baseball players. These qoutes give you a great players' perspective of the different attitudes, climate and aspirations as opposed to frigid Candlestick Park.

I got a big kick out of the chapter that details "B.A.R.K."- Baseball Aquatic Rescue Korps. It is a group of dogs (Portugese Water Spaniels, evolving from an idea by local comedian/Saturday Night Live regular Don Novella aka Father Guido Sarducci); that patrol the Bay for homeruns that land in the splashdown area called McCovey Cove just beyond right field.

This book is THE BEST I've ever owned about a baseball park or any other athletic facility. It makes a great companion to other related books: "Above San Francisco by Robert Cameron, "The Ballpark Book" by Ron Smith and The Sporting News and "Take Me Out To The Ballpark" by Josh Leventhal.

Get this book NOW while it is still in print. It is one you won't want to miss.

Giamatti's work here is an insightful look into the spectacle of baseball and sport in general and how they intereact with society and social values. It's a must-read for any baseball-bred sports fan.

All men who have served as Commissioner of Baseball--a position more people probably aspire to than aspire to be President of the United States--have a dull sameness in their resumes and their manner of speech compared to the late A. Bartlett Giamatti, who died in 1989 in his rookie season as Commissioner, the only baseball commissioner to be a Renaissance Scholar and President of Yale University.

Giamatti's book is a celebration of baseball's "freedom (for) the promise of an energetic, complex order." "Baseball," Giamtti writes, "fulfills the promise that America made to itself to cherish the individual while recognizing the overarching claims of the group. It sends its players out (around the bases) in order to return again, allowing all the freedom to accomplish great things in a dangerous world. So baseball restates a version of America's promises every time it is played. The playing of the game is a restatement of the promises that we can all be free, that all succeed."

"Sport," Giamatti writes, "contains within itself, as a self-transforming activity, fueld by instinct and intellect alike, the motive for freedom. The very elaboration of sport--it's internal conventions of all kinds, its ceremonies, its endless meshes entangling itself--are for the purposes of training and testing (perhaps by defeating) and rewarding the rousing motion within us to find a moment (or more) of freedom. Freedom is that state where energy and order merge and complexity is purified into a simple coherence, a fitness of parts and purpose and passions that cannot be surpassed and whose goal could only be to be itself.

"If we have known freedom, then we love it; it we love freedom, then we fear, at some level (individually or collectively)its loss. And then we cherish sport. As our forbears did, we remind ourselves through sport of what, here on earth, is our noblest hope. Through sport, we create our daily portion of freedom."

Giamatti's eloquence and unique voice ranges widely over other subjects.
"Human beings made and make cities, and only human beings kill cities, or let them die. We enjoy deluding ourselves in this as in other things. We enjoy believing that there are forces out there completely determining our fate, natural forces--or forces so strong and overwhelming as to be like natural forces--that send cities through organic or biological phases of birth, growth, and decay. We avoid the knowledge that cities are at best works of art, and at worst ungainly artifacts--but never flowers or even weeds--and that we, not some mysterious forces or cosmic biological system, control the creation and life of a city....

"A city is a collection of disparate families who agree to a fiction: they agree to live AS IF they were as close in blood or ties of kinship as in fact they are in physical proximity. Choosing life in an artifact, people agree to live in a state of similitude. A city is a place where ties of proximity, activity and self-interest assume the role of family ties. It is a considerable pact, a city. If a family is an expression of continuity through biology, a city is an expression of continuity through will and imagination--through mental choices making artifice, not through physical reproduction.

"This act of will and imagination, this city, expresses a set of common and continuing needs. These needs are usually expressed as commercial. Cities, we are told, are essentially mediums for commerce--trading, buying, selling, financing. They are centers of negotiation, not simply in all the varieties of commerce, but also of lawmaking and rule-giving--of legislation in all its variety. Cities are centers of negotiations of interests, of competing ideas, of us together against separateness, of me against aloneness of all...entailed at first by work, the work of connecting and assaying, of affiliating and discriminating that markets and legislatures, commerece and courts, traders and advocates carry on....

"The defining characteristic of a city over time is political. Indeed, the word political contains at its root the Greek polis, or city. Politics is the art of making choices and finding agreements in public--or the art of making public choices and agreements. Politics is the ultimate act of negotiation in a city, but it is only relective of the constant activity of the city, as individual, daily choices and agreements and decisions, allowing flowing from the central choice not to live alone but among others, swirl around and make up rambunctious, noisy, restless, demanding, hectic, city life.

"Over millenia, this refinement of negotiation, of balancing private need and public obligation, personal desire and public duty, and keen interests of the one and the many into a common, shared set of agreements--becomes a civilization. That is the public version of what binds us. That state is achieved because city dwellers as individuals or as families or as groups have smoothed the edges of private desire so as to fit, or at least work in, with all the other city dwellers,without undue abrasion, without sharp edges forever picking and wounding, each refining an individual capacity for those thousands of daily, instantaneous negotiations that keep crowded city life from being a constant brawl or ceaseless shoving match....We admire that capacity to proceed, neither impeded nor impeding....

"Many give up...they go to the suburbs, that under-city that is neither urban nor rural, that non-city which is the place of surcease, not of choosing--where energy, to the extent it is desired, is imported but not created; where all decisions are basically private and existence is nonpolitical; where in choosing to give up the stress of endless choosing there is only one choice; to live as if not in a family but rather to live as if alone, and to do so near (that is like-minded, like-colored, and like-employed) families....And when more than some--when many--opt for the suburb, the city begins to die. When those who can make the choice leave, by that choice a city falters because it retains only those who have no choice but stay. Where cities are absorptive and inclusive, suburbs are not. Their impermeability or exclusivity is precisely their allure."

I personally think Giamatti is much too hard on suburbs and suburbanites, but these excerpts give the flavor of the book. Those wanting a book about the day to day mechanics of baseball or other sports should go elsewhere. Those wanting a thoughtful look at the role of baseball in sports, the role of sports in cities and the life of country as a whole, the role of athletes, and the drug culture, and the sports writers, and the fans, should read this book.

The language is poetic, and grandiose. The assertions are one man's only rarely documented opinion. But, in reading this book, one will find visions, insights, and profundity about American life far more on the order of Alexis deToqueville than on the order of your favorite sportswriter.

A. Bartlett Giamatti wrote this book immediately prior to his unexpected death in 1989. It appeared in print posthumously. That he would pen a paen to baseball at the height of the Pete Rose scandal, as his last published work, is ironic. His prose is sublime. The slender volume is a monograph on the nature of the game of baseball. It is timeless because it is not tied to temporal events. With little alteration, the book could have been written a hundred years ago, or (I hope) a hundred years hence. The Commissioner of Baseball and former Yale Professor of Renaissance Literature explores the intellectual facination of the game. From the geometry of the diamond to the Homeric nature of the baserunner's struggle to reach home again, Giamatti's story is enlightening as well as entertaining. Insights into the nature of our society flow naturally, given that sport in general should be seen in the context of the civilization that spawns it. One that I found to be especially memorable was on the commonalities of learning that change from generation to generation. Giamatti wrote of how the rising generation would understand the world through a computer screen, even as their progenitors had seen it through books, and of the differences, both great and small, that it would make to the thought patterns of our young. All this against the literally timneless fabric of a game played without a clock. -Lloyd A. Conway

A. Bartlett Giamatti wrote this book immediately prior to his unexpected death in 1989. It appeared in print posthumously. That he would pen a paen to baseball at the height of the Pete Rose scandal, as his last published work, is ironic. His prose is sublime. The slender volume is a monograph on the nature of the game of baseball. It is timeless because it is not tied to temporal events. With little alteration, the book could have been written a hundred years ago, or (I hope) a hundred years hence. The Commissioner of Baseball and former Yale Professor of Renaissance Literature explores the intellectual facination of the game. From the geometry of the diamond to the Homeric nature of the baserunner's struggle to reach home again, Giamatti's story is enlightening as well as entertaining. Insights into the nature of our society flow naturally, given that sport in general should be seen in the context of the civilization that spawns it. One that I found to be especially memorable was on the commonalities of learning that change from generation to generation. Giamatti wrote of how the rising generation would understand the world through a computer screen, even as their progenitors had seen it through books, and of the differences, both great and small, that it would make to the thought patterns of our young. All this against the literally timneless fabric of a game played without a clock. -Lloyd A. Conway

KUDOS! I'm a fan! That is to say, a fan of the Red Sox for many years, and now, a fan of author, Henry Garfield.
My own dreams with alternatives to my reality have sometimes haunted me beyond sleep. They are my "should have..., would have..., could have..." dreams. Henry Garfield has put that type of dream into the very words of his novel. Fact and fiction are awesomely merged by this author to create a page-turner of good entertainment. By the way, I'm a "teenager" with 40+ years of experience!

Can the outcome of a throw to home plate on a hot August day in 1967, by a Boston Red Sox outfielder of minimal talents, affect so many livesýin different ways? That is the premise of a remarkable novel, TARTABULLýS THROW, by Henry Garfield. This ýprequelý to Garfieldýs earlier novels, MOONDOG and ROOM 13, skillfully melds the crack of a bat on a baseball, the howl of a werewolf to the full Moon, and the stunning silence of time/dimensional travel into a unique coming-of-age story. Cyrus ýMoondogý Nygerskiýs love for the enigmatic Cassandra, for baseball in general, and for the Boston Red Sox in particular make for an unforgettable read.

Is the runner safe at home plate? Yes. Is he out? Yes. Is Cyrus, as Garfield says, ýThe best left-handed second baseman in Wisconsin,ý called up to The Show by the Chicago White Sox? Yes. Is he an error-prone player who can barely hit his weight and is released by the low minor league Beloit Turtles? Yes. But how can all of this be?

Believe me, Garfield pulls it off. If you like baseball, suspense, science fictionýor merely just want a rollicking taleýyou can't miss TARTABULLýS THROW.

Can the outcome of a throw to home plate on a hot August day in 1967, by a Boston Red Sox outfielder of minimal talents, affect so many lives—in different ways? That is the premise of a remarkable novel, TARTABULL’S THROW, by Henry Garfield. This “prequel” to Garfield’s earlier novels, MOONDOG and ROOM 13, skillfully melds the crack of a bat on a baseball, the howl of a werewolf to the full Moon, and the stunning silence of time/dimensional travel into a unique coming-of-age story. Cyrus “Moondog” Nygerski’s love for the enigmatic Cassandra, for baseball in general, and for the Boston Red Sox in particular make for an unforgettable read.

Is the runner safe at home plate? Yes. Is he out? Yes. Is Cyrus, as Garfield says, “The best left-handed second baseman in Wisconsin,” called up to The Show by the Chicago White Sox? Yes. Is he an error-prone player who can barely hit his weight and is released by the low minor league Beloit Turtles? Yes. But how can all of this be?

Believe me, Garfield pulls it off. If you like baseball, suspense, science fiction—or merely just want a rollicking tale—you cant’ miss TARTABULL’S THROW.

Though this story is magical (as any story about a left-handed second baseman must be), it's also realist in ways that baseball novels rarely achieve without getting bogged down in historical minutiae. Garfield's 1967 is 1967, and at the same time it subtly isn't; his fine manipulations of chronology and causality keep the reader off-balance in consistently fascinating ways.

Tartabull's Throw is the best recent baseball novel I've read, for any age group. High-schoolers will love it; but junior-high and younger should stick with Bruce Brooks or John H. Ritter for a while longer. Adult readers will really appreciate this novel; it may get them howling for more.

This book is a fitting tribute to a hero and man among men in the sport of baseball. The book is full of great pictures and inspiring stories about the Kid. A must for William's fans and baseball fanatics. Enjoy!!

This is the best book that I have ever read regarding the best hitter ever Ted Williams. Jim Prime has done an excellent job and he deservers an award for this great book. I recomend this book for anyone who is a baseball fan.Jim Prime I salute you!!You are the Best Writer ever and I now consider myself your biggest fan!!

Hi This was a great book and I loved the way it was written! i recomend it to all who like baseball....he he. Jim Prime I love you ...giggle giggle!!

TYRA B.

I've read just about all the books on Ted and this one is right up there. I can't believe the interviews these authors got - from John Glenn on serving with Ted in Korea to the connection between Ted and Jack Kerouac. Some very touching stories, too, about "The Kid and The Kids." Ted made all kinds of time for kids with cancer. There isn't that much on Ted's controversial son or on his family life in general. It seems like the authors were respectful of his privacy. There must be a couple of hundred photos before, and many of them I'd never seen. I didn't think there was that much more to be said about Ted - boy, was I wrong. I highly recommend this book.

A compelling story about difficult teen years. Although the target audience is young adults, Sara Griffiths weaves this tale to interest all ages. Young people will connect with the engaging main character and her assessment of her world. Parents may gain valuable insite into this world, which may help them understand their own pre-teen/teenage children. I look forward to this author's next work.

As a Middle School English teacher I am always looking for a new novel to add to my student's reading list, I was so happy to find Thrown a Curve. It is the type of book that will appeal to all levels of readers. I am sure that my students will love Thrown a Curve as much as I did!!

This is a great book! I could not put it down once I started becaust it reminded me a lot of things I went through growing up. I definitely recommend this book to any girl in her early teens or even an adult like me!

It's refreshing to read a novel which demonstrates the ability of a young woman to rise above the adversities in her life by using her athletic talents and by following the suggestions of a wise counselor. Though Taylor, the protagonist, is lonely, sad, and confused about her dad's unwillingness to connect with her, she never becomes bitter. Although I am now retired, I taught high school students for 30 years. I can say that the author has captured the essence of the struggle facing many adolscents. Taylor resolves her issues in a healthy way. Kudos to Ms Griffiths for her excellent story!

"Too Much Time on His Hands" ia a masterful piece of work by Scott Russell, a statistical genius, who knows how to mix seriousness with amusing anecdotes to prove a point. Baseball fans will find this book a most enjoyable read. Don't miss out on it!!

This book reads like a conversation, giving much-needed stats for any backyard or barroom argument. I found myself torn between laughing and head shaking with Scott's quick jokes or strange stories. This is a great quick read and reference guide to prove a point.

Scott Russell is the Dr. Hunter S. Thompson of baseball stats. I am referring, of course, to Gonzo Journalism in which the observer simply in the act of observing fundamentally changes the observed. Russell's phenomenological point of view is refreshingly Daedalian and in this reviewer's opinion, the game will never be the same. He could be considered baseball's first "Outsider Statistician" a not-so-veiled reference to the "Outsider Art" phenom. Hooray for Russell or perhaps we should now call him "Skott Rustle."

ALTHOUGH OBVIOUSLY DERANGED, MR. RUSSELL IS MICROSCOPIC IN HIS STATS.HIS NON-STATISTICAL WRITING IS HILARIOUS AND INFORMATIVE

Teenagers who love the game (and older folks as well) will enjoy this book. Lots of information and makes interesting reading.

As a fan of both history and baseball, a book like this appeals to me in two ways. The history of the game as told through the histories of every team, as well as the events of baseball told as how they affected the teams involved. This book lists the histories of every major league professional team. Now there are those who would argue that a league like the Union Association or even the Players League of the late 1800s weren't really "major" leagues, but I'll leave that argument to others. The teams are listed in alphabetical order from the "infamous" Altoona Mountain Citys (who played for a city with the lowest population of any major league team) through the Worcester Brown Stockings of the 1890s NL (who also had a low population).

Each teams' history is given in complete and concise detail, along with any other names the team may have had during their existence, all the stadiums they played at, their all-time won-loss record, a list of their year by year record, and also certain anecdotes (designated by small "boxes") about team historical events. There are also stories and pictures about each team's famous and "infamous" players. There's also histories of the "other" major leagues, like the Union Association, Federal League, Players' League, and the American Association. It's intriguing to see how the movers and shakers of each era operated. One thing also becomes clear: each era of baseball always had its rich and poor teams, this isn't something that just recently started. Another interesting item I noticed was how many MidWest and Eastern cities had a number of different teams in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

At times humorous, at times sad, at times just plain weird, the history of baseball teams reflects society at its best and its worst. This is a book any baseball fan should have.

But where else will you find info on every major league club since 1876? (But not since 1871; the National Association is not included.) Top players' season stats are usually given for each team, and say, Hoss Radbourne's 1884 season is discussed in detail, but to me the primary focus seemed on the owners and their machinations. And purposely or not, the owners generally come off as a bunch of money grubbers who seldom had the good of the game at heart. Or maybe that type of owner is just more interesting to write about. One noticeable thing is that because of the many franchise shifts in the 19th century, there are roughly as many 19th century clubs to write about as 20th century. Of course, since many of the 19th century clubs were short-lived, they take up less space on average. Each team's record, where it placed in the league standings, and its managers are given for each year in a table at the end of that team's entry. However, there are no tables of league standings showing all teams at once; nor are there any tables of player performances included anywhere. Some interesting note about players and others are in brief sidebars and footbars.

I debated about rating the book four stars, since it spends so much time on the business end of baseball, but decided to go with five stars, as where else will you find narrative histories of all the major league baseball clubs in one inexpensive book?

This is an excellent book that will inform even the most diehard fan about the history of every MLB Ballclub. It seems to be extremely comprehensive in its coverage, but that only includes "white" teams. Unless I have overlooked them (which is possible), I couldn't find any coverage of the Negro Leagues. I can't imagine it would have been that hard to include them.

The articles contained within the book vary based on how long the team has been/was in existence. For instance, the Cubs, Cardinals, Yankees and Red Sox have longer writeups than the Mariners, Expos and Orioles.

It gives histories based on the actual team in a certain city and then gives a new history that starts after the team moved (ie Philadelphia A's, Kansas A's and Oakland A's each have their own sections). It also gives separate histories for when a team changes cities and franchises completely (ie the St. Louis Browns to the Baltimore Orioles, or the Washington Senators to the Minnesota Twins and the Texas Rangers). There are also separate histories for the two Washington Senators franchises, as well as tons of short writeups about previous teams in certain cities (ie the Baltimore Orioles - they were a successful team in the late 1890's and then dropped the name for many years until the Browns relocated there).

I have a hard time believing that you will be able to find a more comprehensive book about the franchises that have existed since baseball began. There is more information here for the price than anywhere else that I have seen. I gave it four stars instead of five due to the lack of Negro League teams (even though I admit I could have missed them). All in all, this is one heck of a great buy!!

Author James Elfers provides a detailed account of the six-month World Tour of the New York Giants and Chicago White Sox from 1913-1914. A similar tour today would be impressive, but 95 years ago, it was simply amazing.

Elfers descriptive narrative gives the reader a seat on the tour. From the little towns on the United States leg of the tour to Australia, the Philippines, Egypt and Europe, you get a taste of what it was like for the players. Elfers describes the weather, the games, the crowds, the ball fields, the receptions, the ships, the hotels and the off-the-field activities. And, he provides a dose of history for each stop.

Some of the better-known players on the Tour included Jim Thorpe, Buck Weaver, Fred Merkle, Tris Speaker, Mike Donlin, Sam Crawford, Germany Schaefer, Larry Doyle and George Wiltse. Thorpe and a couple other players were on their honeymoons.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in baseball in the Deadball Era or the Tour itself. This is an excellent addition to baseball history.

It's amazing that the events Mr. Elfers writes about have been all but forgotten. He brings them back to life so vividly that his book is a very deserving CASEY Award Finalist for 2003. Kudos to Mr. Elfers and the Univ. of Nebraska press!

The Tour To End All Tours is a great book about a seemingly long lost event. Elfers research uncovered several valuable reference materials that made this trip come to life. Mrs. Thorpe's dairy of the trip, for example, adds valuable insights that most readers would never encounter.

I read a broad range of baseball history books and have a great interest in the 1880 through 1919 baseball era. I found the well researched historical aspects combined with the personal anecdotes of the players and tourist on the 1913-14 tour made this book an insightful and entertaining read.

...

After reading this book and discovering that a film was made during the trip, I hold out hope that it may one day it will be found as it would be a great companion to the text.

The US was looking for things to do to take their minds off of the hardships of the time. Baseball was the perfect vehicle to do that. It involved teams with a large number of players, that lasted 2 hours or more. It would also allow a large fan base to surround the field in a picnic atmosphere, to see the action.

The author has conveyed different feelings as to what baseball was about in this time period of US history. To push our emerging sport out for the world to see was an incredible chance to elevate many things. First, that we loved to do things together for fun. Second, that the US was a strong and diverse country reaching out to other countries. It is amazing to think of the diversity of the audience this team played to.

These players who took part in this must have known what they were portraying to the world, THE LOVE OF THE GAME!

The author had to dig hard to research all of the information gathered from this time period. True baseball enthusiats will enjoy this book!

David Vogel