The Bill James Guide To Baseball Managers

The complete title of this book is: “The Bill James Guide to Baseball Managers from 1870 to Today”. Bill James is the author. This book was published in 1997.

I was reading a book titled “How Bill James Changed Our View of Baseball”, and there was a quote to the effect that if Bill James wrote a book about peanut butter, he (the speaker) would buy it.

That statement prompted me to seek out books written by Bill James, which led me to this one. And now I can say: Bill James has written a book about Baseball Managers and we all should read it!

As Dan Gutman of Newsday is quoted on the back cover: ”He’s proven that he knows more about baseball than anybody in the whole world”.

Also on the back cover is this observation (from the book) by Dick Young about Leo Durocher: “You and Durocher are on a raft. A wave comes and knocks him into the ocean. You dive in and save his life. A shark comes and takes your leg. Next day, you and Leo start out even.”

Bill James’ bio on the inside back jacket cover includes the following items: “From 1977 through 1988 James wrote and edited ‘The Baseball Abstract’; from 1990 to 1992, ‘The Baseball Book’. His other books include ‘This Time Let’s Not Eat the Bones’, ‘Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame’, and the ‘Historical Baseball Abstract’, winner of the Casey Award as the best baseball book of 1986.”

In introducing this book Mr. James observes: “A manager is not someone who excels; a manager is someone who copes. I’ll manage somehow.”

His introduction continues: “There is one indispensable quality of a baseball manager: the manager must be able to command the respect of his players. This is absolute; everything else is negotiable.”

The introduction also includes: “Managers are fascinating people. Of the twenty-five greatest managers of all time, at least eighteen were alcoholics. Is this a coincidence, or is there a reason for it? Should we, in looking to hire a manager, make sure he has Betty Ford on his resume?”

The chapters of this Guide to Managers are arranged decade by decade. Here are a few of the decades and the managers profiled within:
- 1930s: Stengel and Southworth
- 1940s: Leo Durocher, Jolly Cholly Grimm
- 1950s: Casey Stengel, Paul Richards, Al Lopez, Fred Haney
- 1960s: Walter Alston, Bill Adair, Joe Adcock
- 1970s: Sparky Anderson, Earl Weaver
- 1980s: Whitey Herzog, Tommy Lasorda
- 1990s: Bobby Cox, Lou Piniella, Tony LaRussa

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

- “The most important question that a manager asks is ‘What needs to be changed around here?’ Any manager, over time, loses the ability to see what needs to be changed.”

- “Almost any manager, when a pitcher gives him a big season, will make a commitment to that pitcher. If he has a couple of bad starts, the manager will say ‘It’s just a couple of bad starts; he’ll get it turned around.’ If he has another bad start, the manager will say, ‘Well, we need him to pitch well if we’re going to contend.’ Then he’ll have a good start or two, and the first thing you know, he’s 5-13, and you’re out of the race.”

- “Stengel didn’t do that. With Stengel, unless you were Vic Raschi or Whitey Ford, you were only as good as your last start. And that was a large part of why he was able to stay on top, year after year, in a way that few other managers ever have. It’s not that he wasn’t ‘loyal’ to his players, but his idea of loyalty wasn’t ‘Joe helped me win the pennant last year, so I owe it to him to let him work through his problems.’ It was ‘These boys are trying to win. I owe it to them to do everything possible to help them win’.”

- “A famous Stengel quote occurred when Casey was asked by a reporter why he had used three pinch hitters in the first three innings of one game. ‘Whaddaya want me to do,’ he asked. ‘Sit there and lose?’”

- “Both Richards and Lopez were ‘defense first’ managers. Lopez once said that all a team really needed was pitching and defense, because if you didn’t allow the other team to score, eventually they would give you a run, and you’d win the game. Richards was less extreme in this regard.”

- “As anyone who has been around athletes ought to know, the most difficult years of an athlete’s life are the years when he is coming to grips with the fact that his skills have gotten away from him. By loading his roster with players at that stage of their careers, Haney virtually guaranteed an unhappy clubhouse.”

- “We know this already, but it is worth noting: In hiring a manager, look for someone who is ‘secure’ and ‘positive’.”

- “He looked for an attitude, a willingness to get it done. When a player lost that edge, that fearlessness, that love of risk, he lost his value, and then his manager had a problem. If the manager faced that problem head-on, there would be conflict. If he didn’t, there would be mediocrity.”

- “What do you put on the back of a manager’s baseball card?”

The Bill James Guide to Baseball Managers contains a lot of discussion about topics I wasn’t expecting to see here, including “the definitive history of the sacrifice bunt”, and “fundamental analyses of the several billion options available to a manager setting a batting order”, among other things.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was both entertaining and informative. I do believe that Bill James could make a book about peanut butter be fun and educational, yet somehow relevant to baseball.

I recommend “The Bill James Guide to Baseball Managers from 1870 to Today” to anyone with an interest in baseball &/or good writing. It’s too bad that the analyses only go up to the mid 1990s. But after reading about the earlier decades the reader can supply his own ending.

Posted in Book Reviews | 12 Comments »

Book Review: Coach

The complete title of this book is: “Coach – Lessons on the Game of Life”. The author is Michael Lewis. It was published in 2005.

Michael Lewis, you may remember, is the author of “Moneyball” and “The Blind Side” among other titles.

I have to admit, I have not, as yet, read the book. Instead I listened to the audiobook version, “Read by the Author”.

As Mr. Lewis explains it in this book he, as a 43 year old, looks back at a man who changed his life. That man, Billy Fitzgerald (aka “Coach Fitz”), was his baseball coach back when he, the author, was a 14 year old boy “who could pass for 12 years old”.

The action in “Coach” takes place in New Orleans, where Michael Lewis went to school, and where a somewhat unusual situation is occurring. Former students (and their parents) think the world of Coach Fitz. But many parents of current students want Coach Fitz fired.

The collective memory of students seems to be: “Fitz changed my life”.

On the back cover of the CD jewel case are printed these words:
- “The coach’s message was not simply about winning, but about self-respect, sacrifice, courage, and endurance. In some ways, and even now, thirty years later, Lewis still finds himself trying to measure up to what Coach Fitz expected of him.”

Names with which you may be familiar, who are mentioned, quoted, or referenced in this book include:
- Sean Tuohy
- “Pistol Pete” Maravich
- Rusty Staub
- Lou Piniella
- Rollie Fingers
- Catfish Hunter
- Peyton Manning
- Archie Manning
- Aesop
- Mark Twain

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

- “There were the written rules, and there were the rules.”

- “Success, to Fitz, was a process.”

- “Privilege Corrupts”

- “All this is about a false sense of self-esteem.”

- “What’s fun to you is death to me.”

- “He was teaching us how to cope with the two greatest enemies of a well-lived life: fear and failure.”

- “You never give up on a team, just like you never give up on a kid.”

There are some names in my life who had an effect on me similar to that of Coach Fitz in the life of Michael Lewis. Each deserves a story all his own, but for now I’ll simply list the names here in chronological order of their appearance in my life:

- Mr. Terrance Willison

- Coach Sam Brunswick

- Coach “Crazy Ed” Mitchell

- “Coach” Dobrath

- Coach Herb Hassenburg

- Coach Jack Rapper

- Sensei Shojiro Sugiyama

Listening to the audiobook was very easy and I recommend it to everyone. It consists on one (1) CD, one hour in length. Because the audiobook is so short, I was able to listen to it a number of times.

Nowhere on the CD cover does the word “unabridged” appear, so it is possible that the audiobook leaves out some segments of the printed version. On the other hand, the audiobook is read by Mr. Michael Lewis himself, so that adds its own cachet.

I recommend the book “Coach” by Michael Lewis very highly to anyone and everyone. I enjoyed listening to it. I’m sure that either the audio or printed version will prove to be worth your while.

This recommendation does not apply only to boys, nor does it apply only to jocks.

Posted in Book Reviews | 2 Comments »

Book Review: Forever Blue

There has been a lot of speculation lately concerning the Ricketts family: they should do this and they shouldn’t do that; they should have done this and they shouldn’t have done that; they better do this and they better not do that; etc. What follows is my review of a book dealing with the ownership of a Major League Baseball Franchise, in this case the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. Many of the challenges which confronted Walter O’Malley parallel those which the Ricketts family now face.
The complete title of this book is “Forever Blue – The True Story of Walter O’Malley, Baseball’s Most Controversial Owner, and the Dodgers of Brooklyn and Los Angeles”. It was published in 2009. The author is Michael D’Antonio. Among his awards is the Pulitzer Prize, which he shared with a team of reporters for Newsday.

The thing about this book, is that it is definitely about one man, Walter O’Malley, but it is also about the game of baseball, American history over the past 100 years or so, and about baseball as a business. As such, there are many parallels between the Dodgers and other Major League Baseball teams, and other businesses in general. There are also parallels between Mr. O’Malley and other baseball owners.
The author describes how the Dodgers went from being one of the absolutely worst baseball teams in the world, to being one of the best. There is also a step by step description of the events leading up to the movement of baseball teams from the original Northeastern locations to the current situation of teams being fanned out across the United States (and Canada). Specifically, Mr. D’Antonio details the movement of the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles, and to a lesser degree, he details the simultaneous move of the NY Giants to
San Francisco.

The author points out that “In a country with no national church, baseball had become a secular religion”. Professional baseball has long enjoyed a special status, as evidenced by the rhetoric of the groundbreaking ceremony at Ebbets Field: “Borough president Alfred E. Steers talked about the great players of the past – in this case the 1870s – as if they were gods and elevated the team from its status as an athletic squad and business to make it an emblem of the community’s identity and aspirations.”

The love of Brooklyn for its team is shown in this observation regarding a champion heckler called Abie the Milkman: “…while Abie had the right to criticize, because he obviously loved the team, cracks from outsiders were not tolerated.”

We learn that Brooklyn in 1939 boasted the largest population of NY City’s boroughs, 2.8 million, and “would have been the second-largest city in America, were it still independent”. Also, “The streets of Brooklyn stitched together what once was a region of twenty-five villages, each with its churches and shops, and remained a collection of communities with strong identities”.

An interesting story involves the description of Walter O’Malley’s purchase of Branch Rickey’s 1/3 ownership of the Brooklyn Dodgers for $1,000,000 (with a $50,000 “convenience fee” also paid to Mr. Rickey). Afterwards, Mr. O’Malley described the ramifications of this buyout to a reporter: “You may be sure that for the next seven or eight years Mr. Rickey will be credited with the victories of the Brooklyn ball club and that its losses will be charged to somebody else.”

A grim reality which confronted Walter O’Malley as he took over the Dodgers is described thusly: “Victory had done a strange thing to the Dodgers and Brooklyn. O’Malley sensed it in the stands and saw it at the admissions gate. In 1950 the team had almost won the pennant for the second time in a row, but home attendance plummeted by almost 350,000. And it wasn’t just the numbers that were down. Some of the love seemed to be missing too. ‘Now they’re on us when we lose,’ said O’Malley. ‘There isn’t that same deep affection.’ Winning had taken away a bit of the mystique that made the players beloved when they were Bums.”

Mr. D’Antonio describes the Dodgers’ Spring training site (“Dodgertown”) at Vero Beach, Florida, in 1951, and the new rules (“O’Malley Rules”) which the franchise was now operating under.

We are introduced to an elaborate sign stealing system which the NY Giants had used to their advantage.

There is a description of negotiations between O’Malley and Philip K. Wrigley leading up to the Dodgers’ move to Los Angeles. One-year contracts were O’Malley’s standard, and we learn some of the advantages and disadvantages of that strategy.

Furthermore, “O’Malley’s other negotiating standard evolved slowly and was more a matter of temperament than stated policy. As those who challenged him would discover, he didn’t like to be pressured. He would call a bluff every time.” The esteem which the powerful Robert Moses held for Brooklyn is hinted at in the following observation: “Robert Moses would…declare that the borough was a ‘strange’ place that lacked adequate leaders and depended on a baseball team for its sense of well-being.”

The different social statures occupied by the Yankees and Dodgers is touched upon: “Yes, the Yankees played in the Bronx, but they really represented Manhattan and all its intimidating power and sophistication. The Dodgers stood for everyone else.”

At one point in the book, the Cincinnati baseball team is called “The Redlegs” (vs. “The Reds”). I have noticed that there are very few references to “The Redlegs” these days, although that was their name when I was growing up. What happened? Did I miss a memo on that?

As the dominoes fell leading up to the Dodgers move from Brooklyn, O’Malley pushed hard for the creation of the Sports Center Authority, he shifted the team to New Jersey for some games, and: “Finally, to demonstrate his seriousness, he sold his property in Montreal and openly offered Ebbets Field for sale.”

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:
- “And whether it made sense or not, thousands if not millions of people experienced personal highs and lows as if what happened on the field were actually happening to them in real life.”
- “Only half the lies they tell about the Irish are true.”
- “But in fact Steinbrenner studied the Dodgers operation intently and regarded O’Malley as ‘the recognized master’.”

I enjoyed reading “Forever Blue” very much. The lessons included herein carryover to other teams and other circumstances. I recommend Michael D’Antonio’s “Forever Blue”, particularly to anyone with an interest in the business end of the game of baseball.

Posted in Book Reviews | 1 Comment »

Book Review: Chicago- Baseball In The City

My dad (“The World’s Greatest Living Cubs Fan”) spent the Fourth of July with me at my home. Watching the Cubs game was a red letter item on the day’s agenda. My dad dozed off a couple of times during the game. Afterwords, my brother-in-law observed: “Now I know how you can stand to watch the Cubs every day – you sleep through most of it!”

Later, I told my dad that I was sorry his Cubbies didn’t win the game (they lost 14-3). He laughed and said “Oh heck – I don’t let it get me down. As soon as the game ends, I forget about it.” Words to live by, from The World’s Greatest Living Cubs Fan. And now, on to the book review.

The complete title of this book is: “Chicago: Baseball in the City”. It is written by Derek Gentile, with foreword by Studs Terkel. It was published in 2006. This, is a coffee table book. It is oversized and it contains many large photographs.

When I saw the cover (which, by the way, features the Cubs colors of red, white and blue), I thought this book was going to be about the Cubs and Sox. As it turns out, it is about those 2 teams, but it’s about a whole lot more, too.

The foreword is by the late Studs Terkel, who came to Chicago from NYC and who was a White Sox fan. As the late Mr. Terkel explains it: “I was a Giants fan as a kid, so I couldn’t be a Cubs fan…” That is an explanation which I can understand.

The book is arranged into three sections:
- The Leagues and The Teams;
- The Places; and
- The People.

Following the Foreword and a short Introduction, the body of the book itself opens with a decade by decade review of the Chicago Cubs, followed by a similar review of the Chicago White Sox. This stuff is required reading for everyone interested in the history of professional baseball in Chicago.

“The Leagues and The Teams” section continues with essays on:
- Little League in Chicago (in which I once participated),
- The Federal League and The Chicago Whales (which resulted in the construction of what is now known as Wrigley Field),
- The Negro Leagues (very informative) , and
- The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (immortalized in the movie ”A League of Their Own”).

Section 2, titled “The Places”, contains photos and text about
- the Home of the Chicago Cubs (Wrigley Field) and about
- the Homes of the White Sox, (Comiskey Park I and II, and US Cellular Field).

Inexplicably, Section 2 (The Places) also contains:
- “The Top 10 Most Dramatic Moments in Chicago Baseball History “, and
- “The Top 10 Most Disappointing Moments in Chicago Baseball History”.

Section 3, (The People) begins with a presentation of All-Time All-Stars, position by position, of the Cubs, and then of the White Sox. These listings, like the opening decade by decade team reviews, are required reading for anyone interested in the history of Major League baseball in Chicago.

Next up are 2 compilations titled “Hometown Heroes”, which are about ballplayers who were originally from Chicago. The first group are Minor League players from Chicago, and the second grouping are the more familiar Major Leaguers from Chicago.

The last 2 chapters of the book are about “The Broadcasters” and ”The Fans”.
- “The Broadcasters” contains familiar names and faces. Familiar to locals, that is.
- And as the book says about “The Fans”: “For more than a hundred years, Chicago fans have had a simple choice: Cubs or Sox. You don’t get to pick both. There are no diplomats in foxholes.”

There are many, many large historical photographs included in this book, most of which I had not seen before.
I enjoyed looking through and reading “Chicago – Baseball in the City”. It really is a kind of a family photo album, with detailed explanations. Being a fourth generation Chicagoan, this illustrated look back through time was particularly pleasing to me.

Posted in Book Reviews | Comments Off

Book Review: The Complete Game

The title of this book is: “The Complete Game : Reflections on Baseball, Pitching, and Life on the Mound”. It was written by Ron Darling (with Daniel Paisner), and was published in 2009. If I had known that Ron Darling spent most of his career with the Mets, I probably
wouldn’t have even picked up this book. It’s a good book, and I’m glad I read it, but I know next to nothing about the Mets and their players, and I like it that way.

Ron Darling was born in Honolulu, Hawaii (my second home), and was another “Ivy League student-athlete” (having attended Yale University). Daniel Paisner has collaborated with dozens of athletes, actors, politicians, and business leaders on their autobiographies and memoirs. The inside front jacket cover states: “Darling takes us inside the pitcher’s mind, illuminating the subtler aspects of the game and providing a deeper appreciation of what happens on the field”. And that is exactly what this book is about. What went on inside
Mr. Darling’s head at various points in his pitching career. The author describes his relationship with Al Jackson, his pitching coach at Tidewater, who “got me to recognize that baseball might have been a game before, but now it was also my job”. Mr. Darling also credits Al Jackson with changing him “from a fun-loving kid thinking, ‘Great, I’m making money, playing pro ball, traveling around’, to a professional athlete….He’d say, ‘What the hell do you have to be content about? You haven’t done anything. You haven’t struggled.’”
He continues: “One of the most important things Al taught me was to think about each outing as having a beginning and an end. There’s no starting slow, or ending slow. There’s only starting out at full force and finishing strong.” In the chapter titled “Getting Started”, the author states: “All my life, I’d been a baseball fan, but I hadn’t really followed major league baseball since I’d started college….I knew
my baseball history, but I fell short on my baseball present.” In describing pitching coach Dave Duncan’s way with pitchers, Ron Darling says: “As a former catcher, he was cut a little differently than most pitching coaches. He knew his stuff, but he wasn’t quite a brother-in-arms. He was more like a cousin. He could empathize with his pitchers, but he wouldn’t sympathize. He was one of the best at trying to lighten a dark mood….”

In that same chapter, titled “Dealing with Adversity”, Mr. Darling describes manager Davey Johnson’s approach, including “the gentle, fatherly tone of his voice”. Then he adds: “I nodded, hoping Davey was nearly through, but he had one more point he wanted to make….’I suggest you start getting some outs so you don’t ruin the back of your baseball card’.” Immediately the author conducts us on a journey through his thoughts: “I set it up in my head like the most meaningful inning of my baseball life…. At this level, every inning was the most meaningful inning. Every batter. Every pitch. That’s what makes us professionals.”

Later in the book Mr. Darling returns to the subject of pitching coach Dave Duncan’s approach towards pitchers in general and towards himself, Ron Darling, in particular: “…you can’t go at it like you used to and think you’re going to get people out…. We don’t want you to get twenty-seven outs a game. We don’t want you to get twenty-four outs a game. But we’re gonna get you to where you can get us eighteen or twenty-one outs and put us in a position to win.”

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

• “Joe Torre says he judges his relievers by their ability to retire the first batter they face.”
• “You throw balls over the plate early so you never have to throw the ball over the plate again in the at-bat. That’s the idea.”
• “Major league baseball players don’t pussyfoot around. If you’re stinking up the joint, your teammates will tell you…”
• “… it’s tough to win when you’re expecting to lose.”
• “Back then, there were usually only two relievers on most staffs who could pitch worth a damn.”
• “Relief pitchers are asked to do less, but at the same time, what they’re being asked to do matters more.”
• “… someone must have thought it might be helpful to have another veteran arm on the staff – even if it hung from the shoulder of a guy who could no longer get major league hitters out with anything resembling consistency.”
• “Listen to me…. As a human being, I care. But as your manager, you’ve got to start winning some f**king games. This is ridiculous.”

In “The Complete Game”, Ron Darling conveys his thoughts and feelings, at each stage of his career, very clearly. His descriptions of those innermost feelings and thoughts, particularly towards the end of his playing career, resonated with me. I’ve been there. I enjoyed reading this book. The author is “a smart guy” (a line he always hated hearing), and he has written an intelligent and coherent book. I recommend it highly.

Posted in Book Reviews | 2 Comments »

Book Review: My Bat Boy Days

The title of this book is: “My Bat Boy Days: Lessons I Learned from The Boys of Summer”. The author is Steve Garvey, and the book was published in 2008.

Until I read this book, I thought of “The Boys of Summer” as referring to the song by Don Henley. That’s the song with the line:

“Out on the road today, I saw a deadhead sticker on a Cadillac…”

But, in the context of this book, “The Boys of Summer” refers to baseball players in general, and to the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s in particular. The same ones that Tom Waits referred to in “Jitterbug Boy” (on the “Small Change” project) with the line: “I seen the Brooklyn Dodgers, playin at Ebbets Field…”

“The Boys of Summer” was the title of a 1972 book by Roger Kahn, written about how the lives of the former 1952 Brooklyn Dodgers had changed between the time he covered the team, as a reporter, and the time he tracked each of them down 20 years later.

The Garvey family was living around Tampa, Florida back then, and young Steve Garvey became a bat boy for the Dodgers (and for other teams on the Grapefruit League circuit) during Spring Training. This book is a “Back To The Future-esque” journey to the 1950’s, when Steve Garvey’s dad drove the Greyhound bus and Steve mixed with the royalty which Major League Baseball players were back then.

As the inside front jacket cover tells us:

“’My Bat Boy Days’ is his moving collection of indelible memories, fascinating profiles, and lessons learned – about the game and about life – from heroes such as Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax, and Mickey Mantle.”

It was a very different time, and his stories are of that era.

I couldn’t help but notice that a lot of the people profiled in this book: “served in the Navy in World War II”.

In describing this long ago world, Steve says: “Dad emphasized the need to be respectful, to not get in the way, and most important, to say ‘yes sir’ and ‘no sir’.”

Mr. Garvey quotes Roy Campanella, the MVP catcher, who said to him: “If you practice hard and listen to your coaches, maybe someday you’ll be a Dodger.” Then Mr. Campanella brought the discussion around to schoolwork. He advised Steve’s dad: “Joe, if Steve studies hard and practices, maybe someday he’ll be a Dodger!”

The author discusses Pee Wee Reese and his role as “Captain” of the team, saying: “They made him the ‘Captain’ because of his ability to lead the Boys of Summer like no other ever had and no one ever would again.”

It was Pee Wee Reese who told Steve Garvey: “… the key to baseball, whether you’re batting or fielding, is to never, ever take your eye off the ball from the moment it leaves the pitcher’s mitt. Sounds simple, but it’s sage advice for a kid learning the game.”

Mr. Garvey discusses the dignity of Gil Hodges, who never wound up in the Hall of Fame: “… in Brooklyn, none of the others was as popular as Hodges…. when the flight to the suburbs began to affect Brooklyn, Hodges stayed at home…. He circulated in the community, dining and shopping and running errands. He was visible. He was accessible.”

The author quotes Carl Erskine, reminiscing about one great Brooklyn Dodgers fan, Captain Joe Dowd, who had taken the Dodgers and their families around the harbors in tugboats: “Captain Dowd was nearly ready to retire and he geared his whole life around the retirement years when he could go to Ebbets Field every day, not just on his off day. The year he retired was the year we moved to Los Angeles, and it sort of typified the heartbreak of the Dodger fan for me to talk to Captain Dowd. He was broken-hearted and he never forgave the team for causing him to devote his life interest to them, and then without even asking him, they just left.”

Speaking about the passion which Jackie Robinson brought to the game, Garvey describes how Robinson: “… would analyze every aspect of the pitcher’s stance, his windup, and his delivery. He was a great student of the game. I would sit next to him and he would predict every single pitch…. by the time I was twelve he had taught me to predict pitches. It was truly one of the greatest mental baseball skills I ever learned. To this day I do it as a parlor trick while watching a game, to the amazement of those around me.”

It was Jackie Robinson who advised young Steve Garvey that baseball was “a pretty miserable way to make a buck”.

Mr. Garvey explains how he feels, rubbing elbows with his idols: “These days, when I am in Yogi Berra’s presence, like all the other greats, I pretend I belong, like I’m one of them, but to tell the truth I still feel like that bat boy honored and humbled to be in the presence of such greatness.”

The author mentions that: “…when asked what he’d want on his tombstone, (Mickey Mantle) said, ‘A great teammate’, which is what was engraved there.”

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

• “I have written this book to honor my heroes. They taught me about the game and how it should be played and lived. Those lessons were learned years ago, but they are timeless.”
• “I’m looking for a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back.”
• “’Our roots there weren’t as deep as they were in California,’ Snider wrote, ‘but they were just as strong’.”
• “…the Dodgers lost but Koufax won.”
• “’It took a Hall of Famer to keep me out of the major leagues,’ Tom Lasorda likes to say when explaining why he was sent back to Triple-A Montreal when Koufax was activated.”
• “If I have a weakness in my elbow, it is only reasonable to conclude that it is part of the same overall construction that gives me the ability to throw a ball hard…”
• “‘A big-league ballplayer, who knows he can hit and has hit well before, must never let himself lose faith in his ability to hit well again – regardless of how long any slump may last. For me and every other major leaguer who takes his baseball life and work seriously, confidence is a secret strength’.”

I enjoyed reading “My Bat Boy Days”, even though it was written by Steve Garvey, and I recommend it very highly.

Posted in Book Reviews | Comments Off

Book Review: Once Upon a Game

The complete title of this book is “Once Upon a Game: Baseball’s Greatest Memories / as told to Alan Schwarz”. It was written by Alan Schwarz and was
published in 2007.

I would like to quote the author’s biography from the inside back jacket cover:

“Alan Schwarz is the senior writer for ‘Baseball America’ magazine, the host of ‘Baseball Today’ on ESPN.com, and a regular contributor to the ‘New York Times’. His first book, ‘The Numbers Game’, was ESPN’s 2004 Baseball Book of the Year. He is a frequent on-air analyst for ESPN, National Public Radio’s ‘Talk of the Nation, and MSNBC.”

The bottom of the inside front jacket cover proclaims:

Lavishly illustrated and handsomely designed, ‘Once Upon a Game’ is the perfect gift for any baseball fan.”

“Once Upon a Game” consists of short stories, like 1 to 3 pages short, told by 35 or so “celebrities with a connection to baseball”, including Ernie Banks, Yogi Berra, Kevin Costner, Bob Feller, Ozzie Guillen, Buck O’Neil, Gaylord Perry, Charles Schulz, Casey Stengel & Joe Torre, among others.

Each of these short recollections is accompanied by 1 or 2 photographs illustrating the time and place of the story. The book is very nicely done.

There is a Foreword by George F. Will in which he describes one of his most cherished baseball memories. Interestingly, that memory “involved neither a hit nor a pitch nor a catch nor a throw. It involved an act of sportsmanship…”

Here are a few of my favorite excerpts from the book:

• “I knew then, and I know today, that winning World War II was the most important thing to happen to this country in the last 100 years. I’m just glad I was a part of it. I was a gun captain on the battleship “Alabama” for only 34 months. People have called me a hero for that, but I’ll tell you this – heroes don’t come home. Survivors come home.” Bob Feller

• “Michael (Jordan) called me on the way to the arena one day after that. He said, ‘I just wanted to tell you I love doing what I do again.’ He’d gotten tired of basketball, and baseball was just so joyful for him. ‘You guys love what you do,’ he said, ‘and that rubbed off on me.’ I truly think that getting a hit in an important part of a game for the Birmingham Barons meant as much to him that year as any jump shot in the NBA.” Terry Francona

• “But I was feeing so great. So lucky. I was getting paid to do something I loved.” Ernie Banks

• “As he wound up on the next pitch, I could read his grip on the ball and I could tell he was going to throw a screwball. I swung and hit a line drive toward the corner of the left-field bleachers. I stood at the plate and watched the ball for fear the umpire would call it foul. It landed a few feet inside the foul pole for a grand slam.” Hank Greenberg

• “I was only a high school kid, for crying out loud – and Ted Williams said I was going to play in the major leagues….most of all, you have to take hitting seriously – you can’t be a nice guy up there. It’s not a profession for the light approach…. Most of all, though, Ted – excuse me, Mr. Williams – taught me to believe in myself.” Mike Piazza

I enjoyed reading “Once Upon a Game”, and I can tell you that my dad, The
World’s Greatest Living Cubs Fan, couldn’t put this book down. He was totally
fascinated by it. I recommend it highly.

I want to thank Houghton Mifflin Company for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review.

Posted in Book Reviews | 3 Comments »

Book Review: How Bill James Changed Our View of Baseball

The book (“How Bill James Changed Our View Of Baseball”) and this book review are particularly appropriate to read and to understand at this point in time. Earlier this week the Cubs hired professional stats guy Ari Kaplan to be a member of their staff, answering to
GM Jim Hendry.

As dat_cubfan_daver posted here on VFTB, Jim Hendry’s public “Welcome Aboard” statement leads me to believe that perhaps he (Hendry) does not embrace modern statistical analysis as applied to baseball situations to the degree that the folks writing in this book do. If that’s the case then Mr. Hendry, by not being part of the solution, is defining himself as part of the problem.

We learned from Bruce Mile’s column that Ari Kaplan will answer to Jim Hendry within the Cubs front office. I hope that he will also be answering directly to the Ricketts family, either officially of unofficially.

I am not advocating the abandonment of scouting and scouting reports (aka “human intelligence”) in analyzing baseball players and baseball situations. But modern statistical analysis deserves a seat at the table. Jim Hendry and the Cubs organization will misuse or ignore this valuable tool at their peril.

The full title of this book is “How Bill James Changed Our View of Baseball by Colleagues, Critics, Competitors and Just Plain Fans”. It is edited by Gregory F. Augustine Pierce, and was published in 2007 by ACTA Sports in Skokie, Illinois.

This book consists of an Introduction by Gregory F. Augustine Pierce, 12 main essays, and Bill James’ The Last Word. The editor, Mr. Pierce, freely admits that he had never heard of Bill James until 2001.

Software Architect Dan Fox recalls reading his first “Abstract” in the spring of 1984, stating: “From that point forward, my view of the game changed to one where the primary question I asked myself was not ‘what happened?’ but ‘why did it happen?’.”

Senior Technical Writer Tom Rathkamp from Cedarburg, Wisconsin opines that Bill James “taught me that facts are irrelevant without context.” He continues, “…if Bill James wrote a book about peanut butter, I would buy it immediately”.

On that subject of “context”, Dave Studenmund, editor of “The Hardball Times Baseball Annual” includes among the things that Bill James taught him: “A pitcher’s wins and losses depend a great deal on his team’s offense”, and “Batters will have more RBIs if they bat with more runners on base”. Mr. Studenmund further notes: “Today we have remarkable websites like Retrosheet.org and Baseball-Reference.com that are fantastic resources for many fans. For that, you can thank Bill James”.

Gary Huckabay, founder of Baseball Prospectus, observes, regarding the charge that “arrogance” is often perceived by an existing power structure to the suggestion of change: “The disquieting reality is that the true arrogance is not displayed by the upstart with the new idea but by the calcified inhabitants of the positions of power”.

Engineer and business owner Ralph Caola submits: “…Bill James’ annual book made my interest blossom. The parochial outlook of a fan was transformed into the more critical outlook of an analyst….I discovered a new place for baseball in my life thanks to Bill James”.

Sam Walker, sports columnist for “The Wall Street Journal” and author of“Fantasyland” (Note from Joe: Fantasyland is a fun read and well worth your time even if you don’t play fantasy baseball) describes having sprung an intellectual trap on Bill James, “a question I’d worked up on the drive down from New York…that was designed to challenge the very notion that accurate statistics can be kept on baseball, let alone be used to evaluate player performance”. He recounts Bill James’ response: “The world is vastly more complicated than anyone can understand. Therefore everyone has understandings of it, and only fools imagine that those understandings are so complete that they’re immediately exclusive”. Mr. Walker ends his essay with a personal message for Bill James: “…I’d like to officially forgive you for lobotomizing my dad, apologize to you for all my earlier venom…and thank you for making baseball a hundred times more enjoyable
for old farts the world over”.

Steve Moyer, President of Baseball Info Solutions, says: “That’s really how Bill James changed my view of baseball, turning me into a much more intelligent baseball fan. It’s funny, between sabermetrics and fantasy baseball I’ve lost my love for one individual team. I no longer live and die by the St. Louis Cardinals or any other single franchise”.

Keith Sherer, an Attorney and Baseball Analyst from Chicago, describes the 2600 word reply Bill James sent to an email from Mr. Sherer, which included the following: “The role of lawyers in discussing crime cases in public venues…is essentially identical to the role of athletes in the discussion of sports. Not to put too fine a point on it, they are essentially purveyors of bullshit”.

Daryl Morey, Assistant General Manager of the Houston Rockets, shares some of Bill James’ baseball principles which apply to  basketball, including the following : “Past performance is the best predictor of future success….Amazingly, this principle continues to be ignored by the leadership of multiple teams….This ‘past performance’ principle…is a necessary but not sufficient condition to succeed”. Mr. Morey continues: “‘It has always been done that way’ is not a good reason to do anything”. And Mr. Morey concludes: “…he has changed my view of life in general”.

Rob Neyer, ESPN analyst and author of “The Big Book of Baseball Blunders” (Note from Joe: Also a good read if for no other reason that to see some of the comments he writes about Dusty Baker’s lineup choices) adds in part: “Bill James either changes your life or he doesn’t”.

Bill James himself, in the final essay of the book, observes: “People like me don’t have ‘mentors’; we have parole officers”. He also says: “I never understood why John Rocker became a pariah for expressing opinions that roughly 85% of baseball players privately agree with”.

And the editor, Mr. Gregory F. Augustine Pierce, in his closing statement includes: “…I follow my Cubs every year, even though they always break my heart…”

I learned a lot more about Bill James by reading the opinions and reactions of these insiders to him. I enjoyed reading this “gift sized” book very much and I recommend it highly to everyone. (Final note from Joe: I’ve also read this book and enjoyed it a lot as well)

Posted in Book Reviews, Featured | 7 Comments »

Book Review: “Take Me Out To The Ballpark”

The complete title of this book is: “Take Me Out To The Ballpark – an Illustrated Tour of Baseball Parks Past and Present” It was written by Josh Leventhal (with additional sections by Jessica MacMurray). It was published in 2000, 2003 & 2006.

This book features factual, anecdotal and photographic tours of every Major League Park, plus Minor League and Negro League Parks.

The first thing I noticed about this book is that it’s BIG. Eventually I noticed the second thing about this book: it’s shaped like a baseball diamond. How big is it? Well, it’s about 14 inches from 1st base to 3rd base, and about 16 inches from home plate to the outfield grass behind 2nd base. That’s BIG!

One of the first things the author elaborates for us are the attendance figures associated with teams that moved from one city to another. For instance, the Boston Braves increased their attendance by a factor of 6.5 in moving from Boston (1952) to Milwaukee (1953): from 281,278 to 1,826,397. Now I understand why teams move.

In discussing the “Dark Age of Cookie Cutter” stadiums (the 60′s and 70′s), the author quotes Richie Hebner: “I stand at the plate in the Vet and I don’t honestly know whether I’m in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis or Philly. They all look alike.”

Speaking of the closing of ballparks built in the early part of the century (ie. Shibe Park, Forbes Field, Crosley Field, Ebbets Field, Sportsman’s Park, the Polo Grounds, etc.), the author states: “They weren’t stadiums; they were ballparks, a community center, a home away from home.”

In a discussion of Domes and Semi-Domes the author observes: “The first covered ballfield in professional baseball was actually used by the New York Cubans of the Negro National League in the 1930s. They played many games on a field underneath the 59th Street Bridge in Manhattan.”

We learn that the Astros bragged in their program for Opening Day 1965: The searing Texas sun will still beat down, the angry Gulf winds will still howl, and the tropical rains will still fall, but not on the spectators in the Astrodome. They will sit in almost regal splendor.”

Rockies owner Jerry McMorris explains the sentiment of building a well-designed baseball facility in the downtown city core: “We made the ballpark look old, but with all the latest technology and modern conveniences.

We learn the following about Fenway Park: “Even with the expansion, the park’s 36,298 capacity ranks as the lowest in the Majors.

Additional facts about Fenway: “Sunday games were not allowed at Fenway Park until 1932”, and, “The foul territory is smaller than at any other Major League ballpark.”

The Cubs Public Address Announcer Pat Pieper ”started with a megaphone in 1916 and remained with the Cubs until his death in 1974, at the age =f 88.”

In the discussion about the Polo Grounds, we learn that “The Giants had to forfeit the opening game of the 1907 season to the Phillies when a snowball fight broke out amongst rowdy fans.”

Speaking of Shibe Park (aka Connie Mack Stadium), Richie Ashburn remarked: “It looked like a ballpark. It smelled like a ballpark. It had a feeling and a heartbeat, a personality that was all baseball….”

At Coors Field in Denver, “there is a bleacher section in left, while the ‘Rockpile’ beyond center field offers seats for $4, and kids and seniors can sit there for only a buck.”

At Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, “An 8,000-ton cooling system pumps out 1.2 million cubic feet of air per minute, and can lower the temperature by 30 degrees in just three hours.”

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

• “Beer was never sold within the confines of Forbes Field, althouh until the 1950s fans were allowed to bring their own beers to the game.
• “It has been said that, at Great American Ball Park, the cheaper the seat, the better the view.”

After completing the illustrated tour of ballyards in this book, I have come up with a list of minor league ballparks that I would really like to get to in the not too distant future. They include:

In the Midwest:
- Bosse Field, Evansville, Indiana (Independent)
- John O’Donnell Stadium, Davenport, Iowa (Cardinals “AAA” )
- Principal Park, Des Moines, Iowa (Cubs “AAA”)
- Victory Field, Indianapolis, Indiana (Pirates “AAA”)

In the South:
- Jackie Robinson Ballpark, Daytona Beach, Florida (Cubs “A”)
- AutoZone Park, Memphis, Tennessee (Cardinals “AAA”)

In the West:
- Municipal Stadium, San Jose, California (Giants “A”)
- Security Service Field, Colorado Springs, Colorado (Rockies “AAA”)
- Dell Diamond, Round Rock (Austin), Texas (Astros “AAA”)

Did I leave out any good ones?

I enjoyed reading “Take Me Out To The Ballpark” and I recommend it highly to anyone with any interest at all in the places where baseball is (and has been) played.

Posted in Book Reviews | 2 Comments »

Book Review: Baseball Haiku

The complete title of this book is “Baseball Haiku – American and Japanese Haiku and Senryu on Baseball”, Edited with Translations by Cor van den Heuvel & Nanae Tamura. It was published in 2007.

Baseball is big in Japan. Haiku are also big in Japan. Put the two together and what do you get? “Baseball Haiku”!

First, a few words about haiku. Haiku are a form of Japanese poetry. Some of the common practices of English Language Haiku are:

• 3 (or fewer) lines of 17 (or fewer) syllables
• use of a season word (kigo)
• use of a cut – to contrast & compare 2 events, images or situations
• It is said that Haiku “show” as opposed to “tell”.
• Haiku use an economy of words to paint a multi-tiered painting, without “telling all”.

Here is an example of a “typical” Japanese “explanation”:

The haiku which reveals 70 – 80% of its subject is good. Those that reveal 50 – 70% we never tire of.

So, the front cover of the book claims that “Baseball Haiku” contains “The Best Haiku Ever Written About The Game”. I can tell you that the book contains over 200 Haiku suggested by the subject of baseball.

I went through and read the entire book. I am going to share two of my favorite baseball haiku from this collection:

rainy night
a hole in the radio
where a ballgame should be

and

dog days of summer
twenty-three games
out of first

I enjoyed reading the haiku themselves, and I enjoyed reading about the haiku artists, too.

“Baseball Haiku” is divided into 3 sections titled “American Baseball Haiku and Senryu”, “Japanese Baseball Haiku”, and “Extra Innings”.

“Extra Innings” includes a discussion of American and Japanese Baseball, a Baseball and Haiku Book List, and an Index of Poets.

I recommend “Baseball Haiku” to anyone who appreciates baseball in the context of nature, and who wants to conjure up word pictures of the same.

Posted in Book Reviews | 9 Comments »

Baseball Shorts

The title of this book is “Baseball Shorts – 1,000 Of The Game’s Funniest
One-Liners”. The author is Glenn Liebman. It was published in 1994.

The inside back jacket cover describes author Glenn Liebman as “…the author of
‘Sports Shorts: 2,000 of Sports’ Funniest One-Liners’ as well as numerous sports
magazine articles. He lives with his wife in Albany, New York.”
As the title states, this is an entire book of one-liners. They are all funny,
but some are funnier than others. I enjoyed reading every one of them.

Here are just a few of my personal favorites from the 1,000:

- “The secret of managing a club is to keep the five guys who hate you from the
five who are undecided.” Casey Stengel

- “My autograph may not be worth much now, but five years from now it will be
worth even less.” Tommy Lasorda

- “We’re fine. The only time we lose our concentration is when the umpire
says, ‘Play ball’.” Lou Piniella, asked if his team was mentally prepared

- “We’ve been married 28 years, and we still go out dining and dancing three
times a week. She goes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; I go on Tuesdays,
Thursdays, and Saturdays.” Tommy Lasorda

- “It isn’t the high price of stars that is expensive; it’s the high price of
mediocrity.” Bill Veeck

- “A lot of long relievers are ashamed to tell their parents what they do. The
only nice thing about it is you get to wear a uniform like everybody else.” Jim
Bouton

- “I’ve always believed in God, but I wasn’t too clear on the other details.”
Bill Veeck

- “Florida is for old people and their parents.” Harry Dalton, on why he
favors Arizona as a spring training site

- “The more French women I meet, the more French I learn.” Hubie Brooks, on
playing in Montreal

I enjoyed reading Baseball Shorts. It brought many a smile to my face, and I
recommend it highly.

I want to thank Contemporary Books, Inc. for making a copy of this book
available to me for reading and for review.

Posted in Book Reviews | 2 Comments »