1001 Reasons to Love Baseball

Rating:
Summary: A Baseball Book Like No Other
Review: On P. 205 of 1001 Reasons To Love Baseball, Danny Peary and MaryTiegreen list 17 classic books which have become iconic reverences to baseball. They could have included one more - their own magical, wondrous, can't put it down adoration of the game. 1001 Reasons to Love Baseball is different from any other baseball book I've ever seen. I found myself not just reading it but carrying it around, stealing chances to forge on to the next batch of reasons among the 1001 to love baseball. It is a book to read, and ponder. You take in a "reason" and then have to sit with it for a moment or two - for example, Reason # 431 "a fastball smacking into a mitt" or # 440 "that you don't need strikes, just the `illusion of strikes,' to get batters to swing."
These nuggets are interspersed with riveting encapsulated biographies of the majestic figures of the game: Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Nolan Ryan, Barry Bonds - 30 "Greats" each of whom is offered as a reason to have this passion about the game. This is a book with appeal to new converts and seasoned fans alike - You suspect a postcard, but it turns out to be a textbook of the history, the geography, the ambiance, and the aficionado appeal of baseball. It is spiced with information which is too special to be called mere trivia - for example Reason # 381 chronicles the only mother-son duo to play professional baseball (you'll just have to check it out with your own copy to learn who these two people are). 1001 Reasons To Love Baseball is adorned with photographic treasures so deftly chosen and with such artful layout that even pictures you've seen before take on a new texture. There is a shot of Van Lingle Mungo's (Reason # 478) windup which is both statuesque and is also an impossibility as far as throwing a baseball. And to top it all off are quotes which have become part of baseball's music. Hank Aaron (Reason # 29) said "The pitcher has got only a ball. I've got a bat." I didn't know he had said that. And now I can't imagine him saying anything else. Peary and Tiegreen's book captures that kind of sensibility - the shared, unspoken, wise, and very pure reasons why so many of us love baseball. It is a must have.

Rating:
Summary: A Baseball Book Like No Other
Review: On P. 205 of 1001 Reasons To Love Baseball, Danny Peary and MaryTiegreen list 17 classic books which have become iconic reverences to baseball. They could have included one more - their own magical, wondrous, can't put it down adoration of the game. 1001 Reasons to Love Baseball is different from any other baseball book I've ever seen. I found myself not just reading it but carrying it around, stealing chances to forge on to the next batch of reasons among the 1001 to love baseball. It is a book to read, and ponder. You take in a "reason" and then have to sit with it for a moment or two - for example, Reason # 431 "a fastball smacking into a mitt" or # 440 "that you don't need strikes, just the 'illusion of strikes,' to get batters to swing."
These nuggets are interspersed with riveting encapsulated biographies of the majestic figures of the game: Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Nolan Ryan, Barry Bonds - 30 "Greats" each of whom is offered as a reason to have this passion about the game. This is a book with appeal to new converts and seasoned fans alike - You suspect a postcard, but it turns out to be a textbook of the history, the geography, the ambiance, and the aficionado appeal of baseball. It is spiced with information which is too special to be called mere trivia - for example Reason # 381 chronicles the only mother-son duo to play professional baseball (you'll just have to check it out with your own copy to learn who these two people are). 1001 Reasons To Love Baseball is adorned with photographic treasures so deftly chosen and with such artful layout that even pictures you've seen before take on a new texture. There is a shot of Van Lingle Mungo's (Reason # 478) windup which is both statuesque and is also an impossibility as far as throwing a baseball. And to top it all off are quotes which have become part of baseball's music. Hank Aaron (Reason # 29) said "The pitcher has got only a ball. I've got a bat." I didn't know he had said that. And now I can't imagine him saying anything else. Peary and Tiegreen's book captures that kind of sensibility - the shared, unspoken, wise, and very pure reasons why so many of us love baseball. It is a must have.