News
Ranking the Best Baseball Books of 2023
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Not listed is the author’s latest, Baseball’s Memorable Misses: an Unabashed Look at the Game’s Craziest Zeroes, a Sports Publishing book.)
Just because the New York Yankees haven’t been to the World Series since 2009 doesn’t mean they have disappeared from the hearts of their fans.
In fact, the legends and feats of the Bronx Bombers live on in literature — especially the baseball books of 2023.
There are volumes on Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Roy White, and Aaron Judge, the record-setting 1998 team, a historical look at Yankee firsts, and an often-hysterical memoir from best-selling author Marty Appel, a long-time Yankees publicist with many books about the ball club.
Christmas Wish List: Collectors offer their favorite cards, collectibles
Also among this year’s baseball books are a biography of longtime Giants owner Charles Stoneham, an autobiography by erstwhile Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, and a farewell tribute to the Oakland Athletics, about to become the first team to represent four different cities.
And let’s not overlook a long-overdue tribute to baseball scouts, who deserve but don’t have a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
With the holiday buying season in full swing, here’s how they rate:
1. Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments by Joe Posnanski (Dutton, 377 pp.), $29. A series of essays that reflect some of baseball’s most memorable oddities and ironies, this well-crafted volume covers everyone from Rick Camp to Roger Maris, with Stan Musial’s five-homer day and the Harvey Haddix perfecto-that-wasn’t all included. The author parlays a breezy, conversational style with the controversy created by his personal ranking of 50 moments he loves. Readers are free to disagree.
Also See: The Best Baseball Books of 2022
2. Baseball: The Turbulent Midcentury Years by Steven P. Gietschier (Nebraska, 568 pp.), $44.95. During the middle of the 20th century, baseball battled the pressures of The Great Depression, the Second World War, and the problems facing the country — from segregation to labor issues. Written by a historian with long ties to The Sporting News during its heyday as a baseball tabloid, this hefty hardcover should be required reading for all baseball fans who think they know their stuff. The Hank Greenberg chapter is especially engaging.
3. Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams by Adam Lazarus (Citadel Press, 304 pp.), $29. Williams and Jerry Coleman were the only ballplayers who served in both World War II and Korea. Future U.S. Senator John Glenn did as well, flying combat missions over North Korea with Williams as his wingman in a matching Panther jet. This is a story not only of survival but also of brotherhood — two men from different backgrounds who took enormous chances in service to their country. Author Adam Lazarus has hit a literary home run in uncovering and telling this little-known story.
4. From the Front Row: Reflections of a Major League Baseball Owner and Modern Art Dealer by Jeffrey Loria (Post Hill Press, 432 pp.), $30. Although his Miami Marlins never won a division title, the author was the team owner when the Fish won a world championship as a wild-card team. His hardcover autobiography contains more reflections on art than baseball but explores his feelings on the changing game and especially the process of changing managers without causing chaos in the clubhouse. His thoughts on hosting an All-Star Game and two World Baseball Classics also command attention — especially since baseball literature lacks books written from an owner’s perspective. Especially an owner who fired a manager who had just won a Manager of the Year Award (see Joe Girardi).
5. Pinstripes by the Tale by Marty Appel (Triumph, 288 pp.), $28. A Yankee fan who became a team historian, Marty Appel could have been wearing his own pinstripes as a writer, publicist, and TV executive since 1968. This hardcover, his 25th book, finally features his personal reactions to the people, plays, and places he encountered — from Yankee Stadium to the Hall of Fame. He had ties with the families of Babe Ruth, George Steinbrenner, and many more — plus experiences that ranged from expansion drafts to World Series parties. His comments about baseball broadcasting and even smoking in the ballpark are especially interesting.
6. The Bill James Handbook, Walk-Off Edition, (ACTA Publications). After 34 years of producing the Bill James Baseball Handbook, ACTA Publications has created a special Walk-Off Edition featuring new Bill James essays, plus reconsiderations of past Handbook articles by Sports Info Solutions staff. The new paperback refers to past ideas and predictions offered in the Handbook with an analysis of whether they were hits or misses. The stats and analysis presented in three decades of Handbooks can still be found online (probably faster and better) at SportsInfoSolutions.com, StatoftheWeek.com, and FieldingBible.com. According to ACTA Publications, which produces the Handbook, the new book might lead to “extra innings” for the team of writers, historians, and analysts involved. Bravo for a job well done!
7. The Baseball Hall of Fame Almanac (H.O. Zimman, 592 pp.), $31.99. Bios and year-by-year records of all Hall of Famers, plus a listing of years they were elected, make this annual paperback a must-have reference. Managers, umpires, and executives are included, too, with pictures of all, making this book an invaluable aid to all baseball historians.
NEW RELEASES: New baseball card sets just in time for Christmas
8. Smart, Wrong, and Lucky: The Origin of Baseball’s Unexpected Stars by Jonathan Mayo, foreword by Dave Dombrowski (Triumph, 256 pp.), $28. Finding, signing and nurturing players is the key to success for major league teams, though sometimes clubs find diamonds in the rough by accident. The author, a mainstay for MLB.com, traces the origins of eight players — including future Hall of Famers Albert Pujols and Mookie Betts — after talking to scouts, coaches and others who helped them along the way.
9. 62: Aaron Judge, the New York Yankees, and the Pursuit of Greatness by Bryan Hoch, foreword by Aaron Boone (Atria Books, 368 pp.), $26.99. Before Judge smashed his toe on the Dodger Stadium cement, he was on pace to duplicate or even exceed his 62-homer MVP season of 2022. His absence also showed how vital his presence is to the success of the Yankees. This volume traces his steps to the majors, details his success of last season, and suggests he might soon — unlike one-year wonder Roger Maris — become an all-time legend in the Bronx.
10. Penguin Power by Ron Cey, foreword by Peter O’Malley (Triumph, 256 pp.), $30. A slugging third baseman who belonged to the longest-running infield foursome in baseball history, the author spent 17 years in the majors, played in the All-Star Game, and was on the field for Hank Aaron’s 715th home run. His humorous memoir is packed with stories about Tommy Lasorda, Steve Garvey, and even salary negotiations in the age before free agency. An index would have been nice, though.
11. Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess by Evan Drellich (Harper, 347 pp.), $32. The inside story of Houston’s electronic sign-stealing scheme during the 2017 World Series is told in this tome by the writer who exposed it. Among other things, he says there was widespread suspicion of cheating by several other clubs, including the Red Sox and Dodgers, and that MLB was monitoring all video rooms in the wake of the scandal. The author adds that Rob Manfred considered stripping the Astros of their 2017 world championship but decided against it because there was no precedent for such action.
12. A Damn Near Perfect Game: Reclaiming America’s Pastime by Joe Kelly with Rob Bradford (Diversion, 229 pp.), $28.99. The best inside-baseball book since Ball Four, this riveting first-person hardcover is a series of opinionated editorials written by a veteran pitcher still active in the game at 35. A two-time world champion, Kelly could have a new career as a writer who not only knows the game but pulls some pretty good punches. He’s even told Rob Manfred his own versions of how to fix the game. If nothing else, check out the last chapter: supporting comments from colleagues from Alex Cora to Kyle Schwarber.
13. Home Runs: Tales of Tonks, Taters, Contests, and Derbies by Andy Strasberg, foreword by Duane Kuiper (August Publications, 122 pp.), $14.95. Strasberg fills a void in baseball literature with a paperback packed with detail about the late, lamented Home Run Derby TV show, the exhibition-game battle between long-time teammates Hank Aaron and Warren Spahn, and assorted offseason barnstorming adventures of big-leaguers. Nice job, Andy!
14. Jazz Age Giant by Robert F. Garratt (Nebraska, 215 pp.), $29.95. Before Horace Stoneham took the New York Giants to San Francisco, the team was owned by his father, Charles. This well-done hardcover brings readers back to the Roaring ’20s, when baseball had two eight-team leagues, and the Giants were one of the best. This is a book about John McGraw, Charles Ebbets, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, and the Jazz Age and the Great Depression that followed. But it’s mostly about a fun-loving baseball owner who skirted legal troubles to make the most of a colorful era that spawned speakeasies, Dixieland jazz, and The Great Gatsby.
15. Do You Believe in Magic? Baseball and America in the Groundbreaking Year of 1966 by David Krell (Rowman & Littlefield, 245 pp.), $34. There was no presidential election in 1966, but it was still a watershed year for the country and its national game. While NASA was shooting off rockets, Frank Robinson was showing the world that he was not “an old 30,” taking a Triple Crown in his first year with the Baltimore Orioles. It was the last year of Sandy Koufax, but the Dodgers couldn’t crush the Birds in the World Series. The author, a former MSNBC producer, has the perfect background to blend world events with the game on the field. He missed only one thing: pitcher Tony Cloninger becoming the first National League player to hit two grand slams in one game.
16. Daybreak at Chavez Ravine: Fernandomania and the Remaking of the Los Angeles Dodgers by Erik Sherman (Nebraska, 249 pp.), $32.95. Although Fernando Valenzuela won 173 games in 17 seasons, most of them with the Dodgers, he is best-remembered for 1981, when he started Opening Day at age 20, won his first eight games, and went on to become the only pitcher to win the Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year in the same season. The Mexican lefty, notoriously private as a player but an outspoken presence on Spanish-language radio, later helped the Dodgers heal a rift with the local Latino community, upset when uprooted by Dodger Stadium.
17. The St. Louis Cardinals: Everything You Need to Know by Ed Wheatley (Reedy Press, 56 pp.), $17. By far, the most beautiful baseball book of the year is actually a glorified yearbook packed with sidebars, tidbits, and handsome color pictures that trace the history of the Redbirds through 19 pennants and 11 world championships. All the stars are here — from Stan Musial to Bob Gibson and Albert Pujols — plus awards, stats, quotes, baseball cards and more. It’s perfect for fans of all ages.
18. The New Ballgame: The Not-So-Hidden Forces Shaping Modern Baseball by Russell A. Carleton (Triumph, 246 pp.), $30. This clever hardcover reads like a series of first-person blogs covering everything from the advent of the designated hitter to Ted Turner’s SuperStation — game-changing events long before analytics, wild cards, and interleague play became twinkles in the author’s eye. Carleton brings his family into his writing, making readers feel like personal friends in covering the vast changes in the game (and quite a few, like the Manfred Man ghost runner, that were half-vast).
19. The Legend of the Mick by Jonathan Weeks (Lyons Press, 214 pp.), $22.95. Woody Allen would call this paperback Everything You Wanted to Know About Mickey Mantle But Were Afraid to Ask. It has stats, anecdotes and stories, including the subject’s ban from baseball after accepting a job as a greeter in Atlantic City. Mantle’s salaries, tape-measure homers and carousing ways are all detailed in a tome Yankee fans will cherish.
Also See: Top Mickey Mantle cards for collectors
20. Road to Nowhere: The Early 1990s Collapse and Rebuild of New York City Baseball by Chris Donnelly (Nebraska, 356 pp.), $34.95. With few exceptions, baseball is a game of cycles, with players and teams riding peaks and valleys from one season to the next. In New York, both the Yankees and Mets had reasons to celebrate in the ’80s but reasons to regroup in the ’90s after injuries, multi-year contracts, and poor player performance killed lofty expectations. The author, a master of interviewing and research, paints a perfect picture of the battle for the city between its two teams.
21. The 50 Greatest Players in Braves History by Robert W. Cohen (Lyons Press, 346 pp.), $32.95. Even the Boston Beaneaters are included in this well-done hardcover, which not only ranks players but includes bios, best years, best games, and notable achievements of each. Readers might argue with the sequence but not the choices — nor the extensive space devoted to Hank Aaron. Even current Braves Max Fried and Ronald Acuna, Jr. are included.
22. Boston Red Sox Firsts by Bill Nowlin (Lyons Press, 227 pp.), $7.86. Of the nearly 100 books that carry Bill Nowlin’s byline, this may be the best. An easy-to-read paperback, it not only features Fenway Park but other Boston ballparks, plus award winners, foreign-born players, and even ethnic origins — and even unusual achievements (more home runs than strikeouts, players hitting for the cycle, brother tandems, etc.). And how about players who wore No. 9 before and after Ted Williams, not to mention once in the same game?
23. Goodbye Oakland: Winning, Wanderlust, and a Sports Town’s Fight For Survival by Andy Dolich and Dave Newhouse (Triumph, 255 pp.), $28. Kudos to the authors for crediting Carl Finley, cousin of absentee owner Charlie Finley, for serving as a one-man front office when the A’s won three straight world championships. As a former team executive, Andy Dolich saw the good and bad, including controversies on and off the field, a string of Hall of Fame players, and the visionary Finley, who realized how free agency and arbitration would hurt the team. With the A’s about to leave town for good, this hardcover explains what went wrong.
24. Sons of Baseball: Growing Up With a Major League Dad, by Mark Braff, foreword by Cal Ripken, Jr. (Rowman & Littlefield, 211 pp.), $24.95. Living in the New York area helped the author, who found five sons of former Yankees among the 18 players he interviewed for his clever hardcover. Most of those he chose wanted to but didn’t follow the footsteps of their famous dads, so don’t look for the Griffey, Bonds, Guerrero or Bell families here. But the tales of their triumphs and trials — especially dealing with absentee dads — make a great read.
25. Suds Series: Baseball, Beer Wars, and the Summer of 1982, by J. Daniel (Missouri, 280 pp.), $29.95. Forty years ago — an eternity in baseball — there was no interleague play, no ghost runner in extra innings, and no Division Series or endless postseason tournament. Bud Selig owned the Brewers, Gussie Busch owned the Cardinals, and Cal Ripken Jr. was just starting his streak of 2,632 consecutive games played. Although Rickey Henderson stole a record 130 bases and Reggie Jackson won a home run crown, neither reached the World Series. Instead, it was a beer company battle of WhiteyBall (a team that hit just 67 homers) vs. Harvey’s Wallbangers, with Herzog prevailing over Kuenn. The author takes us through the tumultuous season with a month-by-month chronology capped by details of an exciting seven-game Fall Classic.
26. The 1998 Yankees by Jack Curry (Twelve, 275 pp.), $30. Led by future Hall of Famers Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, the ’98 Yankees won 125 games and deserved to be called the greatest team ever, according to the author. Even manager Joe Torre, who kept things calm despite bombastic owner George Steinbrenner, reached Cooperstown. Veteran pitchers David Cone, David Wells and Andy Pettitte kept the team in every game while Bernie Williams, Paul O’Neill and Tino Martinez joined Jeter in producing powerful support. As a result, the team’s 125-50 record (with postseason included), is engraved inside their World Series rings. A veteran writer and analyst for print and broadcast outlets, Curry became a prime witness as he covered the club at home and on the road.
27. When the Babe Went Back to Boston by Bob LeMoine (McFarland, 285 pp.), $39.95. Like Willie Mays and Hank Aaron years later, Ruth started and ended his career in the same city, albeit with a different team. He had a short stay in Boston, where he hoped to parlay his playing career into a managerial stint, but proved to be a big draw on a bad ballclub (38-115). In addition to Ruth, the author features Judge Fuchs, who owned the Braves, and Fenway, the Red Sox home last visited by Ruth the previous summer. The best chapter is the one describing the aging slugger’s final spring training, including the train ride that got him there, after the owners of the Yankees and Braves worked out a deal allowing him to slip through waivers.
28. Roy White: From Compton to the Bronx by Roy White and Paul Semendinger, foreword by Marty Appel (Artemesia Publishing, 247 pp.), $29.95. A durable outfielder who won two rings and a pair of trips to the All-Star Game, White hit .271 during a 15-year career spent entirely in the Bronx. Overshadowed by Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and Thurman Munson, he was a quiet but dependable Yankee who survived the tough streets of Los Angeles and a bout with polio before reaching the majors. He also managed to fulfill his military obligation when his reserve unit was called up to help during the 1970 postal strike. Written in concert with a dedicated Yankees fan, this book reveals that the Yankees wanted to make White a platoon first baseman and explains why he twice skipped a World Series victory parade.
29. New York Yankees Firsts by Howie Karpin (Lyons Press, 228 pp.), $19.95. With three ballparks, 27 World Series appearances, and 40 pennants, the New York Yankees have had more than their share of “firsts.” The author, also known as an official scorer and occasional broadcaster, tells us here that Lou Gehrig was the first Yankee to hit for the cycle in the Bronx, that the Yankees played the Marlins in their first interleague game, and that Bill Sudakis was the first Yankee to hit a grand-slam during the two years the team played home games at Shea Stadium. He lauds Don Mattingly’s record of six slams in a season but neglects to mention that he never hit another before or after. Still, it’s a fun read, even for non-Yankee fans.
30. The Tao of the Backup Catcher by Tim Brown with Eric Kratz (Twelve, 289 pp.), $30. Teams need backup catchers — players like Charlie O’Brien, Eddie Perez, and Jim Essian, who sit more than they play but sometimes hook up with starting pitchers who tolerate their good-field, no-hit style because of a certain rapport. Current Angels manager Phil Nevin was one of them, along with author Eric Kratz and a myriad of others. In 19 seasons as a pro, Kratz picked up a plethora of stories, shared in this clever, often-funny paperback.
31. Field of Magic by John Cairney (McFarland, 205 pp.), $29.95. Curses, hexes, superstitions, and other oddball occurrences are as old as the game itself — as John Cairney proves in this entertaining and educational paperback. This compact paperback is packed with stories of mascots (human, animal, and artificial) and other alleged good-luck charms, plus popular and little-known fetishes and jinxes. He missed Willie Tasby’s refusal to wear spikes with lightning in the air, but he famously caught Rico Carty’s habit of placing lit candles in his hotel toilet to help with his hitting.
32. The Ultimate St. Louis Cardinals Time Machine by Martin Gitlin (Lyons Press, 198 pp.), $18.95. Their red uniforms are not the only thing that makes the Cardinals colorful. Their history is just as eye-catching, from Rogers Hornsby and Dizzy Dean to Stan Musial, Lou Brock and Bob Gibson. This information-packed paperback, written in chronological order, details the 11 world championships, playoff appearances and personnel moves that made the Cards one of the game’s best teams for decades.
33. Baseball’s Endangered Species by Lee Lowenfish (Nebraska, 308 pp.), $34.95. There’s no category for scouts in Cooperstown but there should be. Until that changes, this information-packed hardcover will have to suffice. It covers everyone from Branch Rickey, who found Jackie Robinson, to Tom Greenwade, who signed Mickey Mantle, and thousands in between. The veteran author wisely includes Mel Didier, Red Murff, Jim Russo, Paul Snyder, Art Stewart, among other scouting luminaries, in this well-written, well-researched hardcover. It proves beyond any doubt that scouting consists mainly of guessing.
34. Baseball at the Abyss: The Scandals of 1926, Babe Ruth, and the Unlikely Savior Who Rescued a Tarnished Game by Taylor (Rowman & Littlefield, 220 pp.), $36. With baseball still licking its wounds from the Black Sox Scandal, no-nonsense Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker for allegedly gambling and game-fixing. But Babe Ruth, spurred by agent Christy Walsh, followed with his 60-homer season and saved the game the way Cal Ripken Jr. did after the devastating 232-day player strike ended in 1995. Dan Taylor details the little-known scandal and tells how Walsh saved the day — and the national pastime.
35. Banana Ball by Jesse Cole with Don Yeager (Dutton, 262 pp.), $29. The Minor League Club That Could, the Savannah Bananas, became a nationwide draw with their brand of barnstorming for fun. The team created dance routines and played by its own rules, allowing an out to be made if a fan caught a foul ball, for example. Far from baseball’s answer to the Harlem Globetrotters, the Bananas actually do lose games — even though they try to win. But they always have fun, throwing out a first banana instead of a first pitch and sometimes sending players to bat in crazy costumes. The author is the founder of Fans First Entertainment and president of the ballclub.
36. Spoke: A Biography of Tris Speaker, by Charles C. Alexander (McFarland, 361 pp.), $29.95. The greatest centerfielder? Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Ken Griffey Jr., and Andruw Jones are all near the top, but the author of this detailed paperback makes a strong case for Tris Speaker. A Texan who starred for the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians, Speaker was player-manager of the world-champion Indians in 1920 but was arguably a better player than a manager, as this book suggests. The volume also devotes space to a game-fixing scandal allegedly involving both Speaker and Ty Cobb — and costing both their careers as managers.
37. One Season in Rocket City: How the Huntsville Stars Brought Minor League Baseball Fever to Alabama by Dale Tafoya, foreword by Sandy Alderson (Nebraska, 188 pp.), $29.95. Once a sleepy cotton town that became the home of the Marshall Space Flight Center two years after NASA was created in 1958, Huntsville attracted engineers, corporations, and baseball — landing a Double-A franchise that fed fresh talent to the Oakland A’s of the ’80s. This hardcover tells how private companies and dedicated politicians made it happen.
38. The Story of the Red Sox by Chad Finn and the Boston Globe staff (Black Dog & Leventhal, 432 pp.), $22.70. This handsome hardcover is a coffee-table book that pays homage to one of the game’s fabled teams, with many full-color pictures and many more rare and historic ones. Ideal for any fan of baseball history, it begins even before Fenway Park’s 1912 opening and continues through the glory years of Hall of Famers Joe Cronin, Lefty Grove, Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and Jim Rice.
39. The Ballpark Bucket List by James Buckley Jr. (Epic Ink, 176 pp.), $19.99. Most books are written before the patron buys them, but this one is different — from the leather cover to the ballpark descriptions and tidbits. Each ballpark section has room for a fan to rate the player of the game, predict future Hall of Famers, record what food and souvenirs were purchased, and indicate the date, attendance, weather, and game companions. There’s a spring training section too.
HONORABLE MENTION
Sid Gordon, An American Baseball Story: A Jewish Boy’s Journey from the Brooklyn Sandlots to Major League Baseball (BookBaby, 372 pp.), $17.39
A Whole New Ballgame: The Story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League by Sue Macy (Henry Holt, 144 pp.), $13.99
The New York Mets (Sports Illustrated, 232 pp.), $18.33
Welcome to the Circus of Baseball by Ryan McGee (Doubleday, 259 pp.), $29.
The Last Miracle: My 18-Year Journey with the Amazin' New York Mets by Ed Kranepool (Triumph, 260 pp.), $30
The Cup of Coffee Club by Jacob Kornhauser (Rowman & Littlefield, 212 pp.), $18
Tales From the Dugout by Tim Haggerty (Cider Mill Press, 360 pp.), $15.26
Jacks: The Most Incredible Home Run Seasons in MLB History by Jed Dukott (BookBaby, 194 pp.), $13.95
Mallparks: Baseball Stadiums and the Culture of Consumption (Cornell University Press, 324 pp.), $49.95
The Voices of Baseball: The Game’s Greatest Broadcasters Reflect on America’s Pastime (Rowman & Littlefield, 364 pp.), $36
Baseball in Huntsville by Mark McCarter (The History Press, 112 pp.), $23.99
The Franchise: Chicago Cubs by Bruce Miles and Jesse Rogers (Triumph, 256 pp.), $28
Branch Rickey and the Gospel of Baseball: Righting the Story of America’s Pastime by James E. Dillard (McFarland, 192 pp.), $39.95
Bill Virdon: A Life in Baseball by David Jerome (McFarland, 259 pp.), $39.95
Baseball in the Mahoning Valley by Paul Kovach (History Press, 173 pp.), $23.99
Joe Cambria: International Super Scout by Paul Scimonelli (McFarland, 306 pp.), $39.95
Eastern Shore League: Extra Innings by Mike Lambert (Arcadia, 128 pp.), $23.99
Opening Day in Milwaukee: The Brewers Season Starters, 1970-2022 by Matthew J. Prigge (McFarland, 261 pp.), $35
— Long-time SCD columnist Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, N.J., is working on his 41st book, Home Run King: The Remarkable Record of Hank Aaron, to be published next spring on the 50th anniversary of Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s record. Contact Dan via ballauthor@gmail.com.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, N.J., is a long-time SCD contributor who also writes baseball for forbes.com, Latino Sports, Ball Nine, and USA TODAY Sports Weekly. His latest book is “The New Baseball Bible: Notes, Nuggets, Lists, and Legends From Our National Pastime.” Dan’s email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
