2 comments about The Bill James Gold Mine.

1. I admit I have a strong bias in favor of the Gold Mine and the people involved in it. Many of them are friends of mine, but my 5-star reviews of past editions were based on merit, not friendship. I believe the Gold Mine serves a couple of important purposes in the sabermetric marketplace. It's entertaining, accessible, and it keeps Bill's work on the bookshelves -- too much of the sabermetric work being done right now is inaccessible to the vast majority of fans and almost unreadable to anyone with literary standards. That's where the Gold Mine comes in. This year's edition is on par with previous editions, so, in my estimation, the 5-star review is warranted. My challenge is to find something new and honest to say about it.
   
   This year's Gold Mine is, by its own admission, a collaboration among Bill James, John Dewan, editor Greg Pierce, and Baseball Info Solutions (among others). Dave Studeman of The Hardball Times is involved as well. The upshot is that the book is less of a compendium of Bill's essays -- subscribers to his site already get a high volume of essays -- and more of a revival and update of the STATS Scoreboard, using contemporary metrics, supplemented with some of Bill's best essays from 2009. The package is a generous 341-page sample of what's available to subscribers of Bill's website for $3 per month.
   
   Sum: Just like previous editions, the 2010 Gold Mine is a collection of fascinating observations of small but telling details (nuggets), and concise insights drawn from those details, presented in a reader-friendly manner, in addition to Bill's more substantive essays. Unlike much of the academic sabermetric work being done, the Gold Mine's sabermetric work is highly readable, with the reader's entertainment kept in the foreground. Simply put, it's a book you'll actually read, not just shelve as a reference resource.
   
   Who is the book for? In all candor, it's for most serious baseball fans but it's not for everyone. At the risk of oversimplifying the issue, there's a distinction between statheads who put writing first and those who put science first. The Gold Mine strikes a good balance between the two. Bill's no slouch as a sabermetrician, and it would be hard to argue that he's not still the most creative and interesting sabermetrician in the game, but it's fair to say he's a writer more than a scientist. What's more important to you, the writing or the science? The questions or the answers? If you favor good writing and interesting questions, then the Gold Mine is a good buy.
   
   Recently there has been some discussion in the sabermetric community about burnout, ennui, and so on -- a perception that too much energy is being spent on minutiae, or that effective presentation of data has been given too little attention by the more scientifically inclined analysts. The burnout has largely been expressed by the writer-first group, who might also be concerned (consciously or not) that the sabermetric field has passed them by. The cutting edge of sabermetrics might in fact be inaccessible to the liberal arts crowd and the Gold Mine won't appeal as much to professional or academic sabermetricians, but the vast majority of baseball fans, including liberal arts-minded sabermetricians, will find the Gold Mine to be perfectly accessible, insightful, and -- because of Bill's essays -- worth reading again years later, and, because the Gold Mine puts communication first, the book might give them some consolation that field has not passed them by. Bill is still at the top of his game. He just doesn't hide his light under a bushel.



2. I've been reading Bill James since stumbling on his Baseball Abstracts back in the early 1980s. The Gold Mine is not intended to the be the kind of systematic review of players and teams that the Abstract was. For that, you should buy the Baseball Prospectus. The Gold Mine does have a section on each team, but there is no attempt to sum up the 2009 season or look ahead to the 2010 season. Instead, the team entries consist of a one-page statistical overview, which gives the basic stats for "Key Players" and "Key Pitchers." The only non-standard stat given is Win Shares. The rest of the team entries are taken up by "nuggets," which consist of brief entries describing telling -- or oddball -- facts about the team, such as the 2009 Red Sox having given up the worst stolen base percentage allowed in the history of the American League. As I understand it, James did not research or write any of these, although he apparently looked at them all and, perhaps, did some editing. The nuggets are of varying quality and, frankly, if the book was composed entirely of them, I don't think it would be worth buying.
   
   For my money, the best part of the book is the 16 essays by Bill James. They vary in length, but together take up about half the pages of the book. The essays cover all kinds of subjects, from an in-depth analysis of the two 2009 Cy Young races -- surprisingly, he agrees with the choice of Lincecum in the NL, but thinks Hernandez may have been a better choice in the AL -- to reflections on watching a replay of game one of the 1974 World Series. The essays are tremendously entertaining and have the unmistakeable Jamesian voice. If they dropped the "nuggets" and had twice as many essays by James, this book would be an easy five stars for me.
   
   As I understand it, some -- or maybe all -- of this material originally appeared on James's subscription web site. There are a couple of places where it's clear that some of the essays were written during, rather than after, the 2009 season. For instance, the essay on "Percentage of Full Career" cites Albert Pujols and Carlos Beltran as having "near-perfect careers." Given that Beltran ended up missing half the 2009 season, he's no longer a good example. But that's a quibble and, overall, the level of editorial work on this year's edition is clearly better than last year, when the book was marred by a number of typos.
   
   So, if you like James, but don't subscribe to his web site and haven't seen these essays before, I think you will enjoy them.

5 comments about 2010 Baseball Forecaster (Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster).

1. This is a really useful & thorough book for anyone playing fantasy baseball. Along with the BP annual, the Baseball Forecaster will see me through the draft & season. Great value and I'm sorry I didn't have it last year.



2. Amazing knowledge if you've never read if before. I plan on buying every year.



3. The Forecaster has gone the way of many of the big baseball books. Ron Shandler has basically outsourced the book write ups to his authors and does very little of that himself. Whereas the Forecaster was once known for its fearless projections, the Forecaster never goes out on a limb anymore. It used to be fun to see who Baseball HQ would mark as the next breakout star or the high-profile player due for a major collapse. Maybe the criticism from being wrong got to the HQ guys, but they refuse to stick their necks out on players anymore. Thus, the book has lost a lot of its fun. It's still a great resource and contains excellent statistical analysis, but their won't be any surprises. The guy that hit 30 homers in 2009 will be projected to hit around 30 again this year. Yawn.



4. For baseball fans that like a non-conventional look at players, trends, teams and stats, the annual Baseball Forecaster is one of my must-have publications. Shandler has again assembled a talented and interesting cast of writers and analysts and gets this in our hands just in time to beat the mid-winter ("we need baseball") blues! Just as pitchers and catchers are reporting to spring training, Baseball Forecaster gives us an informative look at the upcoming season.



5. every year i await this annual which is my main guide for all my fantasy leagues ...its great and there is no doubt ron shandler is an innovator but sometimes even a person like me who has been reading this for years can get lost with all the technical terms. the blurbs for each player also could be more decisive in my opinion for example for players it will say UPSIDE 2007 DOWNSIDE 2009, which really does not tell me his opinion at all and that is what im looking.

2 comments about The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America's Pastime.

1. Anyone who was raised with a love of baseball... when the grass was still real... when baseball was still truly America's pastime... and was governed by "THE UNWRITTEN RULES... or CODES" as much if not more than the actual written rules... will love this book. Anyone that was raised when much of the grass was ASTRO Turf... but was lucky enough to have a prior generation's lover of baseball teach them the way a professional really played AND RESPECTED this great game... will love this book. This is a true unveiling of what really went on between the lines... in the clubhouse... and away from the field. The great game of baseball had its own unwritten laws... and thus the players and managers were able to police themselves... when the official rule book didn't provide proper justice. When should one team throw a bean ball at the other to reciprocate for a hit batsman? Who should be hit by a retaliatory pitch... the offending pitcher?... the hitter who watched too long as his ball flew out of the park?... the hitter who "hot-dogged" around the bases?... the guy who slid too hard into a base?... the batter who took too long getting into the batter's box?... the batter who walked in front of the catcher?... the player who was stealing signals? The questions and situations are almost endless... and almost all of these questions are answered in this book. When there's a fight on the field which members of the team should join in?... Should any of the team not engage? What type of cheating is ok? Spitballs?... Scuffed balls?... Pine tar/Vaseline/slippery elm?... Corked bats?
   
   How long should a *PAYBACK-GRUDGE* be carried and still be acted upon. In one such case fireball Hall of Famer Bob Gibson waited for fifteen years AFTER HIS RETIREMENT to hit a batter he felt he owed... in an old-timers game. Now don't get me wrong some of the "RULES" still exist today... but the author makes it clear that due to the enormous money in today's game... agents... and most players becoming more like "visitors" on a team as compared to lifetime veterans in the old days... the full book of rules are no longer enforced.
   The author astutely points out major sections of the *CODE* such as when is it okay to steal... when is it okay to plow into the catcher... and of course if a "code/rule" is broken there... the resultant verdict leads to "bean-ball" retaliation rules. Interspersed with rules and historical proof are great quotes from players like Hall of Famer "BIG-D" Don Drysdale who said: "THE PITCHER HAS TO FIND OUT IF THE HITTER IS TIMID, AND IF HE IS TIMID, HE HAS TO REMIND THE HITTER HE'S TIMID." There is the sage wisdom that Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige passed on to future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan that would help shape Ryan's record breaking career: "ONE OF THE BEST PITCHES IS THE BOW-TIE PITCH." "Ryan had no idea what Paige was talking about. A bow-tie pitch, explained the ancient ballplayer, was "WHEN YOU THROW IT RIGHT HERE" - HE THEN MIMED A HORIZONTAL LINE ACROSS HIS ADAM'S APPLE, AS IF SLASHING HIS OWN THROAT- "WHERE THEY WEAR THEIR BOW TIE."
   
   A true fan will be mesmerized when many of the great baseball fights are re-created including the game on August 12, 1984 between the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres. SAN DIEGO INFIELDER KURT BEVACQUA LATER CALLED IT "the desert storm of baseball fights." "TOTAL DAMAGE: SIX BRUSH BACK PITCHES, THREE HIT BATTERS, FOUR BENCH-CLEARING INCIDENTS, TWO FULL-ON BRAWLS THAT NEARLY SPIRALED OUT OF CONTROL WHEN FANS RUSHED THE FIELD, NINETEEN EJECTIONS, FIVE ARRESTS, AND A NEARLY UNPRECEDENTED CLEARING OF THE BENCHES BY THE UMPIRES." Additionally one player out of uniform on the disabled list was sitting in the broadcasting booth... and he even wound up down on the field fighting.
   
   There are also codes on how a pitcher being removed from the game by the manager should act. There is an absolutely hilarious transcription that covers parts of three pages (90-92) involving Dodger manager Tom Lasorda removing pitcher Doug Rau (Lasorda was miked) that has more four letter words than would be emitted by a drunken sailor who hit his finger with a hammer. The enjoyment derived from this book for any old school baseball fan is limitless. I'll just list the chapter descriptions and you will have an idea of the fun awaiting you here.
   
   1) KNOW WHEN TO STEAL `EM 2) RUNNING INTO THE CATCHER 3) TAG APPROPRIATELY 4) INTIMIDATION 5) ON BEING INTIMIDATED 6) SLIDE INTO BASES PROPERLY 7) DON'T SHOW PLAYERS UP 8) RESPONDING TO RECORDS 9) GAMESMANSHIP 10) MOUND CONFERENCE ETIQUETTE 11) RETALIATION 12) THE WARS 13) HITTERS 14) OFF THE FIELD 15) SIGN STEALING 16) DON'T PEEK 17) SIGN STEALING (STADIUMS) 18) IF YOU'RE NOT CHEATING, YOU'RE NOT TRYING 19) CAUGHT BROWN-HANDED 20) DON'T TALK ABOUT A NO-HITTER IN PROGRESS 21) PROTECT YOURSELF AND EACH OTHER 22) EVERYBODY JOINS A FIGHT 23) THE CLUBHOUSE POLICE.



2. Professional baseball has a long tradition self-governing its participants to abide by some convoluted "Code" of behavior, which for the most part, is understood and followed; no questions asked. However, things can get out of hand rather quickly when opposing teams have a difference of opinion in interpreting that "Code"; that's when the fun begins.
   
   Jason Turbow and Michel Duca have compiled an extensive array of "Code Violations" throughout baseball history, and how everything played out between the warring factions; often, peace never quite gets restored, and fueds fester for many bitter seasons. Usually, when some unwritten protocol viotation pops up, peace is eventually restored; quite often the offending party's own teammates dole out the prescribed corrective action, and the problem never rears its ugly head again.
   
   For any fan of the game who finds this kind of stuff fascinating, this book is filled with enough anecdotes to entertain and amuse, from start to finish. It gives a wonderful perspective on what you'll never find in the boxscores; however, it's as much a part of the game as anything that goes into the official record books; and in many cases, its impact has shortened some careers, while adding a colorful piece of folklore for others.
   
   It's the perfect book to get any fan of the game riled up for a new season. Now you know there's much more to the game than the hits, runs and errors taking place between the lines; there's much, much more.

2 comments about Harry the K: The Remarkable Life of Harry Kalas.

1. Many across the country may not know "Harry the K", but nonetheless, you need to read this book! You may start out not knowing who he was, and it pains me to use that in the past tense, but you likely knew his voice.
   
   This is a story about a solitary, humble man, whose tremendous kindnesses and generosity became legend to the millions who came to know him.
   
   People outside of the broadcasting reach of Philadelphia heard his Campbell Chunky Soup commercials, his Coors Light promotions and many, many others.
   
   He picked up the mantel when John Facenda, the man known as NFL Films' "Voice of God" left us. He did Notre Dame football and basketball. He was the voice of Westwood One's weekly NFL radio broadcast.
   
   But, to those of us in reach of the Philadelphia airwaves, Harry was for thirty-eight years our closest friend and the play-by-play announcer for the Phillies.
   
   At the end, as Mike Jack Schmidt said in his eloquent eulogy, "If you can look past Ben Franklin and William Penn, Harry Kalas might have been the greatest person to ever grace Philadelphia".
   
   I consider myself somewhat a student of history. Schmidt was right!
   
   This is a book that will interest you, captivate you, make you laugh, anger you and make you cry; the latter especially so if you are from Philadelphia or its surrounds. In fact, the final three chapters are absolutely heart-wrenching!
   
   This is not a book about baseball. It's not a book about Philadelphia. It is a very well researched and written book by Randy Miller about a wonderful, wonderful fun loving, good man, who had flaws like the rest of us. But, boy, what virtues! As for now, I'm "outta heeeeere!"



2. Randy Miller has put together a brilliant, revealing and pointed portrayal of the life and times of the baritone grand master. He has, in a manner respectful to Harry and his family, told the stories that his other colleagues in the Philadelphia media were too afraid to tell. The reader also learns a lot about the lives of Richie Ashburn and Chris Wheeler, related to and independent of their interactions with Harry. The book is a must for any lifelong Phillies fan.

1 comments about Baseball America 2010 Prospect Handbook: The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars from the Definitive Source on Prospects (Baseball America Prospect Handbook).

1. For one thing anyone who has ever purchased this book before or has picked up their magazine knows that baseball america has the best knowledge and insight into the teams farm systems and prospects. This is my go-to-guide help in my fantasy league, plus it lets me show off how much i know about my favorite team. if you want to know what teams or just your favorite team has going on down on the farm and what their teams lineup will look like 5 yrs from now pick up a copy for this is the holy grail of baseball prospects

5 comments about Kiss It Good-Bye: The Mystery, The Mormon, and the Moral of the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates.

1. While at times an entertaining and even very informative book - especially as regards the history of the city of Pittsburgh and it's citizenry during the 1950s - it also suffers from the author's never-ending whining and negative perceptions of today's kids vs. kids of the '50's, today's ballplayer vs. ballplayers of the 50's, etc.
   
   You know the routine: kids in the 50's had it harder and did more work than todays kids who do nothing but sit inside and play video games, baseball players roomed together unlike today's prima donnas who room alone, today's ballplayers are only in the headlines for all the wrong reasons unlike all of the goody-two shoes from the 50's (uh, maybe because reporters in the 50's would never rat out ballplayers as there was a different mindset back then), et al. I'm not claiming that none of his complaints have merit, just that they are neverending and distract from the story.
   
   Now I'm the same age of the author and also grew up in the same area, so I know whereof he speaks, but give it a rest for cripes sake. I got the point about the twentieth time. At times, it almost seems as though the author - who helped start Fox News - is more interested in pushing his conservative agenda to support his belief that America was a better place before we lost our values and integrity then he is in telling the story. It is not until the second half of the book, beginning with the chapter titled 'Inning Eight' that the story of the 1960 Pirates begins to take precedence over the author's opinion.
   
   As for the 'exposé' as to why Vernon Law was never again a great pitcher after the 1960 World Series - zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.



2. I received an advance copy of the book and was skeptical because I'm not a Pirates fan. But after starting the book I really got into the story. The Pirates were one messed up baseball organization and to read about their turnaround and dramatic World Series win turned out to be really interesting.



3. I read this book as an advance copy from the publisher. I'm not a huge baseball fan, but I do love the game. I generally don't read books about baseball for that reason. I found this one interesting because it covered the lives of two men in the same city at the same time - one a star Pirates player (Vern Law) and the other just a fan of the game (the author). The history of the city of Pittsburgh was kind of fun to read too. All of this happened way before my time,but I really enjoyed it because it was so much more than just another sports book. There is a moral contained in here about doing the right thing and rising above the average. I think there is a bigger take away then just another recounting of a very famous game a long time ago. Overall, very enjoyable!



4. Kiss It Good Bye is a great story that kept me on the edge of my seat. It was also a nice trip back to the America of the 1960's, my boyhood years. The author is a wonderful writer and story teller. I knew a little about Vern Law and enjoyed the background information about his growing up years in Idaho and how he picked the Pirates as the team to play for right out of High School. I also loved feeling the emotion the Pittsburg fans must have felt going up against the Goliath Yankees in the World Series. It had been the Dodgers against the Yankees for me. I wouldn't have thought it possible to enjoy a baseball book based on one player, one team, and for the most part one season and one game. But I did! For me it was a home run.



5. This book took me back to those hot summer days listening to the Pirates on KDKA. Good history of that wonderful season with a lot of insight into the players. Also very good local history. The only negative I found in the book was the amount of time that John Moody spent talking about himself and his family. I bought the book to read about Vernon Law and the Pirates!

5 comments about Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game.

1. I hate watching baseball. I was so glad when my kids stopped playing. So I was surprised to find this book so riveting. It is a masterpiece of non-fiction writing. Billy Beane would be a great character to play, although the role needs someone like a young George Clooney, rather than Brad Pitt. The fact that Billy Beane claimed to be the best athlete in the A's workout room says it all.



2. In the early 1990s Billy Beane, the GM of the Oakland A's, combined Bill James statistical data for baseball junkies, hired Harvard graduates and brought the power of technology to baseball.
   
   Neccessity is the mother to invention. The Oakland A's ownership did not have the money to compete for players in a league with no salary caps. And he figured out a way to build a competitive baseball team using statistical analysis.
   
   Up to that point, baseball relied on having 100s of scouts watch players and rate them numerically with KPI's like hitting, hitting for power, speed, arm stregth and fielding ability. The rating's input was only as good as the amount of times the scout saw the the High School or College player. And the ratings were subjective, unique to each scout, so there was no way to compare ALL scouted players. Scouting main objective was to provide a GM input in the amateur draft.
   
   Beene did not have the money to employ enough scouts to cover the country. So he decided to only draft college players as opposed to HS players because the former had a rich and accurate database of statistics.
   
   It is more complicated than this - but Beene believed that the most important hitting skill was "on base percentage". So he drafted players in each round based on this object number
   
   He went on to use Harvard graduates to refine the objective number. One iteresting refinement was actually divided each ball park into a gride using thousands and thousands of rows and columns. By doing this he deducted hits that an average fielder should have made an out and added hits that an exeptional fielder denied a hit.
   
   His concepts now are widely used. So much in fact that the "playing field" has been leveled and the richer teams now again have the advantage.
   
   Michael Lewis is a great writer. His other books have all been successful. The latest of which was called "Blind Side" that was made into a movie and Sandra Bullock just one a Golden Globe for here performance in the movie.



3. MONEYBALL is a great book. Michael Lewis is a writer who knows how to keep the reader moving through the book. There is a lot of detail in this text and it is written with excitement that keeps you flipping the pages. There is a constant sense of, "What is going to happen next?" or "Why did they do that?" and Lewis is able to present already interesting information in an even more interesting format that keeps your eyes glued to the page: "All he saw was that one major league baseball team treated him like a used carpet in a Moroccan garage sale..." When you have language such as this, coupled with information as to how an under-bankrolled baseball team produces winning records, you have one awesome book.
   
   Statistical information proves that numbers are better at determining what is successful than what the eye can see. Purchase this book if you want to learn a few things and, simultaneously, be entertained in the process.



4. The book is an easy and very interesting read. Michael Lewis is a great writer. Although he is writing about a topic I have little interest in (baseball) I was still drawn into the characters of the story and the business lessons the story offered.



5. Excellent book! Even if your not a baseball fan you will love this book.
   
   Have you ever felt like everyone one around you is dumb and they are doing things the most inefficient way possible? Even when you or others try to show them the error in their ways with cold hard facts to back it up, but they continue doing it their way saying things like "we've always done it this way" "if it's not broke don't fix it" etc.... Billy Beane felt the same way, so he went out and showed everyone just how efficiently he could run a baseball team. He had less money, assistants with ivy league degrees instead of baseball pedigree, discarded/has-been/no-name players, and he some how found a way to win tons of games over multiple seasons and get tons of value out of seemingly nowhere.
   
   I really liked this book!

No comments about The Batboy.

5 comments about Baseball Prospectus 2010.

1. Baseball Prospectus has had some personnel changes and the current roster is stronger in mathematicians than writers. This edition is dull. The imagination is all in the statistics, whereas the team sections tend to be boring recaps of the 2009 season that could have been written by anyone; there's no insight here. I usually look forward to this annual and tear through it greedily, but this year it keeps putting me to sleep.



2. every year baseball prospectus just gets better and better it is one of a few must have annuals i MUST HAVE. i lug this big book everywhere i go in the month leading up to my fantasy draft. you cant beat the individual commentary and i love the player comparisons for each player which is unique to prospectus. last year i won my league and i couldn't have done it without this book.



3. Baseball Prospectus puts-out a great book each season. Great insight and statistical analysis for players and teams. Very helpful for those in fantasy baseball leagues too.



4. This book is outstanding! The service thru Amazon was terrific! The offer of 2 day delivery was good for me. Good stuff!



5. If you're a fan of the game and don't read BP, you might be misinformed, if not ill informed, about baseball. Great stuff, as usual. Highly recommended and thankfully there's an index this year.

5 comments about Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend.

1. I had extremely high expectations for this book. They were met. Let me explain.
   
   My late dad was a NY Giants fan who told me myth like stories of watching the great Willie Mays at the Polo Grounds. Later he and I watched Willie Mays when was with the NY Mets and nearing the end of his career. People have complained about Willie's diminished skills back then, but his coming to the NY Mets gave me and my dad a chance to bond at Shea Stadium, while rooting for our team, in a way that can only happen in baseball.
   
   This book is not just any book. It is a book that my dad and I would have shared and talked about if he were still alive. Willie Mays and baseball are two things that brought my dad and I closer. My dad would have approved of this book.
   
   I read this book in three nights. Even though I knew a lot about Willie Mays this book gave me insights into the man I had not picked up in other books.
   
   Even though this was authorized by Willie Mays, the author brings in a host of outside sources including fellow ball players, reporters, baseball officials and sponsors who knew Willie Mays. While the overall portrait of Willie Mays is good the author does bring up instances which are critical of Mays. While the book is kind to Willie it is also fair and does not hesitate to show when Willie Mays was not the mythical hero my dad talked about but a man with flaws.
   
   I especially enjoyed the sections on Willie's early days in the Polo Grounds and when he was traded to the Mets in 1972 and 1973. My dad told me stories about Willie when he first came up to the Giants and I learned a lot about that time in this book. I remember when Willie came to the Mets and the book gave me a lot of information about that time period as well.
   
   I am impressed with the extensive notes section in the book and the extensive bibliography and index. The notes and the bibliography sections are much more detailed than I would expect to find in sports biography. A good index is critical in a book like this because fans will want to go directly to aspects of Willie's life that interest them. While I don't have the index in my advanced copy of this book I did look at it on Amazon's book preview above and it is thorough.
   
   My only complaint is the career stats page or to be more precise the lack of a real career stats section or real career stats. The career stats section is one page and it does not list his playoff stats. The book could also have included states from the Minor Leagues and Willie's time with the Black Barons in the Negro League. Baseball is about stats. More should have been included.



2. This is an amazing story about the life of baseball legend Willie Mays. It was interesting and easy to read and gave you a deeper look into this man's life. It was an excellent biography.



3. Much has been written about Willie Mays, this is among the best. Extremely detailed, this book seeks to put Mays' life in a historical context. It is particularly good at addressing questions about why Mays wasn't as far in the forefront of the struggle for equality as was Jackie Robinson
   
   Perhaps the one thing I took away from the book was a reminder of the joy of playing the game that Mays exibited when he took the field. This book is one of the great sports biographies, taking it's place alongside Recent bios of Clemente and Gehrig. Essential sports biography



4. Almost three decades after they retired from baseball and after a black man has been elected president of the United States, it is sometimes difficult to remember what players such as Willie Mays and Hank Aaron went through. They started playing in the segregated Negro Leagues and were pioneers in the integration of baseball and American society. Through their careers, they saw opportunities open up for black players as coaches, managers and executives. Yet, as late at the middle 1980's baseball executive Al Campanis stated on national television that blacks "lacked the necessities" to be effective executives.
   As Aaron states in his book, "I Had a Hammer" and is restated in this book, some of the significant and unsung heroes of the integration of baseball were some of the teammates of the trailblazing blacks. Aaron mentions his white teammate that with bat in hand; escorted the white players when they walked in a southern town. In this book, an incident with Mays is described where on his first night in a strange town when he was segregated from his white teammates, some of them snuck up the fire escape and spent the night in his room so he wouldn't be lonely. Given Willie's innate shyness, he had no better first manager than Leo Durocher, a man that seemed to know exactly what to say to Willie.
   I also commend Hirsch for including incidents of racism against Willie and other black players over a decade after integration. One of the most incredible incidents in this despicable bag is when a white Giants player was heard saying after a disappointing year, "The problem with this team is that there are too many Negroes." Given that four of the players on the team were Juan Marichal, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda and Willie Mays and all of them are in the baseball hall of fame, this has to rank as one of the dumbest comments about a baseball team ever recorded. It would be clear to anyone that the dead weight on that team was white and Hirsch was very kind not to quote the player by name.
   In my opinion, Mays is the best all-around baseball player of all time, no one has ever played the field better than he did. One of the most amazing items in this book is that Mays and some of those who watched him all argue that his famous catch against Vic Wertz was not the best fielding play he ever made. It is unfortunate that there is no footage, because it is hard to imagine how anything could have been better than that. I personally would have to see it to believe it. His statistics at the plate are also excellent, they would have been even better had he done what other great hitters did, take a day off on a regular basis. There is also little doubt that if Mays had played in a home park more favorable to right-handed hitters and if he had not been drafted, his career home run total would have been near or over 800. Hirsch also does not neglect stories about Willie's talents running the bases, not just stolen bases but doing things like slowing down to draw a throw so that a teammate behind him can take an extra base.
   This is one of the best biographies of a sports legend that I have ever read, Hirsch is kind to Willie, but not overly so. What he does is point out how generous Willie was and also how naive he was at times. This trait was the source of many of Willie's difficulties off the field, including in his personal life and relationship with the Giants ownership. After you read some biographies of sports legends your opinion of them is diminished, not so in this case. I watched Willie play on television several times and have seen many of his highlights. He is a great man and this book will rightly add to his already considerable legend.



5. I am a big baseball fan, and admittedly not a Giants fan, but knew Willie Mays was one of the greatest ballplayers in the history of the game. I chose to read this book to further my education of baseball history, as I look forward to Spring every year, waiting for baseball to begin.
   
   I did get something else besides learning about baseball with this book. I received an education in the lives of Black Americans in the early 20th century. Of course I knew of the Civil Rights movement, and the major flash points of it, but never before have I read in great detail on how poorly these Americans were treated, right here on American soil. Wow, were my eyes opened. I did shed some tears reading about some of these accounts. I also had a few tears reading about how some of Willie's White teammates didn't let color separate them, and climbed in the window and spent the night with him in his Black hotel room, on the floor on his first night up to the Giants' farm team.
   
   The book accounts all of Willie's life, his complicated but supportive family circle, and his friendships and relationships throughout his baseball career. I don't feel it is necessary to list all of the topics covered in this book, because if you are a baseball fan, you will want to read it. Baseball fans have heard about "the catch" and "the shot heard round the world", yes it's all here. The story of the early days of Major League Baseball, and of the rivalry and passion that it was about is illustrated in this book. If you are interested in learning more about the early days of the Civil Rights movement, I definitely encourage it. I think it is important to know, so history does not repeat itself upon any group of people.