This book is incredible.
I had an opportunity to preview this book a few weeks ago, and it is fantastic. The research is great and the book is full of stories about some players that you've heard of (Willie Mays), some you never heard of (Steve Dalkowski), and some that you wouldn't have imagined had a baseball background (Jack Kerouac).
The author is also a graphic artist, and as such, has included mock-ups of baseball cards for the people he profiled. He based those on the infamous tobacco cards from the early twentieth century. I have linked to his website in a previous post, and it is awesome as well.
This is truly one of the most enjoyable baseball books that I have read, and I look forward to getting a hard copy of the book as soon as it is available.
From Fidel Castro, to Dwight Eisenhower; From Frank Sinatra to Dizzy Gillespie; from the 'Rabbi of Swat' to 'The Black Babe Ruth', the stories and illustrations will draw you in, and will leave you wanting much, much more.
Gary Cieradowski also introduces us to several key people responsible for making baseball an international game as well. People like Hector Espino, Eiji Sawamura and Wu Ming-Chieh.
There is a chapter featuring the infamous 1919 Chicago Black Sox and there performances after their banishment from Major League Baseball.
And what historical baseball book would be complete without delving into some of the characters of the game, like Eddie Gaedel, Moe Berg, George Sackett and the incomparable Oscar "Farmer" Dean. And let us not forget the Stanzak Brothers from Chicago, a semi-pro team of brothers, aged 15 to 33, led by their father Martin.
And, let's not forget the artwork. If you ever wondered what the Brooklyn Bay Parkways uniform looked like, well he has a drawing of George Sackett wearing the Dukes jersey. How about the Covington Blue Sox? Look for Humpty Badel.
Seriously folks, if you get a chance to stop into your local bookstore, leaf through a copy (it should be available beginning next week) and I'm pretty confident that you'll pick up a copy for yourself, and maybe even one for a friend as well.
Or click on the link to order your copy today...
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