The Ol' Ball Game: A Collection of Baseball Characters and Moments Worth Remembering

Essays discuss Eddie Gaedel, Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Cool Papa Bell, Mickey Mantle's longest home run, famous plays, and the invention of the curve ball

Two new collections of baseball writing for fans not too busy watching the game. In Into the Temple of Baseball Grossinger and Kerrane have lined up Roger Angell, the late Bart Giamatti, Stephen King, and others for an assortment of essays, fiction, art, and even song. The Ol' Ball Game features a roster of baseball historians and newspeople who recall some great players, teams, and games of the major and Negro leagues. These two anthologies compare well with the writing in books such as Jerome Holzman's Fielder's Choice (HBJ, 1979. o.p.), The Red Smith Reader (LJ 7/82), and the collections in Spitball magazine and the annual SABR Baseball Research Journal (Soc. for American Baseball Research) . However, they pale beside Charles Einstein's three classic Fireside Books of Baseball ( LJ 8/56; 1956-. o.p.); gems from those books, including Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First" and Ring Lardner's "Alibi Ike," appear in Einstein's Baseball Reader (1987. 4th ed. pap.). Extensive baseball collections will want these two new books but other libraries can skip.
- Morey Berger, formerly with Monmouth Cty . Lib., Manalapan, N.J.
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