Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Legends: The Truth, the Lies, and Everything Else
by Rob Neyer
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Book Summary Information
Author: Rob NeyerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-04-01
ISBN: 0743284909
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Fireside
Accessories:
- Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Blunders: A Complete Guide to the Worst Decisions and Stupidest Moments in Baseball History
- Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Lineups : A Complete Guide to the Best, Worst, and Most Memorable Players to Ever Grace the Major Leagues
Book Reviews of Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Legends: The Truth, the Lies, and Everything Else
Book Review: Another solid effort
Summary: 4 Stars
You can count on Rob Neyer for an interesting, informative and entertaining read when it comes to his Big Books. This is his third in the series (Lineups and Blunders being the first two). While it's interesting, I think it's the least interesting of the three. It's not necessarily Neyer's fault.
The premise of the book is that Neyer takes some legendary tales and tracks them down (much easier today thanks to the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) retrosheet web site and some digitized newspapers), trying to prove whether or not they're true. And, if so, to what extent.
Sometimes it turns out the tale is basically true with just a few minor errors. But, who really cares whether the score was 6-5 instead of 5-4, whether the home run was hit in the third inning instead of the fifth inning or if the incident occurred in August rather than July?
Neyer and the book are at their best, however, when he proves a tale couldn't possibly have happened.
Here's an example: Pitcher Nellie Briles tells the story that shortly after he joined the Pittsburgh Pirates, he was pitching in a game with the tying run on second base with two outs in the ninth inning. A left-handed pull hitter was at the plate, but second baseman Bill Mazeroski insisted upon playing up the middle, despite Briles' objections. The hitter singled through the hole, Clemente fielded the ball and threw out the potential tying run at the plate. After the game, Mazeroski explained to Briles that he and Clemente had been working on that play all year.
Sounds like a great story, but Neyer couldn't find any game where the situation closely resembled what Briles described.
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