The Book of Baseball Literacy: 3rd Edition: Nearly 700 People, Places, Events, Teams, Stats, and Stories-Everything You Need to Know in One Massive Bo

By David H. Martinez

UPDATED FOR THE 2015 SEASON Lose yourself in all the marvelous memories and hallowed history of America's national pastime. From the gloveless pioneers of the 1840s to the strife-ridden headlines of the 2000s, this comprehensive reference offers nearly 700 important baseball yarns, stats, and stories in a style as lively as the game itself. Written by SABR member and former baseball broadcaster David H. Martinez and praised by critics as "thoroughly enjoyable" (Booklist) and "instructive and fun" (USA Today) and even selected as required reading for a college course on baseball history, The Book of Baseball Literacy puts over a century and a half of legends and lore, right in your mitt. It will settle arguments and provoke them, answer questions and ask them. It's a must for veteran baseball fans-and a perfect way to get up to speed on baseball history for newcomers.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0615516912
• ISBN13: 9780615516912
• Release Date: August 2011
• Publisher: David H. Martinez Books
• Length: 394 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Essential reading for the hot stove months

Ordinarily, winter spells doom for the baseball fan. Waiting for pitchers and catchers to report at the end of February can be an excruciating exercise. The tiny scraps of baseball information scattered in the back pages of newspapers are never enough.If you see yourself in the previous paragraph, I prescribe Mr. Martinez's "The Book of Baseball Literacy." It might save your life this January. The work is packed with anecdotes, biographies, definitions, and descriptions essential for a comprehensive mastery of baseball. The writing style is clear and entertaining, and, by organizing the book into a series of short entries (each typically spanning one-half to two pages), Martinez makes it easy for readers to pick the book up for five minutes or five hours at a time.Martinez doesn't ignore the novice fan, either. His explanations and descriptions avoid jargon typical of other baseball reference books, while also managing to tackle the material in a manner that also satisfies the experienced fan of the game.Highly recommended reading!

Will answer all of your baseball questions

I read the first edition of this book, and found that it answered a ton of questions I'd long had about baseball, like how the AL came about and why the Astros had to play 28 straight road games in 1992. It's a great gift for baseball fans.

I Positively Recommend This Book

This book is packed full of interesting and exciting baseball stories and is fun to read. It's a good information resource and is loaded with baseball history and statistics. I would recommend this book for the die-hard as well as the casual baseball fan.

A grand slam!

A great book for a great sport! I'm ginving it to everyone I know who loves baseball.

An excellent look at everything about baseball

The Book of Baseball Literacy is the kind of book that you can pick up and put down anytime. It has fun and informative biographies of important baseball people, plus team histories, descriptions of ballparks, explanations about statistics, and a lot more. I consider myself a knowledgable baseball fan, but even when the book discusses things I thought I already knew, there's always a story or fact that I'd never heard before. The author isn't shy about injecting opinions and funny stories, and that makes it fun to read, even when I disagree with him. I highly recommend it to any baseball fan. - Kevin Mintz