Win or Go Home: Sudden Death Baseball

By Gary R. Parker

It has happened only eight times in the last 120 years-two teams tied for first place on the final day of the regular season square off in a winner-take-all playoff to determine a division or pennant... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786410965
• ISBN13: 9780786410965
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: McFarland Publishing
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Unique, intelligent, well-written viewpoint

As a female with very little knowledge of baseball, I found Mr. Parker's choice of describing 8 historical and pivotal sudden death games from 1946 to 1995 interesting and enlightening. Names, rivalries, ballparks and terms that I had vaguely heard about were brought sharply into focus with Mr. Parker's vivid descriptions, photos, cartoons and interviews. The author's obvious love of baseball shines through with his painstaking research and historical details. I highly recommend this book to anyone from the uninformed novice to those obsessed with the sport of baseball.

My Surprise Book of the Summer

For a newcomer to the sport of baseball I was surpised to find that my first book on its history would be so enjoyable and compelling. One of the things I liked best about the book was its short story feel. You can pick it up, read a chapter chronicling one of the eight playoffs and feel like you've been there. Mr. Parker is a very good host on these journeys. For a subject inherent with repetitive action his descriptions of game play are not redundant but rather cleverly done. He takes you to the moment. I could almost hear the crack of the bat, the players' voices, the umpire's drone. His research was obvisouly extensive enough to allow him to find and use the most pertinent and colorful quotations. Just when you think you may be nearing a passage where stats might slow your read, he mixes in a quote or details previously known only to insiders.Being new to the sport, I did not get lost in the crowd of players, managers, and owners that make up baseball. Although there is a myriad of changing chacters within each chapter, he easily manages to keep them clear in your mind with his facility of language and command of the subject. Even though most readers know the outcome of these games and some readers know the times in which they ocurred, the author successfully presents a much deeper look at the people and the inside stories that surrounded these historic moments in baseball.I'd recommend this book for anyone who likes knowing more about a different side of our American history, baseball, or colorful, inspirational and sometimes explosive characters.