Outsider Baseball: The Weird World of Hardball on the Fringe, 1876-1950

by Scott Simkus

Outsider Baseball is the story of a forgotten world, where independent professional ball clubs zig-zagged across America, plying their trade in big cities and small villages alike.  Included among the former and future major leaguers were mercenaries, scalawags, and outcasts. This is where Babe Ruth, Rube Waddell, and John McGraw crossed bats with the Cuban Stars, Tokyo Giants, Brooklyn Bushwicks, dozens of famous Negro league teams, and novelty acts such as the House of David and Bloomer Girls.             Legends emerged in this alternate baseball universe and author Scott Simkus sets out to share their stories and use a critical lens to separate fact from fiction. Written in a gritty prose style, Outsider Baseball combines meticulous research with modern analytics, opening the door to an unforgettable funhouse of baseball history.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author worked on the Strat-o-Matic Negro Leagues set. He is trying to evaluate the talent levels of amateur, semi-pro, and other non-affiliated pro teams of earlier baseball using a system he developed (STARS) and about half the book is devoted to this work. The other half is stories and history of barnstorming, semipro, and Black baseball teams. Simkus was taking a stand that a lot of baseball fandom was turning away from, trying to look for the truth about the ‘outsider’ leagues. He is largely taking the statistical analysis view here—for instance, there’s a lot of debunking about the Jackie Mitchell story and he points out that there were many other women, better women, playing outsider ball.

(He also makes the point that TV killed off the outsider leagues even more so than integration did.)

[Chris Witt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scott Simkus hits it out of the park (crap. awful pun.) with this book that details baseball as it existed outside of Major League Baseball.
The post-Jackie era meant that outside talent would be gobbled up by MLB, bringing about the death of those leagues and traveling teams.
But there are characters and stories worth knowing about here.
If you love baseball history and want to know more about what was going outside of the MLB before the end of World War II, this will be an illuminating read.
Simkus was the author of the Outsider Baseball Bulletin, which was a really entertaining read he would email out periodically a few years ago.
A talented writer with a gift for story-telling while maintaining humor and avoiding things getting dry, I really hope we get more work from him in the future.

[John I · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hoped for more. I love semi-pro baseball, but Simkus did not do a very good job with this book. He spent way too much working with a rating system (STARS) that doesn't make much sense when he should have been telling stories and showing people what outsider baseball was like back then.

There are some interesting and informative chapters like the ones on Buck Lai and Jimmy Clinton, but it is badly organized and there are chapters that do not need to be in there. He uses chapter six to how with STARS how the Union Association was not a legitimate major league but: A) Bill James already did that and B) The Union Association has nothing to do with outsider baseball.

It's rated this highly only because he had good subject matter to work with. Given a couple of years to research and write, I could do a better job.

[Larry Hostetler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting study of history of non-MLB. A bit too SABR-stat driven for my taste, but the premise is trying to determine the relative quality of leagues and individuals other than in the NL and AL.

Because of the breadth of the subject it was difficult to maintain focus after the formation of the two Major Leagues. Pre-radio/TV the proliferation of independent leagues, teams, touring groups, and other baseball in the U.S. alone makes continuity difficult.

The book looked not just at history and competitive level but also at characters, the business, and even some interesting interjected facts (Chuck Connors, women players, longest throw contests etc.).

Well-written, especially when telling a tale, I very much enjoyed the book, in spite of its being pedantic (I say as one pedant to another).

[Brandon Woosley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scott Simkus has done a great deal of research on fringe professional baseball from the late 1800s and the first half of the 1900s, and he has developed a methodology for trying to give context to the deeds of the players, teams and leagues he highlights. I will be interested to see if anyone else analyzes his methods and can comment on their value. It was a fascinating read, digging into so many stories of obscure subjects who were as interesting, or more interesting, than the major leagues of the time. Glad I read it.

[J R · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was more of a comparison of how good players or teams were to major league teams of the time. Based on the title I was hoping for a history book telling stories about teams and players. You do get some of that in this book, but a lot of the book is based on rating teams and players.

[Jeffrey Bumiller · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was disappointing. I am looking forward to reading other books on the same subject, hopefully with better writing from a more likeable author.

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, if a little rambling at times

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

. There is a lot of information in this book and if you like baseball and the history of baseball you will really like this book in this book Outsider Baseball you find out about the teams and players who played a level below the major leagues for one reason or another. Some would get a try out with a big league team but if they did not produce in a given time they were gone. Some never even wanted to play for a major league team because they could make more money playing for their local team and a travel team. Some would play against big league players when they would do there barn storming tours. He also talks about the different leagues from the south, mid-west, pacific coast, and the ‘negro leagues’. He talks about different players some who were famous and some of the myths and some of the facts. He also compares players with a modern day system of stats which I thought was interesting. He spends a little time on a team called the “House of David”, which was a famous minor or barn storming team that a few big league players were on. They even had championship games in the mid-west that would bring out some of the best teams and some of though were biracial. I got this book from net galley.

[Dan Hirsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic read for anyone with an interest in Baseball History. The basic concept of the book is to show just how different the structure and talent distribution of organized baseball was compared to today's game.

Simkus uses the "STARS" system to estimate the amount of talent in each league at any given time. This, in addition to head to head records from thousands of games will show the strength of each level of play.

In today's game, the best talent in the world makes its way into the Major Leagues, but that just wasn't always the case during the first 75+ years of professional Baseball. Simkus combines this comparative analysis with stories about these characters who were not "Insiders". There's no way you'll finish this book and not have a great idea about the world of Outsider Baseball.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about all the baseball leagues outside of the Major Leagues through the years 1876-1950. The author compares these "outsider" leagues & ball players using statistics he has done a lot of research to find. Among these outsider leagues were the semi-pro, Negro, Cuban, and novelty acts such as the Bloomer Girls & House of David and many others. I'm not fond of reading all the numbers & charts but the stories about the games & the players were very interesting & entertaining. The author has a very readable writing style & I enjoyed this book because of this. I, also, learned a lot about "outsider" baseball which has mostly disappeared today. A good book for the avid baseball fan to read, learn & enjoy.

[Gary Geiger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was on the verge of getting a four star rating. It is a wonderful look at baseball outside the AL and NL. Semi-pro ball, the Negro Leagues, and foreign baseball are covered. But I don't believe Simkus accomplishes what he set out to do. He asks the question: How good where these guys compared to the major leaguers. He takes a stab at it with his STARS system, but ultimately doesn't answer the question.

There is a chapter on Luke Easter which is ambitious literature, but I cannot tell if I am more annoyed by its mock hard-boiled style or if I enjoyed it.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a baseball fan and a fan of historical baseball books, I can honestly say that this book presented me with an incredible and satisfying balance of earthy and interesting historical stories about baseball, while also presenting a fascinating new way to statistically examine teams from separate eras and different leagues. Simkus does a wonderful job in Outsider Baseball!

[Thomas Stevenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any book that has the Hebrew Stars playing the Ku Klux Klan deserves applause. The material in his collection of oddities is weird (as the title declares) but adds a new dimension to the "national" pastime. A fun read

[Brett Rohlwing · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book only hints at the fascinating world of baseball on the fringe. I hope the author has the opportunity to explore the stories he touches on in this book, or inspires other baseball researchers to do so.

[Brian Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding! Historical perspective of baseball beyond the major leagues pre-1950. Loved it.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned a lot here. Great history of baseball outside of MLB.

[Thomas Nahigian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice baseball book about the Negro Leagues, Women in baseball and other fine stories.