What do you think?
Rate this book
Baseball Explained
Baseball is a very complicated sport. Every facet of the game from tagging up to stealing bases to intentional walks goes back to the duel between pitcher and batter. This book, like no other work available or any single website, explains baseball from scratch, while also educating the reader as to its important place in American history and culture. Part One, "Preliminaries," explains those aspects of the game that must be understood before approaching the game itself, which is the subject of Part Two, "The Game." Part Three, "Statistics," discusses how numbers influence the decisions and strategies that propel each game forward. Part Four, "Major League Baseball Overview," puts the sport in context by introducing the reader to Major League baseball in a unique by walking him or her through one calendar year in the majors, from the Hall of Fame voting in January through the Winter Meetings in December.
- GenresBaseballNonfiction
211 pages, Paperback
First published July 15, 2014
7 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 25, 2014
Whereas many baseball lovers fail to explain the sport to newbies without rambling and falling helplessly into personal opinions and unrelated stories, Mahony remains concise, laser focusing his undeniable love for and knowledge of the sport on only the information most relevant to those new to the sport. He honors his goal of catering to a specific, otherwise unaddressed, audience. Mahony's book fills a hole in the marketplace that I'm suprised has existed for so long.
It's hard to imagine a book explaining sports to be a page turner, but Mahony's book succeeded in explaining baseball, from historical, social, and procedural aspects, in absolute lamen's terms, while keeping me glued to the page. He challenges his readers to imagine themselves on the field in various high adrenaline situations, such as being a batter as a "pitched ball flies at you at 98 mph." This book is not only informative, but it is simply illustrative.
Baseball Explained is the perfect book for those new to the sport, and those with a working knowledge of the sport who are looking to give their understanding more foundation. Packed with definitions, statistics, and historical perspectives, It sets the standard for research based sports books. Any smart author with a focus on sports, or any other topic that could possibly alienate a sector of the population, should study Baseball Explained as an example of what it means to really cater to an audience, and look at Mahony as fierce competition within the marketplace.
This book is a must read!
It's hard to imagine a book explaining sports to be a page turner, but Mahony's book succeeded in explaining baseball, from historical, social, and procedural aspects, in absolute lamen's terms, while keeping me glued to the page. He challenges his readers to imagine themselves on the field in various high adrenaline situations, such as being a batter as a "pitched ball flies at you at 98 mph." This book is not only informative, but it is simply illustrative.
Baseball Explained is the perfect book for those new to the sport, and those with a working knowledge of the sport who are looking to give their understanding more foundation. Packed with definitions, statistics, and historical perspectives, It sets the standard for research based sports books. Any smart author with a focus on sports, or any other topic that could possibly alienate a sector of the population, should study Baseball Explained as an example of what it means to really cater to an audience, and look at Mahony as fierce competition within the marketplace.
This book is a must read!
May 21, 2018
Súper recomendable para iniciarse en este deporte. Didáctico y profundo. El béisbol me pasaba muy de lejos y ahora puedo ver un partido y entender lo q pasa.
March 22, 2020
Clear and succinct.
February 10, 2015
America’s favourite past time can be a bit of a mystery to the outsider. Baseball may initially appear fairly simple – rounders with bigger bats – can suddenly seem exceedingly complex when listening to the commentator’s endless stream of jargon. Similarly, any conversation with a baseball nut can leave the uninitiated confused in the extreme.
Talk of RBI singles and slugging percentages isn’t even the kind of jargon that you can understand merely by watching a bit of baseball. Someone will need to explain it to you. And that is where Phillip Mahony’s book Baseball Explained can step into the breach, which the author decided to write after various attempts at explaining the intricacies of the game to overseas relatives had proved far more complex than expected. Similarly, other than the complicated and at times obscure rules of the game, no books were aimed at those without a detailed knowledge having been brought up with the game.
Baseball may not exactly be a big deal in Europe, but there is enough of an audience worldwide to keep the interest levels burgeoning, and new viewers or converts or those wishing to visit the US and take in a game could do a lot worse than reading this book. Likewise, if you’ve watched baseball and enjoyed it to some extent but were left befuddled by its terminology and traditions then Baseball Explained does a handy job of, well, explaining it.
Much is described in an easy to read and light hearted tone, with a nice balance between technical detail of the rules and strategies of the game, historical and cultural anecdotes, and humour. The dips into baseball’s rich history were the most pleasing to me, diverting the reader as they did from the slightly more onerous task of explaining the rules or the various strategies employed by the teams, and bringing to life some of the game’s most colourful and significant characters.
As far as the technical explanations go, they can get complex at times, such is the nature of these things. It’s hard to avoid getting into a muddle when getting in depth with an explanation when a huge number of possibilities could occur, and that happens here occasionally but never to such an extent that the reader becomes too lost. A good array of examples and a few sporadic quiz questions for the reader keep things going along nicely and keep the reader’s attention nicely focused.
On occasion, connections are made to the world of football to help the understanding of those who have been brought up on that game, which is a pleasing touch for the likes of me. Not that everything can be explained however. Even the hardened baseball enthusiast occasionally has to shrug their shoulders and “embrace the madness” as Mahony puts it.
But if you’ve ever wondered what the difference is between striking out looking and striking out swinging, or can’t tell your change up from your slider, or are baffled by mentions of fly outs, foul tips and sacrifice bunts, then this book may well be your saviour.
This review is taken from my website The Sports Book Review.
Talk of RBI singles and slugging percentages isn’t even the kind of jargon that you can understand merely by watching a bit of baseball. Someone will need to explain it to you. And that is where Phillip Mahony’s book Baseball Explained can step into the breach, which the author decided to write after various attempts at explaining the intricacies of the game to overseas relatives had proved far more complex than expected. Similarly, other than the complicated and at times obscure rules of the game, no books were aimed at those without a detailed knowledge having been brought up with the game.
Baseball may not exactly be a big deal in Europe, but there is enough of an audience worldwide to keep the interest levels burgeoning, and new viewers or converts or those wishing to visit the US and take in a game could do a lot worse than reading this book. Likewise, if you’ve watched baseball and enjoyed it to some extent but were left befuddled by its terminology and traditions then Baseball Explained does a handy job of, well, explaining it.
Much is described in an easy to read and light hearted tone, with a nice balance between technical detail of the rules and strategies of the game, historical and cultural anecdotes, and humour. The dips into baseball’s rich history were the most pleasing to me, diverting the reader as they did from the slightly more onerous task of explaining the rules or the various strategies employed by the teams, and bringing to life some of the game’s most colourful and significant characters.
As far as the technical explanations go, they can get complex at times, such is the nature of these things. It’s hard to avoid getting into a muddle when getting in depth with an explanation when a huge number of possibilities could occur, and that happens here occasionally but never to such an extent that the reader becomes too lost. A good array of examples and a few sporadic quiz questions for the reader keep things going along nicely and keep the reader’s attention nicely focused.
On occasion, connections are made to the world of football to help the understanding of those who have been brought up on that game, which is a pleasing touch for the likes of me. Not that everything can be explained however. Even the hardened baseball enthusiast occasionally has to shrug their shoulders and “embrace the madness” as Mahony puts it.
But if you’ve ever wondered what the difference is between striking out looking and striking out swinging, or can’t tell your change up from your slider, or are baffled by mentions of fly outs, foul tips and sacrifice bunts, then this book may well be your saviour.
This review is taken from my website The Sports Book Review.
July 24, 2015
Please Take Me Out To The Ball Game WITH Phillip Mahony!!!
Baseball Explained is baseball ellucidated, baseball revealed, baseball outstanding!!!
An exciting, straightforward, brilliant book. Mahony has his baseball bona fides, no doubt about that.
He is a great teacher, no dull moments, you can't put the book down.
Amazingly there is nothing on the market like this incredible compendium.
A must own book for all; from the baseball neophyte to the national pastime's most erudite scholar!
Will be buying copies for all my baseball loving friends.
This book is definitely a round-tripper, a four-bagger, a high-riser, a see ya!!!
Bravo for Baseball Explained!!!
Baseball Explained is baseball ellucidated, baseball revealed, baseball outstanding!!!
An exciting, straightforward, brilliant book. Mahony has his baseball bona fides, no doubt about that.
He is a great teacher, no dull moments, you can't put the book down.
Amazingly there is nothing on the market like this incredible compendium.
A must own book for all; from the baseball neophyte to the national pastime's most erudite scholar!
Will be buying copies for all my baseball loving friends.
This book is definitely a round-tripper, a four-bagger, a high-riser, a see ya!!!
Bravo for Baseball Explained!!!
March 30, 2015
A Powerful, Proficient, Plucky, Practical, Primer and So Much More!
Smooth, crystal clear (even when dissecting the most byzantine rule), stimulating, pithy, humorous,highly intelligent, and empathic are just a few words that describe Mahony's clarion writing style.
Amazing anecdotes, precisely chosen real life baseball examples, fact-packed galore, and those facts are, above all, truly explained! Mahony's "Baseball Explained" rocks the house that Ruth built, and all other shrines to our National pastime.
A must, must read for young, old, newbie, aficionado.
100 STARS for "Baseball Explained".
Should be given to every baseball club in America.
Smooth, crystal clear (even when dissecting the most byzantine rule), stimulating, pithy, humorous,highly intelligent, and empathic are just a few words that describe Mahony's clarion writing style.
Amazing anecdotes, precisely chosen real life baseball examples, fact-packed galore, and those facts are, above all, truly explained! Mahony's "Baseball Explained" rocks the house that Ruth built, and all other shrines to our National pastime.
A must, must read for young, old, newbie, aficionado.
100 STARS for "Baseball Explained".
Should be given to every baseball club in America.
October 15, 2014
I loved this book. It explained baseball in a way that not only helped me understand the game, but also its place in American culture and society. I especially liked his use of the poem "Casey at the Bat" to explain balls and strikes. I also loved his stories about his father taking him to a game, about taking his own kids to games, and about taking his wife to a game on one of their first dates. Very well written. Highly recommend.
November 1, 2014
Excellent book on explaining the game...full review to come.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews