The Baseball Uncyclopedia: A Highly Opinionated, Myth-Busting Guide to the Great American Game

by Michael Kun, Howard Bloom

Michael Kun -- Pulitzer Prize-nominated author -- and Howard Bloom -- former newspaper reporter and columnist -- explain that, contrary to popular belief, a walk is not always as good as a hit. They argue that it's not always wrong to root against the home team. They contend that the Houston Astros' jerseys were not the ugliest jerseys ever worn in the major leagues. They rail against the common misconception that Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance was a great double play combination. They insist that Shoeless Joe Jackson did not bat right-handed, he did not go barefoot, and he did not refuse to accept money to throw the World Series. They heap scorn upon those who believe Joe DiMaggio was ever "The Greatest Living Baseball Player." And they offer a sound rebuke to anyone who thinks a baseball book can't be smart, funny and informative all at the same time.
"The Baseball Uncyclopedia is a witty and irreverent guide that debunks some of the mythology, opinions and widely held beliefs about baseball that fans have clung to for generations.

Genres: Baseball, Nonfiction, Sports

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 11, 2006

About the author

Michael Kun lives in Los Angeles, California. He practices law when he is not writing, or vice versa.

Reviews

[Seth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up at the library on a whim. It reads pretty much like an encyclopedia, a collection of entries organized alphabetically. I read it straight through but I wonder if skipping around would have been a better approach, because it did get kind of long. The entries are pretty random stuff - they'll talk about Tommie Aaron, the brother of Hank in one entry and discuss MVP winners who weren't selected to the All-Star Game in the same year in another, or argue about if Nolan Ryan and Cal Ripken were overrated.

The entries are written by two different authors. Stylistically I couldn't really tell them apart. One of them is a Red Sox fan (shocking) and the other I don't remember. Orioles, maybe - I actually don't care. Both of them have a surprising amount of baseball knowledge considering they don't do it for a career. Both of them think they're really funny, but I guess it wasn't my kind of humor.

The authors use hundreds of footnotes. Normally I'm okay with footnotes, but I also kind of like to see them used sparingly. I don't ever know what to do with them when I'm reading. Look down right away? That kind of interrupts the flow of your reading. Wait until you reach the end of the page? Then you're in the middle of another paragraph. Finish the entry/chapter and then go back? Then you have to flip back and remember what it is referencing. It got kind of annoying, especially since about half of them were just the authors trying to be cute.

So it was an okay book, if you're a baseball fan. Although it did come out about 2006 so it's probably a little dated by now.

[Jeff Mazurek · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best thing I can say about this book is that it is authored by humorous writers who happen to be baseball fans (as opposed to baseball fans who are trying to be clever).

It was a random selection from the library. I read it in a couple of days. I liked it, and parts of it read like a "Mythbusters" for baseball. There are a smattering of laugh-out-loud bits to this book, but because I have already become a bit of a baseball geek, I'm not certain how many would resonate beyond this niche I appear to occupy.

It was good enough for me to want to read one of Kun's novels (someday).

[J.L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes amusing and sometimes annoying, but a good coffee table book to kill time between innings during the season if you love baseball. Overall I think I liked the Kun entries better than the Bloom entries from a stylistic standpoint, but some of the Bloom entries have better thesis statements.

[Frank Taranto · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting and funny parts, some boring. I enjoyed the fact that each subheading was short and quick to read.