The Love of Baseball

by Publications International, Paul Adomites

NA

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Publications International, Ltd. (PIL) is a leading North American publisher, producing hundreds of new titles each year and printing millions of books annually. CEO Louis Weber founded the company in 1967 with a mission to provide high-quality, high-value products for consumers worldwide.

PIL publishes books in many categories, including the popular Brain Games® series of puzzle, sticker and coloring books, in addition to cookbooks, children’s books, craft, reference and much more.

PIL's bestselling Brain Games® product line features a wide array of puzzle books, including standards such as word searches, crosswords, sudokus, codewords, and cryptograms, as well as variety puzzle books themed around crime, Christmas, summer, celebrities, and more.

The New Seasons® division publishes a variety of stationery products that combine unique formats with the latest trends in design. Among these are Sticker by Number titles, Color and Frame books, notepad sets, journals, and recipe keepers. These products are the perfect vehicle to de-stress and relax, organize your day, and record and share memories.

Collectible Automobile® magazine, another division of PIL, presents an in-depth look at the cars and trucks that Americans have known and loved for decades. First published in 1984, Collectible Automobile® magazine is released six times a year.

PIL's cookbooks feature visually outstanding presentations of culinary classics and world cuisine, including books that focus on the Mediterranean diet, plant-based cooking, restaurant recipes, and the best in entertaining.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have had this little coffee table book on my bookshelf for at least 10 years. I am truly missing baseball, so I thought this book might brighten my day and remind me of the game I love. This book is organized into six chapters. Each chapter contains short summaries of the best players, the best games, the legends of the game, and statistical accomplishments. The highlights for me are the pictures of the players since there is a good mix of old-time players, negro league players and fairly current day players. I also enjoyed the player quotes and the player nicknames.

Here are some of my favorite quotes, listed in the book:

"When Steve and I die, we are going to be buried 60 feet, six inches apart." Tim McCarter, personal pitcher for Steve Carlton

"I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball." Pete Rose

"If I had one wish in the world today, it would be that Jackie Robinson could be here to see this happen." Frank Robinson on being made the first African American manager in the major leagues

Here are some of my favorite player nicknames (more for their meanness than for their humor):

Mike "The Human Rain Delay" Hargrove

Hugh "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy

Nick "old Tomato Face" Cullop

The book also provides highlights of some of the announcers (but not many), a few managers (but not many) and some of the most avid fans but no reference to mascots or other fan favorite features. There are acknowledgments of some of the most famous ball parks: Fenway, Ebbets Field, Yankee Stadium, and a few others, but a lot of stadiums were not included.

Most of the information provided is in this book is subjective. When someone lists the most compelling World Series games, the list is purely personal. The selection of the best baseball movies is again purely personal. But, you're killing me Smalls, if you list The Sandlot as 10th of 10 and list Bad News Bears as the top baseball movie. Anyone who watched and loved the Bad News Bears in the 1970s but watched it again with their kids in the past 10 or 15 years has to admit that the movie did not age gracefully. That's my opinion. As with most baseball books, plenty of people's favorite players, games and stadiums have been left out of this book.

This book deserves a solid three stars. It might make a good Father's Day present or a Mother's Day present (depending on the mom). It definitely makes a nice coffee table book or conversation piece. Fans of the game will probably already know everything in the book. It is worth reading, just for fun, when you have no baseball to watch and you really miss the game.

[Daniel Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for easy, casual baseball facts. Perfect bathroom or coffee table book.

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very fun coffee table book for baseball enthusiasts. Loosely organized by general baseball aspects of the game, baseball legends--individual players, certain periodic teams, and specific 7-game World Series--are sprinkled throughout the book with stat lines and narrative accompaniments. Memorable quotes as well as specific baseball moments and careers are chronicled here. Less of a single narrative and more of a collection of fragmented memories, it is easy to pick up the book and skim through to find people and teams of interest. A nostalgic treasure-trove for anyone--who like me--grew up with a father who passed baseball memories off as bedtime stories (including a memorable re-telling of Sandy Koufax's perfect game) and otherwise delighted in relating his memories (as well as the memories of his father) of Stan "the Man" Musial, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente, the Big Red Machine, etc., this is a well-titled book. Baseball was my first love, and like love there are a lot of memories--good as well as painful--associated with it. With episodes like the 1919 Black Sox scandal to more contemporary steroid abuse controversies, there surely are some painful and ugly moments to baseball's history, but there are also--and more importantly to me--many moments of inspiring power and resilience (watch Ken Burns' BASEBALL series if you don't believe me... and especially do so if you do). For me, the first World Series I specifically remember taking an interest in was 2001: NY Yankees vs. AZ Diamondbacks. Although neither team was "my team" and I know it wasn't felt by all as baseball is not enjoyed by all Americans, I witnessed and now recollect the powerful healing power of America's past time for not just many New Yorkers but also all American fans. This was a very fun read for me. Enjoy!

[Don LaFountaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good an in-depth book about the history of baseball. There were a number of outstanding pictures, some that are well known, and others that are not so well known. It's a little difficult to carry around, but it is a good summer's afternoon read in the yard on a beautiful day while waiting for the game to start.

[Richard Downey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is for all baseball lovers. It is a collection of tidbits covering the whole field of the subject. The only weakness is that the book is a few years old so some of the stats are outdated, but that is a minor quibble.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good coffee table book of baseball facts, history and trivia. Quick and enjoyable.

[John Morr · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great. It shows old baseball players and their records. It also talks about World Series. I recommend that you read this book.

[Justin Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the book The love of baseball is talks about how to play the sport.I recommend this book to all baseball lovers.This book tells about america's past and there is lots of pictures of people and plays.This book is by Paul Adomites and it is a great in death book about history and fundamentals. This book tells you many facts about the sport and you will maybe learn something.It will change your mind about the sport, This book changed my mind about baseball at first I thought that baseball was all boring and know one would care about the sport. Then, when i finished reading this book i was amazed about all the facts i learned. There was so many world records and legends in this book.My favorite part of this book is when i learned bout babe Ruth's biggest and longest home run he ever made,there was this one guy that said that the base ball went so far and then it took him 20 minutes just to find it and it was stuck on a bush.This was a very interesting book and i really enjoyed it.

[Monte Lamb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a night stand of coffee table book that covers the history of baseball in short vignettes and beautiful pictures. It's light reading and is great for just picking up at random times to read a few pages. Everyone loving baseball will enjoy it!

[Leonard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great short history of many of the greats of the game. It even has a shot paragraph of one of the famous umpires! It includes owners, MLB presidents and managers. A little outdated at this time but still a great joy to read.

[Annburnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read with interesting facts about baseball.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

its ok

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting book of stories, facts, & antidotes.

[Lew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice little book to read during spring training to get one excited about the new baseball season.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book to leaf through in a few spare minutes. It goes back to the early days of baseball through modern day.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Love of Baseball” is a baseball lover’s dream.

300 pages of trivia, facts and unforgettable stories of America’s past time and lots of photos.

You can pick it up, read a few pages, put it down and come back again later for a few more pages..

Skip around - check out the section of defense then read about the players who burned up the base paths.

What about those heavy hitters? There’s a section for them. Don’t forgot the pitches - what a rowdy bunch.

They even had several sections entitled ‘Notable Nicknames”.

Dick “Dr. Strangeglove” Stuart - it was always an adventure when you threw him the ball.

Here are some older players:

Fidgety Phil Collins (not the singer) - no clue about this one.

Pickles Dillhoefer as in dill pickles.

Or how about Harry “Suitcase’ Simpson. I looked this one up. He was called "Suitcase" by sportswriters after the Toonerville Trolley character, Suitcase Simpson, because of his size 13 shoe - he had feet as large as suitcases.

A great gift to give a baseball fan - that’s how I got mine.

[Will Collier · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book "The Love of Baseball" by Paul Adomites is a great in depth book about the game, history, and fundamentals of the sport baseball. This is a great book to read to learn the history of baseball. It also is a good book to change peoples mind about the sport and appreciate the hard work that is put into it. Overall this is a very interesting book for me since a play baseball and probably to many others.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I have read is the love of baseball. It is a book that talks about all of the most important and exciting things that have happened in Major League Baseball. It talks about the most exciting catches to the nicest stadiums. It talks about famous players like Babe Ruth, Johnny Bench, Yogi Berra, Ken Griffey Jr, etc. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves baseball.

[Nick Pearson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sappy ode to the game. If you don't already like baseball, this won't do anything for you.

[Glenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

You have to love baseball to get this book.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable read on the great plays, teams, players, managers and fans of America's game.

[Chris Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once upon a time, my sons favorite book. Rich with photographs and quick historical facts, an excellent introduction for the new fan and awash with nostalgia for the old one

[Tom Bentley · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was a kid, I devoured baseball books— in the '60s I had a giant Encyclopedia of Baseball that had the statistics of every player back into the 19th Century, even of people who'd batted one time in a game, and I was a total nerd about memorizing stuff like the heights/weights/birthplaces of players. Useful, eh? Anyway, I'm still a sucker for baseball books, and this one, that has a great selection of images of some of the greatest players and events in baseball history, was a delight to read.

Or should I say look at, because the book is really all about the images, which are framed by extended captions. I probably would have given it five stars, baseball softie I am, but it skirted too much around the steroid era, not mentioning any of the taint associated with steroid use (a complicated subject, to be sure, since abuse of substances happened in pretty much any baseball era). Instead, the guys known or heavily suspected of juicing were given the hero's treatment. Regardless, great images, some known, many I'd never seen, and a colorful compendium of baseball history.