Baseball Anecdotes

by Daniel Okrent, Steve Wulf

Two respected sportswriters take a look at baseball's incredible capacity for exhilarating triumphs, heartbreaking losses, amazing blunders, and awe-inspiring feats

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction

356 pages, Paperback

First published April 20, 1989

About the author

Daniel Okrent's 40-year career has encompassed nearly every form of mass media. In book publishing, he was an editor at Knopf, Viking, and Harcourt. In magazines, he founded the award-winning New England Monthly and was chief editor of the monthly Life. In newspapers, he was the first public editor of the New York Times. On television, he has appeared as an expert commentator on many network shows, and talked more than any other talking head in Ken Burns's Baseball. In film, he was featured in the documentaries Wordplay and Silly Little Game, appeared in a speaking role in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown, and had what he calls "a mumbling role" in Lasse Hallstrom's The Hoax. Online, he headed Time Inc.'s internet efforts in the late 1990's, and has recently given in to the dubious charms of Facebook.

But all that, he says, was either preparation for (or distraction from) what he most wanted to do: write books. Beginning with Nine Innings in 1985, and proceeding through the 2010 publication of Last Call, Okrent has been (wrote novelist Kevin Baker in Publishers Weekly) "one of our most interesting and eclectic writers of nonfiction over the past 25 years." In addition to the books featured on this site, he was also co-author with Steve Wulf of Baseball Anecdotes (Oxford University Press, 1987), and author of The Way We Were: New England Then, New England Now (Grove Weidenfeld, 1989), currently out-of-print.

Reviews

[Josh Hitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a great fun read, short blurbs from the beginning days of baseball till the 80s. They talk some stats and some momentous occasions but they also dive into the more mundane and crazy stories. Lots of tales about the more insane characters that seemed to always surround the sport.

Highly recommended for anybody who is interested at all in the history of baseball.

[Cameron M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having 1 chapter in in a book all about you, a legend. Having a chapter that tells your greatest moments and life story.Baseball anecdotes is a book that tells you about baseball's greatest players of all time. Each chapter is a new legend to be told. You get to know the truth about how baseball was created and who helped developed baseball.Baseball anecdotes by Daniel Okrent is a kind of Historical book that shows more behind baseball’s greats and how baseball was changed due to the many legends that baseball has made. This book gives it all, not leaving a part out.Daniel Okrent wants us readers to really learn about baseballs history and baseball's greatest players, but doesnt give the real full story, just gives the main points and facts. If they would tell each players full story, then the book would be endless. So Mr. Okrent sums up each story and gives stories about Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and many more.An excerpt from the book that illustrates dedication is,"Kid, you won't see a throw like that again in a million years." This quote shows that many of baseballs great have a cocky attitude and know that others can not beat them in anything.If you like this book, you also may like Nine innings by Daniel Okrent because in this book, because it dissects and gives you more detail about a full nine inning game. This book tells the anatomy of every 9 inning baseball game. I rate Baseball Anecdotes a 5 out of 5 star, because it was a book that I really loved. This book taught a lot more than I already knew about baseball and its history. I really enjoy playing and learning about the game of baseball, and I feel that this book is a book that I will always read and a book that I will never get rid of. I can use this book to get valuable information about baseball’s greatest and most legendary players,coaches, and managers.

[Don LaFountaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book filled with numerous stories about the game, on the field performances and antics, and of course the players.

Some of the things people will read about throughout these pages are:
- A more truthful discussion of the origins of the game, including debunking the Doubleday Myth, the first official game, the formation of the National League, how Henry Chadwick changed developed the box score, and even the changes in the rules as the game developed.
- How John McGraw raided his former team and made the Giants a contender in his first year managing them.
- Merkle's "boner".
- The Federal League and their battle against the two established leagues.
- The Black Sox Scandal and how the long ball and Commissioner Landis brought baseball out of those dark hour.
- The dominance of Babe Ruth and the New York Yankees.
- Stories about Lou Gehrig, Joe Dimaggio, Ted Williams, Hank Greenberg, Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson.
- How Casey Stengel became winning manager, the Miracle Mets, the dominance of the Orioles and A's, and the emergence of George Steinbrenner.
- The Bronx Zoo, players that were a little crazy, the 1986 World Series, the drug scandal of the 80's and Hall of Fame players like George Brett, Goose Gossage, and Tom Seaver.

There were so many stories throughout the pages that one has to read it for themselves. The book only goes to 1990, so it does not cover the last 28 years of the game. With that said, I would recommend this book to all baseball fans, especially those who have an interest in the history of the game.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a gas. Before they began to rival Silicon Valley billionaires in annual salary baseball players, and some owners, were legendary in their crudeness, lewdness and invoking unintentional laughter. Did you know Babe Ruth was traded from the Red Sox to the Yankees because the owner of the team needed the money to finance the Broadway musical NO, NO NANETTE? It was a hit! Or that Ty Cobb became a very rich man by being pals with the founder of Coca-Cola in Atlanta? How about a team mate of Jackie Robinson, after he began to get death threats for integrating MLB telling him, "Jackie, don't stand so close to me today"? Speaking of which, the Federal government stationed armed agents inside Atlanta Braves stadium during that crucial game in 1974 when Hank Aaron batted home run number 715, in case of snipers. How about Maury Wills, the greatest base-stealer in baseball history, becoming manager of the last place Seattle Mariners and ordering pitchers to the mound he had never put on the roster? And, of course, who could forget, try though they might, the 1960 New York Mets, featuring "Marvelous Marv" Thornberry and manager Casey Stengell who told the Gotham press, "It's a pleasure to be managing the Knickerbockers". BASEBALL ANECDOTES is howlers galore.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A history of baseball told in short anecdotes about some of the significant and colourful players in the game. One of the editors, Daniel Okrent, was a prominent contributor to Ken Burns' Baseball series in PBS, and I could recognize that a number of the tales told here were also in the documentary. An interesting journey through the many personalities in baseball from it's early days in the late 19th century until the late 1980s. Good introduction to anyone beginning to read about baseball history. Not recommended for young baseball fans, as some players saltier quotes are included verbatim.

[MikeAckerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! If you have ever been fortunate enough to sit a bar, with a former ball player , and be regaled by his stories , then you will appreciate this tome . The book is like an all night session of story telling with a former player. Virtually every page has a classic story that is a remarkable event . Sorry it was only 341 pages long . Just like a great ball game that you hate to see end, I wished this book would go on for another 341 pages !

[Marshall Merims · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy read and an enjoyable one. Filled with great short stories about major and minor stars throughout a 100 year span of major league baseball. I skipped over the section before 1920 (personally less interesting to me) and found section 5 (mostly about the 1970's) to be lackluster stories (almost like written by someone else). Highly recommended for all baseball fans.

[Randolph Rossi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many Funny and Odd Occurrences in the Game of Baseball

I greatly enjoyed this book with the occurrences of the improbable, the impossible and the totally absurd in baseball. Amazingly, the book recounts a game that I was at, in which Steve Carlton of the Phillies stuck out 16 Mets and allowed 5 hits but lost 4 to 3 because Ron Swoboda hit two two-run homers

[sam marcello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book, learning about the little things in baseball, you never saw on the tv......!!!! Great book

[Halecki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable

I’ve been a baseball fan my entire life and I’ve known a lot of baseball lore.
There was a lot of stuff I didn’t know in this book.
Well done!

[Jeremiah]

I read the book Baseball Anecdotes by Daniel Okrent. This is a book on baseballs past and the history makers of the game. It give interesting facts about some of the greatest players to step on the field. The structure of this book is mainly fact by facts on the players life. I'd say the theme of this book is baseball.
If I were the author, I would have gave my opinion as a child watching these players play the game of baseball and how they inspired me as a child. Also how these players inspired me to write these books. I think this is a great study of baseball in different time periods. I like the way it gives credit to the history players by having a very long section for the story of his like. For example The life of babe ruth goes from pages 6-328.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

While followers of baseball will know of many of the more recent anecdotes, the ones about baseball in the early years will be new to most readers. Even those that follow baseball closely. While some players are given a bit more text than others, there is no dominant coverage and many otherwise unknown players are given some ink.
This is a fun book to read, some significant players are not mentioned, for this is largely a book about personalities and quirks rather than achievement on the field. I strongly recommend this book, one of the things you will learn is who is the unofficial creator of baseball “chatter.” On the darker side, the establishment of the color barrier in major league baseball is also described.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

My all out, very favorite book about baseball! In fact, I always feel that any history is best learned through anecdotes (i.e. through stories). This book goes through the history of Baseball and provides a sense of the great players, the great characters and the great tragedies within the game's long history. Daniel Orkent, who was an instrumental part of Ken Burns' Baseball documentary, is amazing in how he handles the various stories that best represent each time period. When I became a baseball fan back in 1989, I could not have been more fortunate to have had this book as my first real historical guide.

[matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baseball is a game that lends itself to stories. Most of the people in the stands are telling their own stories, interrupted occasionally by the action on the field. Kevin gave me this book when I was a freshman in high school. I've read and re-read the anecdotes in this book for years--it's still at my parents' house and I thumb through it when I'm there. It's fun and nostalgic: the next-best thing to a day at the ballpark.

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it a lot, found it very enjoyable, but I love baseball. While I would like to report that the writing was good and the anecdotes were indeed entertaining, I must honestly concede that this is for fans, if you don't love the game, you may loose interest. That said, for those of us blessed with an appreciation for the game, this is a must read: funny, informative, sometimes shocking, all baseball all the time.

[Ron Kaplan · Rating 2 out of 5]

anecdotes,history