Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Blunders: A Complete Guide to the Worst Decisions and Stupidest Moments in Baseball History

by Rob Neyer

BALL SQUIRTS THROUGH BILLY BUCKNER'S LEGS.
BILLY BUCKNER'S MANAGER LEFT HIM IN THE GAME.

Baseball bloopers are fun; they're funny, even. A pitcher slips on the mound and his pitch sails over the backstop. An infielder camps under a pop-up...and the ball lands ten feet away. An outfielder tosses a souvenir to a fan...but that was just the second out, and runners are circling the bases (and laughing). Without these moments, the highlight reels wouldn't be nearly as entertaining. Baseball blunders, however, can be tragic, and they will leave diehard fans asking why...why...why?

Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Blunders does its best to answer all those whys, exploring the worst decisions and stupidest moments of managers, general managers, owners, and even commissioners. As he did in his Big Book of Baseball Lineups, Rob Neyer provides readers with a fascinating examination of baseball's rich history, this time through the lens of the game's sometimes hilarious, often depressing, and always perplexing blunders.

· Which ill-fated move cost the Chicago White Sox a great hitter and the 1919 World Series?
· What was Babe Ruth thinking when he became the first (and still the only) player to end a World Series by getting caught trying to steal?
· Did playing one-armed Pete Gray in 1945 cost the Browns a pennant?
· How did winning a coin toss lead to the Dodgers losing the National League pennant on Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'round the World"?
· How damaging was the Frank Robinson-for-Milt Pappas deal, really?
· Which of Red Sox manager Don Zimmer's mistakes in 1978 was the worst?
· Which Yankees trade was even worse than swapping Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps?
· What non-move cost Buck Showalter a job and gave Joe Torre the opportunity of a lifetime?
· Game 7, 2003 Pedro winds up to throw his 123rd pitch...what were you thinking?

These are just a few of the legendary (and not-so-legendary) blunders that Neyer analyzes, always with an eye on what happened, why it happened, and how it changed the fickle course of history. And in separate chapters, Neyer also reviews some of the game's worst trades and draft picks and closely examines all the teams that fell just short of first place. Another in the series of Neyer's Big Books of baseball history, Baseball Blunders should win a place in every devoted fan's library.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, History

304 pages, Paperback

First published May 2, 2006

Reviews

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like books like these for just before bed because they're a little less taxing mentally right before you nod off. I loved this book back when it was first printed in 2006. What's amazing now are the slight differences in philosophy between what the 2006 smart fan thinks and the 2023 one. Neyer has a lot of disdain for players who got big contracts but most baseball writers now tend not to focus on that as much agreeing that they'd rather the players get paid than the owners. He also spends not one but two chapters complaining about Dusty Baker and while it's true he made some mistakes in 2003 it's funny now that Dusty is a beloved figure who finally won his first World Series in 2022 (with an analytically driven team, no less!) It's just a good reminder that what seems wise today may not in the future. We're always learning.

[Shay Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent compendium of misjudgments, failures, mishaps and bad moves.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty harsh in some of its criticisms of particular player, coaches, and managers.

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ibsen it ain't, but this is another well-researched baseball book from Rob Neyer. Like Bill James, Neyer settles debates without wasting his readers' time (although anyone who has time to read a 400-page book about baseball probably isn't too worried about squeezing maximum value from his or her available minutes). His analyses of famous baseball blunders are as brief as they are cogent, and despite the book's length this is the sort of junk reading that can be completed in under a day. The BIG BOOK OF LINEUPS was a five-star debate ender, and BLUNDERS is plenty entertaining, too.

[Jim Melcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neyer is a knowledgeable and entertaining writer, and I very much enjoyed the book. Like a lot of sabermetrically inclined baseball authors, though, he is too smug. Most frequently, he derides actions as "blunders" when they didn't work out because of injuries people could not possibly have seen coming (like the Mets drafting Steve Chilcott in 1967, who played well in the minors until injuries plagued him). There's too much of that sort of thing here, and that's why I lower my rating to four stars. But it covers many eras and is very entertaining.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

A blooper is something unfortunate that happens in baseball, no one plans them but they happen, a blunder is something someone has time to think better of but they still go ahead and do it. This book is a bunch of entertaining short stories about some of baseballs greatest blunders, I just wish the Sox weren’t in it so much.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad. It's the analysis of a lot of different, unconnected incidents throughout baseball history. Most of them have entered baseball lore as stupid blunders. The author tries to objectively analyze them and see if they really were mistakes, and if so, how bad. Sometimes he gets hung up on very mundane details of players dead long long ago, but often the articles are fairly interesting.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fun baseball history and Rob Neyer's engaging explanations meant that I tore through this one. There's so much baseball history to learn -- always fun to explore it...

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Rob Neyer, this book is awesome

[Andrew Schriber · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book any baseball junkie would love. Nothing new in this book, but more information about those stories you have been hearing about since you became addicted to play ball.